Kentucky is participating in a new national grant program – called the Middle School Career Impact and Learning Network – which will help establish the gold standard for what middle school career exploration should look like.
The program is run by American Student Assistance, a national nonprofit helping students learn about careers and prepare for their futures, with support from Education Strategy Group, a mission-driven organization committed to expanding economic mobility by increasing educational attainment. These organizations created an impact and learning network based on the recently published research report, “Extending the Runway: A 50-State Analysis of Middle School Career Exploration.”
Kentucky is one of five inaugural member states identified as a leading state in the report. The others are Arizona, Arkansas, Pennsylvania and Washington.
These leading states were invited to join the network because their leadership demonstrates a commitment to middle school career exploration with a strong policy foundation and infrastructure to build upon.
The learning network seeks to advance and accelerate the work of individual states, while producing strategies and resources to catalyze work across the field. Participating states will receive a grant to support their capacity and participation in network meetings and events.
Beth Hargis, associate commissioner in the Kentucky Department of Education’s Office of Career and Technical Education, said she believes it’s important for students to explore career options earlier in their school journey.
“Middle school career exploration is increasingly vital as we prepare students for their future careers,” Hargis said. “Kentucky is proud to participate in this network and is dedicated to developing guidance and resources to bridge the gap between middle and high school career education.”
The “Extending the Runway” report by American Student Assistance (ASA) and Education Strategy Group (ESG) examined middle school career exploration across the country. The report concluded that students who have a longer career exploration journey are better positioned to make decisions that will put them on a path to life-long economic success and personal fulfillment.
ASA determined that with higher demand for skilled workers, coupled with the lingering educational effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is no longer enough to start planning for career aspirations during a student’s junior – or even freshman – year of high school.
The report offers recommendations for state and local leaders to consider helping students explore career options in middle school.
“While the findings of our collaborative research show promise in states’ commitment to prioritizing and scaling quality middle school career exploration, the field as a whole is relatively nascent in developing strong systems to provide equitable career exploration for younger students,” ASA Executive Vice President Julie Lammers said. “As an advocacy organization, ASA is investing in bringing together the top states identified in ‘Extending the Runway’ to form an impact and learning network. The goal of this network is to produce model policies and a singular vision for the field that will inspire this work across the country.”
State teams that are part of the network have committed to the following priorities:
• Assemble a team of cross-agency partners across the state, with representation from (but not limited to) a state education agency, intermediary organization, the state’s principal and/or school counseling association and state chamber of commerce or regional employer organization.
• Actively participate in monthly virtual cross-state network sessions organized around sharing best practices, collaboratively solving problems and learning from other participants and subject matter experts.
Learn with and from other member states to discuss strong policies, emerging best practices and resources needed to advance the field.
• Strengthen middle school career exploration work through monthly coaching sessions that provide tailored support, troubleshoot challenges and provide feedback on network participation.
• Develop a three-year partnership plan that articulates improvement goals for the state’s middle school career exploration system. The plan will govern the continued collaboration between the state education agency and intermediary advocacy organizations through development of strategies and action steps across policy and infrastructure.
• Contribute to the development of all public-facing resources, including the model policy set, resource repository and joint commitment statement.
• Convene members of the state team outside of these regular engagements as needed for additional planning, discussion and collaborative development of the partnership plan.
• Hargis said Kentucky is committed to the goals of the learning network.
“Our middle school students will benefit greatly from this work,” she said. “We are proud to be recognized nationally as part of the ‘Extending the Runway’ report, and we’re excited to collaborate with other states through the program. Our state and local leaders are committed to seeing this vision to fruition by helping our middle schoolers find their career passions.”
Kentucky Department of Education