The 2023 Report on the Condition of Career Readiness in the United States
Key to America’s future economic success is a strong career readiness infrastructure, one that prepares today’s youth to find future success. Building such an infrastructure requires collaboration among education, industry, government, and the non-profit sector. It also requires states to continually assess their career readiness policies and practices to ensure they are both meeting local and regional workforce needs and advancing economic and social mobility for all workers.
Read the Executive Summary
Watch the Recording
The Coalition for Career Development (CCD) Center, in collaboration with the Boston University (BU) Wheelock Center for Future Readiness, released this highly anticipated report during an event that featured education, industry, government, and community leaders engaged in valuable discussions about our nation’s capacity to build a strong career readiness infrastructure.
Nearly all states either mandate or encourage schools to use individualized career plans, or Personalized Career and Academic Plans (PCAPs). However, improving our nation’s career readiness infrastructure requires more than this. Going forward, states must examine their related policies and practices and assess whether individualized career plans are being implemented with quality and fidelity. To assist, the purpose of this report is to present and analyze state-level career readiness indicators at four critical stages in the education and employment lifecycle.
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LAUNCHING FUTURE-READY YOUTH:
College and Career Readiness Outcomes for K-12 Students
NAVIGATING THE TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD:
Postsecondary Outcomes Following High School Graduation
NAVIGATING THE TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD:
Workforce Engagement and Earnings Outcomes for Young Adults
SUSTAINING PATHWAYS TO SUCCESS:
Economic and Social Mobility Outcomes for Adults
State Map on Career Readiness Policies, Resources, and Performance
This interactive state map provides the state-level career readiness outcomes described in this report as well as shares the individualized career plan policies and resources for each state. The presentation of state performance data is designed to generate a cross-sector consensus regarding career readiness outcomes and ideas to improve state rankings.
Snapshot of Top Ranked States
This snapshot highlights the highest performing states for each of the four career readiness indicators. The aim is to help us, as a nation, gauge whether we are preparing youth to enter adulthood and our full-time working adults access to the wages needed to provide for their families.
During this webinar, featured panelists American Student Assistance President and CEO Jean Eddy, Flare Education President and CEO Ajit Vakharia, EdVestor Senior Director of Career Pathways LaVonia Montouté discussed key state-level college and career readiness outcomes and strategies to bolster cross-sector partnerships. To view the recording, use passcode: wZ^$g1Te
This research brief offers a national snapshot of state-level college and career readiness outcomes with respect to postsecondary engagement and completion rates.
During this webinar, featured panelists Boston Private Industry Council Youth Transitions Director Kathy Hamilton and Strada Education Foundation Director of Research Nichole Torpey-Saboe discussed strategies to expand access to career readiness services for ALL young adults.
This research brief assesses (a) how many young adults are “disconnected” from education and employment; (b) how many are working full-time; and (c) of those working full-time, how many are earning a living wage.
During this webinar, featured panelists Gateway Technical College President Emeritus Bryan Albrecht and Boston University Professor Dr. Jerry Whitmore, Jr. examined our nations efforts to prepare adults for economic self-sufficiency and social mobility.
This research brief illustrates the outlook for adults, including those from historically underrepresented backgrounds as well as people with disabilities.
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These materials are possible because of American Student Assistance (ASA) and their generous funding.