Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

JPMorgan Chase launched the New Skills for Youth (NSFY) initiative, a 5-year project that provides $35 million in funding to help ten states improve the college and career readiness of young people through the expansion of high-quality career pathways. NSFY entails expanding access to career pathways among all students – not only those historically served by career and technical education programs.

This presentation draws on data from the national evaluation study. We examine states’ progress with respect to six initiative goals: (1) mapping career education to industry demand and employer needs; (2) enhancing the rigor and quality of career pathways programming; (3) incentivizing schools to increase students’ career readiness; (4) scaling successful local initiatives; (5) leveraging resources to fund and sustain high-quality career pathways; and (6) increasing alignment between high school and postsecondary programs. We also present quantitative data on changes in career pathway access, participation, and completion; attainment of dual enrollment credit and industry-recognized credentials; and post-graduates’ education and employment.

Early evaluation findings suggest that states’ previous experience with career pathways and related initiatives shaped their approach to NSFY. States with established statewide career pathway systems and supporting policies tended to refine and scale existing pathways, whereas less experienced states focused on building new statewide and regional infrastructure for pathways.

States credit the initiative with helping to coordinate a vision and plan for career pathways across state agencies and other organizations. They expanded use of employers and labor market information to prioritize pathways in high-demand fields, often using intermediaries. States also introduced new policies, practices, and standards to help increase the rigor of pathways. States incentivized schools to create opportunities for students to participate in work-based learning and earn credentials, sometimes through changes to state accountability systems.

State teams still have opportunities to better engage local stakeholders, postsecondary partners, and workforce systems. States can also increase their capacity to plan and evaluate pathways by capturing more comprehensive and robust data on career pathways participation and outcomes.