ESSA requires that students receive a well-rounded education that includes content via enriched accelerated curricula and educational experiences. The following career readiness resources highlight some strategies states can adopt to provide students a well-rounded education.
Developing a College- and Career-Ready Workforce: An Analysis of ESSA, Perkins, and WIOA | November 2017
ESSA, WIOA, and Perkins provides opportunities for states to develop a coherent approach to ensuring that today’s students are prepared for tomorrow’s careers and workforce demands. This brief, workbook, and interactive tool helps state and local agencies identify opportunities to align and leverage policies, programs, and funding across the three laws to support the education-to-workforce pipeline and provide students with the academic, technical, and employability skills they need to be successful in the workplace.
Leveraging the Every Student Succeeds Act to Support State Visions for College and Career Readiness | August 2016
This Ask the CCRS Center brief provides a policy framework to help states align their college and career readiness definitions with relevant policy provisions under ESSA into one cohesive strategy. The framework is grouped into three interrelated policy areas under ESSA: a well-rounded education, accountability systems, and assessment systems.
Designing a Career Pathways System: A Framework for State Education Agencies | February 2016
A career pathways system is a coordinated system of programs and services supporting students in the transition from school to the workforce. This four-chapter module – a collection of slides, handouts, and facilitator’s guide – is intended to help state education agency staff design, implement, and evaluate a career pathways system.
Career Pathways Initiatives | September 2015
This Ask the CCRS Center brief highlights national and regional career pathways initiatives and provides lessons learned for states developing and implementing a career pathways system that is aligned with local labor market needs as well as with postsecondary credits, credentials, certificates, and degrees.
Integrating Employability Skills: A Framework for All Educators | July 2015
To meet the demands of the 21st century, students are increasingly expected to master employability skills—personal qualities, applied academics and workplace skills—in addition to traditional academic skills. States and districts can provide students with a well-rounded education by integrating and prioritizing employability skills with this interactive professional learning module
How Career and Technical Education Can Help Students Be College and Career Ready: A Primer | March 2013
Career technical education (CTE) is one strategy to provide students with enriched curriculum and educational experiences that support a well-rounded education. This brief provides an overview of the evolution of CTE in the U.S., reviews what CTE looks like in practice, and highlights issues CTE faces in the field that must be overcome for it to become an impactful and wide-reaching strategy for preparing students for postsecondary success.
