Ideally, students take a sequence of three or more courses in fields such as health, construction, or education. Many also earn early college credits or make significant progress toward industry certification, and some participate in internships or apprenticeships.
Researchers at RTI International, a nonprofit research organization, followed more than 6,000 college graduates who had completed at least two courses in a professional field and surveyed them to see what they did in the years immediately after high school.
Three-quarters of students surveyed were enrolled in college or another post-graduate program of study after graduation, which is higher than the national average for 63 percent. But less than half are still studying or working in the field they chose in high school.
For example, among students who majored in architecture and construction, less than 20 percent pursued construction-related majors. Instead, many turned to fields such as science and engineering (40 percent), business (8 percent), or health care (6 percent).
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This discrepancy is not necessarily a failure. For some students, the wrong path was clarifying.
“When students talked to us about it, they really thought it was valuable to learn something they didn’t like,” said Sandra Staklis, lead author of the RTI report. “One student told us, ‘Oh, my mom and my aunt are nurses. So I tried it out. And it turned out not to be for me, but it was good to know that.
Students also talked about gaining a broader set of skills that are useful in any field. “Students said they learn these workplace skills like time management and working with other people on a project,” Staklis said. “A lot of academic work has traditionally been more individual, like reading a book or taking a test.”
Still, the findings raise a fundamental question: Are pathways meant to steer students toward specific career fields or help them figure out what they don’t want to do?
Students also described how much they valued the mentorship they received from their instructors, many of whom had not spent their professional lives in schools but in industry. One student profiled in the report, Kwame, said his health teachers showed him how to break down dense medical material so he could study to earn his paramedic certificate. He is now studying public health at a four-year college and hopes to become a surgeon.
Two lessons stood out from the Delaware study.
- Workplace experience it matters the most, but is the most difficult for schools to implement. Students who participated in internships or apprenticeships were more likely to continue in their field, the report found. Another student named James, also profiled in the report, followed an educational track in high school and shadowed a teacher during his senior year, which taught him a lot about managing behavior in the classroom. She is now pursuing an associate degree in elementary education.
But these opportunities are difficult for schools to provide, requiring coordination with employers as well as scheduling and transportation decisions.
On-the-job training is more common in vocational high schools, where students often complete core coursework earlier and may spend more time outside the building during their senior year. Conversely, one-off experiences – such as guest speakers or field trips – had less impact but were easier to organize than schools.
- Students need better leadership especially when they want to change direction. Once students start a pathway, it can be difficult to change. “If you’re a junior and you want to switch to another track, you’re going to have to go back to courses that are mostly freshmen and sophomores, and it just becomes logistically difficult to allow that,” Staklis said.
Luke Raine, vice president of postsecondary success at Rodel, which commissioned the analysis, said the findings are encouraging but point to a need for stronger counseling, which he calls “navigational support.”
The report also points out more questions for future research.
It is not clear how much of the higher college attendance rate can be attributed to the pathways themselves. The study was not causal, Staklis said, and students who complete these sequences may already be more inclined to continue their education. Other incentives for pursuing higher education could also play a role, including Delaware’s generous scholarship programs, which cover tuition at Delaware Technical College and Delaware State University for many students.
While the majority of students were working, most were in part-time jobs in retail, delivery or fast food that fit in with their studies. Long-term outcomes — including career and earnings — remain unknown.
Some researchers question the structure of the road pattern in a rapidly changing economy. Kerry McKittrick, co-director of the Workforce Project at Harvard University, issued a report last week, “Footholds without paths: career navigation in a fragmented labor market“, based on an analysis of community college students and young adults. McKittrick argues that it may not make sense to require young students to go through a series of technical training classes for jobs that may not exist five years from now.
“Roads are a powerful option, but this linear career path is really the exception,” McKittrick said. “In a world where jobs continue to change, we also need to equip students and workers with the skills they need. … I’m talking about adaptability and decision-making and information literacy and networking.”
These skills, McKittrick argues, are not learned in the classroom, but through trial and error. What’s most important, according to McKittrick, is that young people have the opportunity to explore careers outside of what the adults in their family do and develop networks.
Notably, she agrees with one of the major conclusions of the Delaware report: on-the-job experience can be the most valuable component of a training program.
