Policy: Federal

Connecting the Disconnected: Improving Education and Employment Outcomes Among Disadvantaged Youth

This paper examines current trends in the declining employment outcomes among disadvantaged youth, with a particular focus on those "disconnected" from schools and the labor force. The document offers explanations for these trends and analyses of policies designed to improve said outcomes. The supply- and demand-side policies recommended in this piece are ultimately designed to ensure the employability of disadvantaged youth, incentivize labor-force participation, and remove employment barriers faced by offenders and non-custodial parents.

CCRS Center Updates

The College and Career Readiness and Success Center (CCRS Center) works to help states and other CCRS stakeholders better inform, align, and support efforts to ensure that all students are ready for success in their postsecondary endeavors.  

The CCRS Center has released the following tools and issue briefs to help schools, districts, and states address key CCRS needs as they work to ensure all students are college and career ready:

Implementation of the Talent Search Program, Past and Present: Final Report From Phase I of the National Evaluation

This national study examines Phase I of the implementation of Talent Search, a federal program designed to encourage students to participate in the federal aid program for post-secondary education. This report provides program growth, regulatory and legislative changes that occurred during this period and how the program was operating in terms of  providing academic assistance, using technology to serve students, and issues faced when serving middle school students.

Creating Postsecondary Pathways to Good Jobs for Young High School Dropouts: The Possibilities and the Challenges

This paper focuses on strategies for creating postsecondary pathways for high school dropouts in order to close the skills gap as well as connect the talents of these youth to postsecondary skills and credentials. The paper argues that in order to improve educational and economical outcomes for high school dropouts, there must be alignment of secondary, postsecondary, workforce, and adult education systems and several actions must be taken.

High School Redesign Initiative

In February 2013, during his State of the Union Address, President Obama announced the High School Redesign initiative. The initiative will encourage schools to develop new college and career pathways through a $300 million competitive grant program.  On June 7, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan followed up with details on the competition. Along with his announcement, the U.S.

Workforce Data Landscape

This fact sheet discusses the importance of aligning workforce data and how that data can inform educational and economic development policy. Aligning education, employment, and workforce data also allows stakeholders to answer a variety of questions such as: What educational experience do children need to successfully pursue their desired careers and do the courses a student takes correlate to his or her later employment and earnings?

New Flexibility for States Implementing Fast-Moving Reforms: Laying Out Our Thinking

On June 18, Secretary Arne Duncan informed state chiefs that the administration is open to flexibility requests around the principal and teacher evaluation implementation deadline for those states that already have approved Elementary and Secondary Education Act flexibility waivers. For these states, consequences around new assessments can be delayed for up to one year, until 2016-17.

U.S. Departments of Education and Labor Announce Availability of $474.5 Million to Strengthen Training Partnerships Between Community Colleges and Employers

The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Labor aim to strengthen the relationship between higher education and the labor market by designating $474.5 million of funding towards partnerships between community colleges and businesses. The announcement of the funding came April 19, 2013 from Labor Secretary Seth Harris.

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