As someone who did not have access to any form of career exploration in middle school and has no recollection of ever meeting with a high school counselor, I do wonder how those experiences might have influenced my own pathway into the workforce.

Traditionally, high school has been the first time most students sit down with a career counselor to discuss options after graduation – whether it is attending a four-year college or seeking other career-building options such as an associate degrees, certification, or apprenticeship. But, many schools have just one or two counselors available to advise as many as a thousand students.

Starting these discussions earlier could be an answer. More and more, states are finding that starting that career exploration in middle school is an important part of a young student’s educational journey.

Extending the Runway – analysis from American Student Assistance (ASA) and Education Strategy Group – finds that states have shown a strong start in rethinking the career exploration space, but needs to go further.

It urges them to increase their state-wide financial support for such initiatives to include diverse post-graduation pathways and even hand-on experiences in order to ensure that career exploration is not just a “series of paper-pencil activities that miss the opportunity to help shape students’ path to a fulfilling career that pays a living wage.”

College is Not the Only Pathway

The push for expanding K-12 career exploration comes at the same time as reconsideration around the opportunities that might follow post-high school.

Learning Unbound: Redefining Education Paths from Jobs for the Future (JFF) “advocates for destigmatizing diverse education and training options, fostering educator-employer collaboration to create multiple skill-building avenues, and empowering individuals’ unique pathways to success.” Not everyone is taking what has been the traditional college route to earn a four-year degree.

A very recent study – From Burnout to Breakthroughs – from Appily finds 63% of public high school counselors say fewer of their students plan to attend college. This, compared to four years ago. Thirteen percent of private high school counselors note the same change in their students. The report raises the question whether counselors’ workloads impact their students’ post-high school decisions.

Despite rethinking post-high school options, the number of enrolled K-12 students in the U.S. has remained below pre-pandemic levels, according to new federal data released earlier this year.

The National Center for Education Statistics finds pre-K through 12th-grade public school enrollment in all 50 states and the District of Columbia reached more than 49 million in the fall of 2022. That enrollment count shows an increase of less than 1% compared to fall 2021 counts and a 2% decline from the 2019 level.

Exploring Careers Through Space for Education

“We need our children today to be excited about learning about science. We need to really invest in their natural curiosity about the universe. And there’s no better way to do that than space,” says Kristina Otero, Ph.D., vice president of education with the Aldrin Family Foundation (AFF).

“We need to invest in their career development skills, their ability to connect with others, and to collaborate with others who are different from them, not just in the United States, but to have that global perspective.

“Understanding even if you’re not a STEM professional, but still understanding why those decisions or those concepts are important can help you become a better voter, a more informed citizen.”

Among its programming, the AFF offers young students exposure to the world of space with interactive tool, primarily its Giant Mars and Giant Moon Maps which are 30 feet by 15 feet with topographical elements.

Otero says, “Students in all grade levels K-12 can use a map. In many ways, it’s truly interdisciplinary. When people think of space, they might think of astronauts and rocket launches. A lot of that is science and engineering.

“But what about the people that make the spacesuits? What about the people who are making the food for the astronauts to live in space? What about our people who are taking video or public relations? Having space in the classroom, not just in a science class but in a library class, an English language arts class, or an art class – those are all places that space belongs. And the students can find their niche and see where they belong in space, too.”

Otero says teachers need consideration when providing space for education. “A lot of times teachers may feel overwhelmed with their workload. So, we provide step-by-step lesson plans. It has all the procedures that they need to implement in their classroom, specific questions to ask the students, how to engage the students in certain ways.

“The direction that science education is moving right now is how can the teacher act as more of a guide rather than the deliverer of information. The students are doing a lot more discovery.”

She notes it’s important for teachers to experience their students’ ‘aha’ moments. “As a teacher, that’s your best day at work. That’s what you look for – seeing your students really understand not just the concept that they’re trying to learn, but also that it has an impact in their life.”

Otero says teachers must have self-efficacy in their abilities. She explains that research indicates that teachers’ lack of confidence transfers to their students.

To address that, AFF offers a professional development opportunity through its annual Space Curriculum Collaborative. Otero explains, “Teachers join us for a week. They tour Kennedy Space Center. We create lesson plans together, we collaborate, we network. And these are not science educators. These are educators from all different disciplines.”

Girls IN STEM Academy

Otero says introducing space and, more broadly, STEM to girls is a part of her own research. “How to get them excited about science and not just for careers, but for scientific literacy and being excited about learning these topics. Women have to see role models in STEM. They have to see someone who looks like them, who acts like them, who is involved in STEM.”

With its large network of STEM and non-STEM professionals who are involved in space, AFF can make those connections for students, says Otero. “This might look like an interview with a female astronaut on the ISS (International Space Station). “

She adds, “Within this decade, we are going to land a woman on the moon and a person of color on the moon.”

A newly opened Indianapolis elementary school – Girls IN STEM Academy (GISA) – is giving its students a jumpstart. Part of the Paramount Schools of Excellence network, GISA started its inaugural school year with 55 girls in grades K-6.

“They’re a diverse group, which is exciting to see,” explains Chrystal Westerhaus, principal of GISA. “We are 10% MLL (multilingual learner), 10% special education, more cultures than I’ve ever worked with before in my career.”

Westerhaus says the school offers school transportation from satellite sites because the students live in a number of zip codes – adding, “We’re positioned in a community where we are trying to create equity.”

Regarding the STEM component, Westerhaus says, “We partner with a professor from a nearby university who does research on girls in STEM. We are contracting her staff members [from the Girls STEM Institute] to make sure that the curriculum is really unique for our girls.”

The Girl Scouts of Central Indiana is another GISA partner. “They have a 501(c)(3) called Every Girl Can STEM [who] is working with us to create a curriculum that is not only science, but science that is weaved in with the modules that the Girl Scouts have for STEM,” explains Westerhaus. “We have a consultant hired and we look to pilot that second semester.”

She also stresses it’s important for the student body to be supportive of one another. “The last thing I wanted to do was create something that was negative or toxic for girls. We [discuss] a monthly core value. We chose to do ‘sisterhood’ first for a reason. In August, we did different activities around sisterhood, and it was a magical thing.”

Although GISA has not been open for long, Westerhaus says the response has been very positive. “I’ve been in this work for about 20 years. I’ve been touched by the parents’ outpour. They really see this as an opportunity, and that has really, really touched my heart.

“They really appreciate the individualized attention and the ability we have to craft and make things unique to our student body. In urban education, I feel like I’m kind of on an island.”

The Urban Assembly

“The idea of public schooling to me is our investment in our future selves,” says David Adams, CEO of The Urban Assembly (UA). “We all come to an end, and yet through institutions like public schools, we recreate and even improve upon ourselves through our children, our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren.

“We see each generation being able to move through our schools and be a little more flexible in the way they deploy social emotional skills or maybe a little more effective in their communication or their reasoning skills or maybe a little bit more grounded in how they contribute to their community and their aspirations for our country.”

New York-based UA is comprised of 22 schools – primarily high schools with two standalone middle schools. There are programs in California, Michigan, Georgia, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Illinois. Most schools have between 300 to 500 students.

The various campuses give students the opportunity to explore careers “shifting from a process that starts at the very end of high school to one that helps students imagine the world of work beyond school from the very beginning.”

Among the New York schools –  Academy for Future Leaders, Academy of Government and Law, Gateway School for Technology, Institute of Math and Science for Young Women, New York Harbor School, School for Collaborative Healthcare, and School for Green Careers.  

“The Urban Assembly posted a 90.4% graduation rate this year, and we do that in unscreened schools, which means that all students can sign up and come to our schools,” notes Adams.

“There’s no requirement around grades, no requirement around attendance, no requirement around anything but interest in participating in a career pathway or a career concept that our schools are supporting.”

Adams says, “We invest in things like social emotional learning and development. We invest in things like postsecondary fit and high-quality instruction.

“That means that our students with disabilities are graduating at a 22.7% higher rate than students across New York City. Our ELL (English Language Learner) students at a 14.2% higher rate.”

UA was founded in 1997 when, according to Adams, the graduation rate in New York City’s public schools was 47%. Adams says, “During this time, reformers came in who believed that if we did stuff differently – if we thought about investing young people back into their communities and communities back into their young people, if we built small schools rather than comprehensive high schools, if we brought smart and talented people to solve problems into public education, that our students and our schools would benefit. And they did.”

But despite the data, Adams says, “Some of our schools are really heavily over-enrolled. Some of our schools are struggling more. And some of this has to do with the notion of being an unscreened school in New York City.

“Oftentimes, parents associate quality with exclusivity. One of the big opportunities for us at the Urban Assembly and a big challenge is to help communicate to parents the difference between exclusivity and quality.”

He continues, “A clear answer with regards to how to convince parents that a postsecondary fit matters and a postsecondary fit is not, ‘I went to the right college,’ it’s ‘I went to the right credential’ – which we all need, whether it’s boat captain or Ph.D.”

Adams says UA is working on translating what’s being taught in its school to better connect to employers’ needs. “One of the challenges in our education space is that we use academic language to show how students are learning and what students are learning.

“It’s not always clear how to translate the academic space to the skills-based kind of language that employers particularly now are looking for. I think that the credentialing space says that we’re going for smaller and smaller pieces of knowledge that we can identify and validate.”

Youth Apprenticeships

Youth apprenticeship programs target young people – ages 16 to 24 – who may or may not be enrolled in school. Apprenticeships are a combination of classroom or online learning with paid on-the-job training. Typically for those in high school, the daily time commitments are less to accommodate students’ high school schedules.

Federal apprenticeship data analyzed by JFF shows a 113% increase in the number of 16-to-24-year-olds joining a Registered Apprenticeship program from 2010 to 2020 – with over 40,000 young people joining an RA program in 2020.

JFF explains, “The analysis… covered Registered Apprenticeship programs with 16-to-24-year-old participants, not specifically youth apprenticeship programs (those explicitly designed for young people).”

Earlier this year, the first Youth Apprenticeship Week was held by the federal government to create greater awareness of this pathway for young people.

According to the National Governors Association, “During a time of increased concern over worker shortages, skill gaps, and workforce readiness, youth apprenticeship has emerged as an important strategy to prepare the future workforce and meet the needs of the evolving economy.”

In its State Policy Playbook, the NGA explains, “The benefits of work-based learning opportunities are best realized through the development of high-quality youth apprenticeship programs, which mirror the criteria for high-quality registered apprenticeships.”

Last year, Alabama, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina, and Utah were named to participate in the NGA Center for Best Practices Policy Academy to Advance Youth Apprenticeship – offering the participating states “a yearlong opportunity designed to support them as they develop policy agendas that advance high-quality youth apprenticeship opportunities.”

Last month, industry leaders in Indiana unveiled their plan modeled after Swiss programming that will create apprenticeship opportunities for high school students. CEMETS iLab Indiana is a coalition of nearly 200 stakeholders from sectors including business, K-12 education, higher education, and government.

The coalition explains, “As an alternative learning route for students, the professional pathway will complement the existing high school-to-college pathway and provide new opportunities to tens of thousands of Hoosiers, including many who otherwise may not have opted to attend college or pursue training after high school.”

Dynamic Teaching Elevates the Student Experience

“We work with school systems, both charter and district school systems across the country to ensure that every student experiences excellent and equitable teaching,” says Chong-Hao Fu, CEO of Leading Educators (LE). “We do that by working on the working conditions that educators experience and help school districts create places where adults can do their very best for kids each and every day.”

Fu points out, “We are at historic 50-year lows in almost every dimension of teacher wellbeing –whether it’s the number of young people choosing to be teachers, teachers’ own measures of their satisfaction, the measure of teacher prestige in society, teachers’ assessment of working conditions.

“What’s interesting is that the decline actually started pre-pandemic around 2011, accelerated during the pandemic, and has not really recovered.”

He adds, “We hear teachers really want opportunities to be developed meaningfully in ways that are relevant to what they’re actually teaching.”

Fu says teachers want to have greater influence on their peers through leadership opportunities.  “No matter how excellent and how experienced you are, we often don’t create opportunities for teachers to really lead. You have to leave the classroom and become a principal, and so we have to think about how we can make the profession more dynamic, more sustainable, more joyful, and, ultimately, more impactful for kids.”

He says teachers in the U.S. have less time for planning and development compared to educators in other wealthy countries. “Teaching can be a very isolating profession in terms of how often you actually get to work with adults. In designing schools that are more collaborative and where adults actually get more time to do their best work and practice together, we have seen overwhelmingly positive feedback.”

Fu cites a McKinsey study that estimates that 20% to 40% of teachers’ tasks – including grading, lesson planning, general administration – could be handled by AI. He says lifting that burden could “allow teachers to get deeper and deeper, and more focused on the things that they really want to be doing.”

Fu says when it comes to examining the teacher pipeline, it should be noted the situation varies depending upon the market. “There are places where teachers are making well into six-figure salaries because of a really deep commitment to teacher career pathways and honoring really excellent teachers.

“And there are places where teachers are scraping by and because of state funding cuts, some districts are cut from five days a week to four days a week. So, there’s not one story across our country, and sometimes that gets lost in the narrative.”

He continues, “One of the first things we should be asking is if there’s a teacher shortage are we actually paying people the right salary based on the expertise and the demands of the job that they’re bringing?

LE helped spearhead the formation of a coalition to “reimagine the teaching profession.” Fu says, “One of the pieces that’s felt really important has been actually sheltering the job so that when you come in as a new teacher, you have a chance to apprentice, to study master educators, and to come in a way that is really going to set you up for success.”

Fu says students aren’t the only ones who are learning, “Teachers also love to learn. I think that accountability has so outweighed support, it feels out of sync for the profession.

“For the profession to be sustainable, accountability and support need to be more balanced so that I feel supported to do the big things that are being asked of me.”

Fu – who was a teacher in Mississippi 24 years ago – talks about the difference between a teacher and a leading educator, “We’re an organization that was founded to support teacher leaders. We’ve gone on to work with districts and principals.

“But going back to my own story – part of what allowed me to be better was to learn from teacher leaders, master educators, veteran teachers, and to really apprentice myself and learn from their practices.”