Success at Every Step
April 9, 2010
By Sarah Hooker, Program Associate, American Youth Policy Forum
Ensuring youth success in postsecondary education requires intentional and comprehensive programs and policies at every level of the educational ladder. In a recent publication entitled Success at Every Step: How 23 Programs Support Youth on the Path to College and Beyond, the American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) profiles programs that have been proven to help young people prepare for college, careers, and civic life, based on the results of recent, high-quality evaluations.
The included programs span the fields of comprehensive school reform, career and technical education, expanded learning opportunities, college access, dual enrollment, and postsecondary education. This publication is designed to help policymakers and practitioners learn about initiatives that have been effective in helping youth become ready for college and careers and analyze their implications for policy.
Positive Outcomes for Youth
The programs profiled in this publication aim to reverse the trend of unacceptably low educational outcomes for large proportions of the nation’s youth, particularly for students from groups that are underrepresented in higher education. Each of these initiatives has had a positive impact on young people’s preparation for postsecondary success. The vast majority of programs (20 out of 23) improved students’ academic outcomes at the middle and high school levels.
The school reform model First Things First, for instance, improved students’ reading and math scores, increased attendance rates, and raised high school graduation rates. Programs such as the Early College High School model and the federal Upward Bound program increased the numbers of students taking advanced courses and staying on track to complete a college-preparatory curriculum.
Several of the programs also increased students’ likelihood of taking the necessary steps to plan for postsecondary education, and nine programs were associated with increased enrollment and success in college. Dual Enrollment improved former participants’ college grades and persistence, and the Opening Doors Learning Communities Program at Kingsborough Community College increased students’ rates of passing out of developmental English requirements. Some program evaluations found a positive impact on career-related outcomes; students who had participated in Career Academies had higher earnings and employment rates than similar peers. Students at Diploma Plus schools, a network of alternative high schools, increased their engagement and effort in their studies.
Elements of Successful Programs
From the analysis of the 23 programs, AYPF noted a number of common practices and recurring themes that may contribute to the models’ effectiveness in improving educational, career-related, and developmental outcomes. AYPF identified ten Elements of Success, which were grouped into the broad categories of Programmatic Elements of Success and Structural and System-Focused Elements of Success. For instance, 19 of the 23 programs feature the combination of Rigor and Academic Support.
The AVID program demonstrates this theme by encouraging average- and lower-achieving students to take advanced, college-preparatory courses while also including extensive tutoring and instruction in specific study skills. Twelve programs include a strong emphasis on College Knowledge and Access. Early College High Schools, for example, provide all students with the opportunity to earn college credits while still in high school, offer instruction in college success strategies, and are often located on a community college campus.
Partnerships and Cross-Systems Collaboration was the most frequently cited Structural Element of Success, with 13 programs featuring this core component. After School Matters, a Chicago-based program that provides youth with paid apprenticeships in various career fields, relies on a variety of partnerships with employers, city governmental agencies, the Chicago Public Schools, and other community organizations.
Dual Enrollment programs require articulated partnerships between K-12 school districts and institutions of higher education. Twelve programs demonstrate a Strategic Use of Time. A defining characteristic of the KIPP charter school model is an extended school day and year. Expanded learning opportunities, such as Citizen Schools, take place in the out-of-school-time hours and allow youth to explore unique learning environments and develop new skills that are not typically emphasized in academic courses.
Policy Recommendations
Policymakers at the national and state levels are in key positions to help create an overall framework and expectation of college- and career-readiness for all students. They can help establish system-wide objectives, based on the long-term goals of career success, civic engagement, and the capacity for lifelong learning, and hold all the various providers accountable for meeting those goals. AYPF suggests the following guidelines for policy:
- Support collaboration among providers to address the needs of students in a comprehensive manner by allowing greater flexibility in funding, reducing barriers to coordination, and supporting the role of intermediaries that help pull services and providers together.
- Ensure that the full range of education and youth service providers, such as afterschool, alternative education programs, employers, colleges, community-based organizations, and social services, are involved as partners in the college- and career-readiness system.
- Place a value on the attainment of not only academic skills, but also the full range of knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal resources that are necessary for success. Promote the development and use of assessments that measure more than academic skills, including the competencies that are valued by employers.
- Support initiatives that use time to increase learning opportunities that occur during out-of-school hours or that use the school-day hours differently with the purpose of adding time for learning and skill development in nonacademic areas. Build the capacity of the adults within the various systems so they have a commitment to high expectations for all youth and the skills to provide high-quality services to young people based on their needs and interests.
- Collect data from various systems over time to assess progress toward long-term outcomes and use the data to improve programs and services.
The process of preparing youth for college- and career-readiness is not an easy or quick undertaking, and many systems need to work together to provide the necessary supports and services to achieve this goal. The evaluations profiled in this compendium indicate many effective strategies for policymakers and practitioners to develop systems that support more youth in this process.
Publication Information: Hooker, S. and Brand, B. (2009). Success at Every Step: How 23 Programs Support Youth on the Path to College and Beyond. Washington, DC: American Youth Policy Forum.
The entire report is available for free download at www.aypf.org/publications. To order a hard copy of the publication for $15, please complete the “publications order form” from this website.
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