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Posts Tagged ‘NSFY’

New Skills for Youth Innovation Site Snapshots Released

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020

Launched in 2016, JPMorgan Chase & Co. New Skills for Youth is a $75 million, five-year global initiative aimed at transforming how cities and states ensure that young people are career ready. In addition to the state-based investments, which Advance CTE led in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers and Education Strategy Group, JPMorgan Chase also invested in local innovation sites across the globe.

Today, Advance CTE released snapshots on two of these innovation sites, which document the progress of the local investments that aim to identify and implement the most promising ideas in career education, with a special focus on communities with the greatest needs. While each site has its unique context, each is working to improve and expand career pathways, hands-on work-based learning experiences and provide support for learners through sustainable partnerships between the education community and business and industry.

The two snapshots:

Greater Washington Region developed a four-year initiative to explore how the public and private sectors can work together to grow the local Information Technology (IT) economy throughout the Washington DC region.

Germany has launched the Zukunftsträger initiative to improve transitions from school to the workforce for the country’s vulnerable youth populations. 

While each site has its unique context, each is working to improve and expand career pathways, hands-on work-based learning experiences and provide support for learners through sustainable partnerships between the education community and business and industry. In total, over 205,000 students have been impacted by the local investments from JPMorgan Chase & Co. New Skills for Youth initiative, with the investments spanning over twelve sites in thirteen countries across four continents.

Each New Skill for Youth Innovation Site snapshot is now in our resource center. Review the total impact from all innovation sites in the summary report. 

Help us share!
Tweet: Over 205,000 students have been impacted by @jpmorgan and the New Skills for Youth local investments. The most recent snapshots of the Greater Washington Region and Germany have now been released by @CTEWorks. View their impacts at https://careertech.org/resource/series/nsfy-innovation-sites #CTEWorks

By admin in Resources
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Strengthening Career Readiness Systems through New Skills for Youth: A Look Back at States’ Impact

Wednesday, December 11th, 2019

Under Kentucky’s new program approval and review process, schools and districts can use state and federal funding to support career pathways only if their programs are aligned with priority industries or top occupations. This is just one of the strategies Kentucky used under the New Skills for Youth (NSFY) initiative to transform and phase out virtually every career pathway that was not well aligned with labor market demand.

From 2016 through 2019, Kentucky and nine other states in the NSFY initiative received $2 million and hands-on technical assistance and coaching to strengthen their career readiness systems. As part of the NSFY initiative, a $75 million national initiative developed by JPMorgan Chase & Co, the Council of Chief State School Officers, Advance CTE and Education Strategy Group worked with states to improve their career readiness systems.

Through NSFY, Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Wisconsin took action to:

The impact of these states across the entire initiative is highlighted in the NSFY Impact Snapshots and NSFY Impact Summary, which examines the state role in catalyzing and transforming career readiness opportunities for youth.

Through NSFY, 10 states demonstrated the importance of strong state leadership to advance career readiness by setting a clear vision and agenda, catalyzing and scaling pathways and work-based learning, and ensuring access and equity in career readiness opportunities. As a result, the impact of the states was far-reaching. For instance, under NSFY Delaware was able to develop 19 career pathway programs in high-demand occupations and Tennessee was able to ensure that 100 percent of high school students have access to at least four early postsecondary courses.

To learn more about the work states completed under the NSFY initiative, register for Advance CTE’s A Look Back at States’ Impact through the New Skills for Youth Initiative webinar, which will take place on December 12 from 1-2 p.m. EST, and download the NSFY Impact Snapshots here.

Brianna McCain, Policy Associate

By admin in Publications
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Checking in on New Skills for Youth States: How States Have Set their Sights on Access and Equity

Tuesday, March 26th, 2019

The Met, a work-based learning focused technical center in Providence, Rhode Island, serves about 800 students across the state. It is also one of eight recipients of Rhode Island’s new Innovation and Equity grant program, a $1.2 million program to help local districts identify and support populations that are underrepresented in high-skill, in-demand career pathways. Using funding from the Innovation and Equity grant program, the Met is working to recruit low-income learners into the Finance program and help them earn high-value credentials that have immediate value in the labor market.

Access and equity is a priority for Rhode Island and its nine peer states in the New Skills for Youth initiative, a focus that is highlighted in a new series of state snapshots released today. In 2017, each New Skills for Youth state was awarded $2 million to help transform career readiness opportunities for learners in their states. After spending the early part of the initiative establishing partnerships and laying the policy groundwork for success, states turned to implementation, with a focus on equity, in 2018.

Some states are focusing on including learners with disabilities in high-quality career pathways. For example, Delaware piloted a new program in 2018 called PIPELine to Career Success to remove barriers for learners with disabilities to access work-based learning experiences. The program is a two-year process in which school districts identify barriers to access, examine their root causes, and then implement strategies to close access gaps. The Delaware Department of Education has made grants available to three pilot districts and hopes to scale the approach across the state in the future.

Other states are working to expand access to advanced coursework for underserved populations. Rhode Island Innovation and Equity program is one such initiative. Another is Ohio’s Expanding Opportunities for Each Child grant. The state leveraged a rarely used allowance in the Every Student Succeeds Act, which lets states set aside up to 3 percent of their Title I funds for Direct Student Services grants, to award more than $7 million to 17 sites in economically disadvantaged communities. The grants are designed to either develop and expand career pathways or improve access to advanced coursework (including AP, IB and CTE).

Additionally, New Skills for Youth states are embedding equity as a core principle in both policy and practice. Several states are implementing statewide initiatives in support of academic and career planning, and they have focused their training, guidance and supports to emphasize the importance of equity. Others have built considerations about equity into their criteria for designating – and funding – high-quality career pathways. These steps ensure that questions of equity and access are addressed at every stage, from design to implementation.

The 2019 calendar year is the final year of this stage of the New Skills for Youth initiative. As states look beyond the end of the initiative, one question that is front and center in the year ahead is how they will secure commitment and funding to keep the focus on career readiness. States have made a lot of progress, and the efforts they have taken to embed equity in policy and practice will have a lasting impact for years to come. But state leaders understand they must continue to elevate this work as a priority to ensure their efforts in New Skills for Youth can be sustained and scaled in the future.

The state snapshots were developed through the New Skills for Youth initiative, a partnership of the Council of Chief State School Officers, Advance CTE and the Education Strategy Group, generously funded by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Austin Estes, Senior Policy Associate

By admin in Advance CTE Resources, Publications, Resources
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How New Skills for Youth States are Defining Criteria for High-quality Career Pathways

Thursday, May 10th, 2018

What defines a high-quality career pathway? Is it alignment to labor market needs and career opportunities? The quality and qualifications of teachers and faculty? Access to meaningful, aligned work-based learning experiences? Perhaps all of the above?

Defining the the components of high-quality career pathways is a critical priority of the 10 states participating in New Skills for Youth (NSFY), an initiative to transform career pathways and student success by expanding options for high school students. NSFY is a partnership of the Council of Chief State School Officers, Education Strategy Group and Advance CTE, generously funded by JP Morgan Chase & Co.

Today, Advance CTE released a series of snapshots highlighting promising practices and achievements of the 10 NSFY states, including the different approaches each state is taking to define and promote high-quality career pathways.

In Massachusetts, a cross-sector committee developed criteria for high-quality college and career pathways (HQCCP), part of an effort to improve career-readiness opportunities for students in the commonwealth. Massachusetts plans to identify, designate and support two types of high-quality secondary pathways: early college pathways, which enable students to earn up to 12 college credits in high school, and innovation pathways, which are aligned with high-demand industries. The joint committee set a high bar to designate each type of pathway. To officially be recognized as a HQCCP, pathways must:

In 2017, Massachusetts began accepting applications to designate HQCCPs, and plans to announce designated sites shortly. These sites will receive support, and in some cases, funding, from the state, and will work together as a community to strengthen meaningful career pathways that are aligned to the joint committee’s HQCCP criteria.

Other NSFY states chose different approaches to defining quality career pathways. Ohio designed a framework for local program administrators to evaluate program quality and make informed decisions about which programs to scale up and which to phase out. The framework is designed using four dimensions: learning environment and culture, business and community engagement, educator collaboration, and pathway design.

Wisconsin took a regional approach through its Pathways Wisconsin pilot. Through the project, which has been rolled out in four regions across the state, regional Pathways Wisconsin directors are working with key stakeholders in their community to identify and recognize different career pathways within priority industry areas.

Defining criteria for high-quality career pathways was a common priority across the NSFY states. Other priorities include:

To learn more about the pursuits of the NSFY cohort, read the 2017 NSFY Snapshot Executive Summary or download individual state snapshots.

Austin Estes, Senior Policy Associate

By admin in Publications, Resources
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Early Achievements and Innovations from Phase One of the New Skills for Youth Initiative

Wednesday, March 1st, 2017

Last spring, 24 states and Washington, D.C. began a national, six-month effort to examine and transform their career readiness systems and expand opportunities available to students in their states. Under the initiative, part of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s $75 million New Skills for Youth initiative, states were required to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment and use the results to construct a three-year action plan. States were provided grant funds to conduct the needs assessment and begin early implementation of their action plans.

Today, Advance CTE, Council of Chief State School Officers and Education Strategy Group released a series of snapshots documenting state efforts under Phase One of the New Skills for Youth initiative. The snapshots profile some of the significant achievements and lessons learned through this early work, drawing out strategies that other states can emulate. A holistic summary of the cross-state Phase One work is available here, along with individual state snapshots.

These resources were developed through the New Skills for Youth initiative, a partnership of the Council of Chief State School Officers, Advance CTE and the Education Strategy Group, generously funded by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

While all states had CTE and career readiness policies in place prior to the start of the initiative, each began the work at different starting points. Nonetheless, states made considerable progress during the grant period. Cross-sector ownership was one area of focus, as many states worked to distribute the work across various stakeholders — particularly within business and industry — and secure commitment from cross-sector leaders. These efforts paid dividends, ensuring that employers were not only aware of the work, but were empowered to lead key initiatives. Additionally, states that engaged stakeholders early and often found it easier to distribute the work and clarify roles during the planning process. Rhode Island, for example, gathered input from business, secondary education, postsecondary education, the Department of Commerce and the Governor’s Office, which enabled the state to assign activities in its action plan to individual staff members within each partnering organization.

The snapshots also detail trends related to:

The Phase One planning and early implementation grant period concluded in October, but ten states were selected to receive additional funds and still more have elected to work as a cohort to implement their three-year career readiness action plans. Stay tuned for periodic updates from states’ ongoing New Skills for Youth work.

Austin Estes, Policy Associate

By admin in Publications, Research, Resources
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