College and Career Readiness
in Massachusetts
MASCA Conference
April 5, 2016
Setting the Stage
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
ESE’s Goal
To prepare all students
for success after high school
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
Success after High School
All students deserve a world-class education that
prepares them for future success.
Academic proficiency is no longer enough to
ensure this.
Students also need to acquire the knowledge, skills
and experiences required to navigate the
workplace and function as contributing citizens.
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
College and career readiness means an individual has the requisite knowledge, skills
and experiences in the academic, workplace readiness, and personal/social domains
to successfully navigate to completion an economically viable career pathway.
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
CCR Center Metrics & Unit Priorities
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
Measures of College and Career
Readiness Success
High School Graduation
 Increasing the 5-Year graduation rate
 Increasing the 4-Year graduation rate
 Increasing the MassCore completion rate
Career Development Education
 Increasing the number of students who participate in career development
education
Postsecondary Outcomes
 Increasing the percent of students who enroll in postsecondary education
 Increasing the persistence (decreasing need for remediation) of students
who enroll in postsecondary education
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
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Increasing the Number of Students Enrolling and
Persisting in Postsecondary Education
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
REACH HIGHER
Organizational Structure
Leadership Team
Guiding Coalition
Work Group #1 Career
Development and
Citizenship
Work Group #2
Financing
Postsecondary
Education
Work Group #3
Postsecondary Access
and Completion
Work Group #4
Marketing &
Communication
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
ESE Creating a Postsecondary EWIS
 The Expanded Early Warning Indicator System (EWIS) will
provide risk levels for high school students related to
meeting postsecondary outcomes through the following
indicators:
 College Enrollment: likelihood to enroll in postsecondary
education.
 Academic Readiness: likelihood for success in credit-bearing
college courses in English and mathematics at the college
freshman level.
 Persistence: likelihood for students to persist from the first to
second year of postsecondary education.
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
Increasing the Number of Students Participating in
Career Development Education
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
Baker-Polito Administration Proposes $83.5
Million for Career Vocational Technical Education
 $75 million over five years: new capital authorization to fund grants for
equipment to expand and improve career technical education programs,
building on a $9.2 million Skills Capital grant program announced this year.
 $7.5 million: work-based learning grants, including nearly doubling support for
school-to-career connecting activities to $5.5 million, and doubling support for
Dual Enrollment to $2 million, to expand and replicate STEM-focused early
college career pathways, including middle school curriculum and workplace
experience and learning.
 $1 million: new Career Technical Partnership Grants, funded through federal
Perkins Act grant funding, to strengthen relationships between vocational
schools, comprehensive high schools, and employers.
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
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Opportunities and Options:
Making Career Preparation Work for Students
 In 2014, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)
launched its Career Readiness Task Force to bring a
renewed focus to the skills gap nationwide.
 Resulted in the creation of a CCSSO Task Force Report,
which included 3 overarching recommendations and 10
action steps that states can take to enhance students’
career readiness.
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
CCSSO – Three high-level recommendations:
1. Enlist the employer community as a lead partner in defining the
pathways and skills most essential in today’s economy.
2. Set a higher bar for the quality of career preparation programs,
enabling all students to earn a meaningful postsecondary
degree or credential.
3. Make career readiness matter to schools and students by
prioritizing it in accountability systems.
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
CCSSO – New Skills for Youth Grants Announced
SEAs as lead applicants and fiscal agents, with cross-sector
teams across postsecondary, workforce, and employers:
A. Phase 1: Six months of planning and design
o
$100k, TA, peer support, eligible to apply for Phase 2
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Anticipate up to 25 awards, April-September 2016
B. Phase 2: Three years of implementation
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Up to $650k/year for three years
o
Anticipate 10 awards, November 2016
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
New Skills for Youth Grant – Overarching Goals
 To dramatically increase the number of students in the U.S.
who successfully complete career pathways that begin in
secondary school and culminate in postsecondary degrees
and/or industry credentials with labor market value; and
 To catalyze transformational approaches to the design and
implementation of programs and policies to increase
students’ career readiness in a cohort of leading states, and
disseminate lessons learned to the rest of the country.
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
MA Awarded $100,000 NSFY Planning Grant
Grant Priorities:
Establish demand driven and employer led processes.
Improve the quality and rigor of career pathways for all
students.
Incorporate career-focused indicators into state
accountability systems.
Create, strengthen, and scale career pathways that
culminate in credentials.
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
Individual Learning Plans and Informed
Decision Making
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
An Act Relative to Six - Year Career Plans
1. Establishment of a high level Advisory Group led by the
Education Secretariat.
2. Development of a set of aspirational yet actionable
recommendations to move the needle statewide on
helping students make more informed decision making.
3. Final Report and recommendations due to the Legislature
in the fall.
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
CCR Tools and Resources
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
Future Ready Massachusetts
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
Individual Learning Plan Guide
Many schools are introducing 4-year Individual Learning Plans as a tool to
help students organize information about their goals, experiences and
accomplishments.
Career Plans have been required for vocational students and transition
plans for students with disabilities. For more information, go to:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/ccr/ilpguidance2014.pdf
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
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The Contextual Learning Portal
 A collection of Contextual Learning Projects
– classroom and out-of-school time projects
that connect academic learning with reallife contexts in the school, workplace and
community.
 Projects support career development
through the application of skills and the
exploration of community, workplace and
career-related themes.
 Use the portal to learn about approaches to
contextual learning, get specific project
ideas and contribute your own projects.
 Go to: http://resources21.org/cl
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
Early Warning Indicator System Guide
 Using the Massachusetts Early Warning Indicator
System (EWIS) and local data to identify, diagnose,
support, and monitor students in Grades 1-12
 Annually, the Massachusetts EWIS provides information
about students’ risk levels for every student in grades
1–12 who attended a public school in Massachusetts in
the year prior.
 For more information, go to:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/edwin/analytics/ewis.html
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
The Career Development Education Guide
 A guide for career development education,
focusing on a continuum of career awareness,
career exploration and career immersion
activities.
 Includes a glossary of career development
activities with definitions and frameworks to
assist with efforts to create, expand or
improve on existing initiatives.
 The Career Development Education
Guide/Glossary can be found at:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/connect/cde.html
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
Labor Market Information Primer
 Supports decision making around career
awareness, exploration and immersion
activities that help inform postsecondary
career pathway choices for students of the
Commonwealth.
 Inform programming that is better aligned
with labor market needs.
 Enhances the quality of Career
Development Education (CDE) in
Massachusetts.
 For more information, go to:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/connect/cde/primerlabormarket.pdf
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
The Massachusetts Work-Based Learning Plan
 Available as online database screens,
pen/paper or Microsoft Word.
 Go to: http://skillspages.com/masswbl
download copies or learn more about
the database.
 Contact the Connecting Activities
staff person in your school or region or
email jleonard@skillslibrary.com to
obtain a username/password for the
database.
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
Relevant Websites and Resources
 Future Ready MA: http://futurereadyma.org/
 ESE – College and Career Readiness:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/ccr/
 Early Warning Indicator System:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/edwin/analytics/ewis.html
 Contextual Learning Portal:
http://www.resources21.org/cl/default.asp
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education
Relevant Websites and Resources
 Connecting Activities: http://www.massconnecting.org/
 Career Development Education Guide:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/connect/cde-guideglossary.pdf
 Individual Learning Plan Guide:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/ccr/related.html
 YourPlanForTheFuture:
https://www.yourplanforthefuture.org/Ext/YPFC/Home/index.html
 MassCIS:
https://masscis.intocareers.org/materials/portal/home.html
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Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary
Education