The Edge: On Students’ Paths to Careers, Obstacles Remain

What the secretary of education, other educators — and students — say about improving the pathways from school to college to career. ADVERTISEMENT [The Edge Logo]( Did someone forward you this newsletter? [Sign up free]( to receive your own copy. You can now read The Chronicle on [Apple News]( [Flipboard]( and [Google News](. I’m Goldie Blumenstyk, a senior writer at The Chronicle covering innovation in and around higher ed. This week I report on ideas from policymakers, educators, and some actual students at events focused on improving the pathways from school to college to career — plus some follow-ups from my conversation with the secretary of education. I also share some new thinking on rural community colleges and the limitations of digital credentials. And a reminder: The Edge is now publishing fortnightly. If you receive it via email on Wednesdays, you’ll still get my reporting on the people and ideas reshaping the sector — every other week. If you are not yet receiving this free newsletter directly in your inbox, this is a great time to [subscribe](. Know someone else who’d appreciate these takes on key questions in higher ed? Please pass that link on to them. ADVERTISEMENT Upcoming Workshop [Join us this spring]( for a virtual professional development program on overcoming the challenges women leaders in academe face and creating a strategic vision for transformational change. [Reserve your spot today!]( Educators, wonks, and students want more-flexible educational systems. I heard several smart sound bites and astute observations during the first [National Pathways Summit]( held this month in Washington, D.C. A day earlier some of the same themes emerged during a virtual kickoff for another effort called [Launch: Equitable & Accelerated Pathways for All](. “Better pathways” is pretty much the motherhood-and-apple-pie issue for education right now. So most of the comments that stood out to me were the ones that highlighted continuing challenges. I highlight several of those below. Schools and colleges need to become more flexible. In his speech to the 250 or so summit attendees, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona noted that the adoption of approaches like odd- and even-day schedules to accommodate social distancing during the pandemic proved that elementary and secondary schools could be adaptable. That mind-set needs to continue, he said, as he urged all high schools to offer as many as 12 college credits via dual-enrollment, provide counselors “who know the labor market inside and out,” and create opportunities for internships during the school day. “School doesn’t need to be five days a week, facing forward,” he said. Recent federal actions, like passage of the CHIPS Science Act and the investments in green energy in the infrastructure bill, are expected to create millions of new jobs. ”If your systems are the same now as they were in 2018,” said Cardona, “you’re not ready.” Cardona didn’t spend a lot of time at the summit talking about higher ed, and the Biden administration’s own effort in this vein, [Raise the Bar: Unlocking Career Success,]( doesn’t either. But in a conversation last week, Cardona told me he’d love to see many more colleges offering credit for field-based learning — and more opportunities for college professors and staff members to also engage with employers, so they’ll better understand the workplace of today. (The administration also supports registered apprenticeships in teaching, which have expanded from two states to 14 since 2021.) Don’t expect a bunch of new formal programs to galvanize those activities; I asked, but that didn’t elicit much of a response from Cardona. Rather, the secretary clearly expects colleges to be more attuned to how work-force demands are changing. “We have a system now that is influenced by work-force needs,” he told me. “I want to see a system that is co-created with our work-force partners.” Expectations are rising for education to help meet coming labor shortages. In remarks prerecorded for the summit, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said her agency has asked colleges to, by 2030, triple the number of graduates in semiconductor-related fields, including engineering, and for high schools and community colleges to work with chip-manufacturing companies to prepare 100,000 people for jobs as semiconductor technicians. Honestly, all that was news to me. Maybe I didn’t get the memo, but I suspect many college leaders haven’t either. (After the fact, I learned that Raimondo laid this all out in a [February speech, replete with race-to-the-moon]( metaphors, at Georgetown University.) A Commerce Department official tells me the secretary and colleagues will be reaching out to colleges in the months to come. Meanwhile, this week the department issued [a guide]( for chip companies applying for some of the $39-billion in CHIPS Act grants, which highlights some of the ways they might engage with higher ed in developing their work-force plans. This is both a challenge and an opportunity for higher ed. Colleges that are interested? Maybe don’t wait to be asked. Faculty roles — and in some cases, courses — should be redesigned. John B. King Jr., the new chancellor of the State University of New York system (and a secretary of education during the Obama administration), highlighted the need for new professorship models, especially in high-demand fields like nursing, IT, and cybersecurity, where colleges often have difficulty competing on pay for instructors. “We should make it easier for them to be a nurse and a teacher,” he said. I’m guessing/hoping that he wasn’t just talking about hiring these professionals as adjuncts but is pondering some fresher approaches. King also suggested rethinking requirements that can often delay students in completing their pre-professional education. If clinical spots are in short supply, for example, he said some of those experiences could be accomplished in simulation labs, which are becoming more and more sophisticated. A lot of education isn’t accounted for. While the Department of Education has a sense of what degrees students are earning, there is no national measure of the postsecondary certificates that many people are now pursuing through work or higher ed. That means many of today’s students “are invisible,” Courtney Brown, the Lumina Foundation’s vice president for impact and planning, told a summit session. “If I’m a policymaker, I don’t see these students.” Students want information, opportunities for work experience, and more ways to signal their abilities. I was glad that the summit involved students, although I wish they had been featured on the main stage. Several with whom I spoke mentioned the importance of microcredentials and paid internships as ways to help students who don’t come from well-off or well-connected families. Tasnia Zzoha, a student at Nassau Community College, cited microcredentials as particularly valuable for community-college students, who, she said, still face “a lot of stigma” in the job market. Students also highlighted the information gap that leaves many of their classmates, especially those from low-income families, unaware of the array of career opportunities. That’s a challenge not just for colleges but employers too, Alexandria Chun, a SUNY student trustee, me. “Companies have to do a lot more on the ground.” Talk is easy. So now what? That was my question [when the summit was first announced,]( and it still is. Summit organizers told me that over the next few months, they’ll be recruiting more allies and developing and publishing a system to track participants’ progress on goals like expanding paid internships and creation of early-college programs in high schools. Once that’s up, I’ll let you know. I’ll also be watching the progress of the Launch effort, which will have [on-the-ground projects]( in 11 states. Check these out. Here are some education-related items from other outlets that recently caught my eye. Did I miss a good one? [Let me know](mailto:goldie@chronicle.com). - For all the hoopla about new kinds of credentials — including those in digital formats designed to include added information — most of the systems employers use to screen job candidates aren’t technically able to process them. That’s the most compelling finding from a [new report]( from the Northeastern University Center for the Future of Higher Education and Talent Strategy. Developments in artificial intelligence could improve these applicant-tracking systems, the report notes, but, as it adds, the use of AI also brings greater risk of introducing bias into hiring processes. - Although more than 1.5 million people attend one of 444 rural community colleges in the United States, many operate in an environment marked by declining populations, constrained resources, and in some cases, hostility toward higher ed. A new Aspen Institute report on “[Rural Community College Excellence]( however, suggests that strategies such as responding to employers based farther afield, and seeing “small size as a strength” could pay off. “Our research found that combining responsibilities — while at times burdensome — can increase coordination between different parts of the college and, in turn, strengthen the effectiveness of student-success strategies,” the report says. A Chronicle-led session will help set the stage for the ASU+GSV Summit. To provide some context for higher-ed leaders attending this annual confab in San Diego next month, The Chronicle will be hosting a special pre-event session on the afternoon of Sunday, April 16. We’ll be identifying key trends that could affect the future of higher ed, and probing what those could mean for academic reinvention, ed tech, and campus strategy. I’ll be leading the discussion — and conducting an interview with Nancy Gonzales, executive vice president and university provost at Arizona State University. But these conversations won’t be complete without contributions and insights from participants. Spaces are filling up, but use [this form]( to inquire about attending. Got a tip you’d like to share or a question you’d like me to answer? Let me know, at goldie@chronicle.com. If you have been forwarded this newsletter and would like to see past issues, [find them here](. To receive your own copy, free, register [here](. 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