With planning, career and technical education pathways can yield results
Not long ago, most educational advocates would have suggested a four-year liberal arts degree as the best way for students to set themselves on the path toward a future of quality, sustainable and meaningful employment. Now, advances in technology and shifts in the global economy are prompting many of these same advocates to adapt and expand their policy positions to also advocate for high-quality career and technical education (CTE).
During February’s CTE Month and Black History Month, these pathways were top of mind for UnidosUS and its partner National Urban League (NUL), who provided recommendations in a 2024 report on how to improve access and navigation supports in CTE to expand economic mobility opportunities for underserved communities.
“In their ideal form, these programs integrate rigorous academic instruction with career exploration, making learning relevant to workforce preparation and youth interest and can provide a clear alternative road map for learners to navigate their educational journeys and career options,” the report states. “However, a comprehensive literature review and a series of listening sessions with16 to 24-year-olds showed that CTE pathways programs lag behind in recruiting, supporting and graduating youth in the communities who could most use this kind of education.”
CTE Pathways Navigation
The report, titled A Community-Based Approach to Career Pathways Navigation, suggests that the federal government work with community-based organizations to create a central hub, referred to as a “pathways navigator,” aimed at ensuring greater consistency, efficiency and equity in channeling students into and through CTE pathways.
“This strategy would help to eliminate some of the key barriers to participation, giving learners a better opportunity to succeed,” the report states, noting that a collaborative base of key stakeholders including school counselors, medical professionals, the justice system and various social service agencies would be tasked with creating a CTE plan that addresses social and economic challenges such as health, justice involvement and housing.
By screening students at the K-12 level, proponents of the pathway navigator model believe they could streamline the educational, social and logistical work needed to identify, recruit and mentor students into CTE programs.
“Learners will be assessed at multiple points during their pathway journey, which will trigger transitions into new phases of the program. Most of these transitions would coincide with traditional school transitions such as graduation, but would also include other learning milestones such as an industry certification,” the report explains.
The report states the federal government’s community block grants could provide the much-needed funding and framework to pilot such a program and ensure that it is fully evaluated.
How Black and Latino students could greatly benefit from CTE
UnidosUS and NUL believe that this monumental shift in the job market, involving advances in technology and a more globalized economy, represents an opportunity for historically underserved populations to catch up economically, but only if educational programs are tailored to their needs.
Right now, the discrepancies between the median household wealth of Black and Latino families and that of Asian and white families are massive. The median household wealth for Asian and white families is $350,000 and $250,000 respectively, compared to $49,000 for Latino households and $27,000 for Black households.
“It is a myth that upward socio-economic mobility is the standard in the United States,” the report says, adding that in the U.S. socio-economic mobility is “woefully behind” that of other nations. In fact, the report cites 2020 World Economic Forum research showing that the United States ranked 27th out of 82 nations when it comes to measuring mobility with education, workforce, health, technology and institutions indicators.
The United States’ history regarding racial discrimination in public policy, financial practices and societal norms have all contributed to a situation where even as high school graduation rates rise across demographics, communities of color still struggle to finish higher education degrees, which, as the report notes, remain “a key to economic power and mobility in the United States.”
According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), during the 2021-2022 school year, 83% of Latinos graduated from high school, compared to 81% for Black students and 90% for white students. But NCES research also showed that in that same year, only 17% of Latinos received their bachelor’s degree, compared to 10.4% and 58.8% of their Black and white peers, respectively.
This data presents a good argument for CTE pathways, but obtaining buy-in from the Latino community can be challenging given misperceptions about the value of technical education.
“In addition to the issue of access, there is a fundamental lack of awareness among Latino students and families about the potential careers and earning power CTE pathways offer,” UnidosUS Education Programs Consultant Lisa Marie Gomez stated in an executive summary of student focus groups. She notes that many Latino families have been led to believe the stereotypes that technical education leads to low-wage, manual labor jobs.
For example, many students associated CTE pathways with what they considered “bad” jobs, such as factory work, childcare, construction, hospitality and welding, but didn’t recognize that a lot of jobs they identified as “good” such as STEM, health care, real estate and IT, all have CTE pathways.
“Career pathways navigation can help demystify perceptions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ jobs by exposing students to postsecondary and career information and avenues,” the report explains. It also notes how this concept of navigators has proven highly effective in other fields. In health care, for example, thousands of navigators helped with enrollment with the Affordable Care Act and with vaccinations. Additionally, the U.S. Small Business Administration found navigators to be an efficient avenue for ensuring entrepreneurs could easily access financial assistance and capital during the Covid-19 pandemic.
More federal funds could lead to better funded, more accessible CTE programs
UnidosUS and NUL encourage the federal government to use the report’s findings to strengthen and bring cohesion to already existing CTE pathway programs funded through policies such as the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), Perkins and the Higher Education Act (HEA), as well as other federal departments. These programs, the report notes, are often disjointed and therefore could benefit from greater coordination at all levels of government, as well as from the participation of youth and the organizations that serve them.
The report indicates the U.S. Department of Labor’s Youth Employment Works strategy set the stage for such engagement but lacks flexibility, something that could come through greater conversation and collaboration between the stakeholders that would participate in the proposed CTE pathways navigators model.
To improve on this, the report recommends the federal government take the following three steps:
- Increase and leverage CTE funding to strengthen navigation
- Expand and strengthen federal data collection and reporting
- Provide technical assistance and linguistically responsive practices
Citing a series of other educational and economic studies, the report notes that implementing these strategies has benefits to individuals, communities and U.S. society as a whole. For example, a Georgetown University study found that by 2031, 72% of U.S. jobs will require post-secondary education or training, making the pathway to obtaining it a civil right.Studies by Citigroup and the Economic Policy Institute recognized the gap in getting there is detrimental to the U.S. economy’s global competitiveness. In fact, Citigroup estimates that financial losses due to discrimination and employment have cost this country $16 trillion over the last two decades.
“To fail to meet the challenge of remaining pathways supports at this moment would be a missed opportunity we cannot afford,” the report concludes.
That’s why UnidosUS and National Urban League are working hand in hand to elevate the opportunities that CTE pathways can provide, not only for Latino and Black students, but for the country’s future workforce.
“We look forward to continuing our collaboration with NUL by considering these promising career pathways for our Black and Latino students, who time and again have shown they have the talent and innovation to forge amazing careers and uplift their communities when they are given the appropriate supports,” said UnidosUS Education Policy Project Director Amalia Chamorro.
“NUL and UnidosUS have developed a bold vision for career pathways. Grounded in community, our approach builds on the deep work of cultivating trusted messengers. Now, more than ever, we must empower Black and Latino learners with high-quality career experiences, knowledge and skills to chart their destinies to economic parity and excellence,” said NUL Senior Director of Education Policy and Advocacy Adenike Huggins.
– Author Julienne Gage is a former UnidosUS staff member and longtime contributor to the Progress Report blog. She is currently obtaining her PhD in Anthropology in Florida International University’s Global and Sociocultural Studies Department.