More than one in five Louisiana high school graduates now earns a career diploma, up from 2 percent in 2013, reports Will Sentell in The Advocate. The state’s goal is to raise that to 40 percent of graduates
Jump Start student in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana
Some new graduates with industry-based “Jump Start” credentials “are landing jobs paying $40,000 or $50,000 per year or more,” writes Sentell.
“We have pushed students and families that ‘you have to go to college, you have to go to college,'” said Troy Borne, lead Jump Start teacher at the St. James Parish Career and Technical Center. “Because of that we have created a skills gap,” he said. “Now the push is to create career and technical education to close that gap.”
Only 15 percent of people in St. James Parish have a college degree, Borne said. “So what do we do with the other 85%? We have to close that gap, get people qualified and create a work force to serve the industry coming to St. James.”
The state is launching Jump Start 2.0, which cuts the number of career pathways from 40 to 11 to ensure all are “aligned with high-need, high-wage jobs,” reports Sentell.
New Hampshire’s community colleges are working with high schools to develop high-quality youth apprenticeships, reports New America.