e Pursuit of Pathways - Combining Rigorous Academics with Career Training

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious

The text examines whether a “forgotten half” of non-college-bound youth still exists and argues that the evidence in 2011 calls for stronger investment in rigorous career and technical education pathways alongside academic routes. It reviews prior findings from the 1988 report The Forgotten Half, contrasts college enrollment and degree attainment by mid-20s, and evaluates dropout-related risks for both non-completers and credential holders. It supports conclusions using job projections and comparative OECD research.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Postsecondary credentials and outcomes

Rationale for investing in pathways

Supporting evidence and data sources

Vocational education systems and equity

e Pursuit of Pathways Combining Rigorous Academics with Career Training ILLUSTRAT IONS BY PAUL ZWOLAK By Robert B. Schwartz I n February 2011, I, along with two colleagues, economist Ronald Ferguson and journalist William Symonds, released a report, Pathways to Prosperity: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century, which was published by Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.1 When we 􀀞rst began meeting to discuss the study that led to this report, we were mindful of the fact that 20 years earlier a commission established by the William T. Grant Foundation had issued a powerful report called e Forgotten Half: Non-College Youth in America.2 Asthe title suggests, this 1988 report argued that public resources and support were disproportionately focused on young people headed for higher education, and that without a much more robust investment in preparing non-college-bound youth for successful transition into the workforce, these young people would be at signi􀀞cant social and economic risk. 􀀝e jumping-o question for our study was: Is there still a “forgotten half” today, and if so, how do we make more progress in serving that population in the next 20 years than we’ve made in the last 20? Robert B. Schwartz is professor emeritus in the Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University and coleads the Pathways to Prosperity Network. He previously served as president of Achieve and was the director of the education grant-making program of the Pew Charitable Trusts. He began his career as a high school English teacher and principal. is article is adapted with permission from his chapter “Pathways, Not Tracks: An American Perspective,” in Kenneth Baker, 14–18: ANew Vision for Secondary Education (London: Bloomsbury, 2013). Copyright Kenneth Baker and contributors, 2013, Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. All rights reserved. On the face of it, it seemed unlikely that we would 􀀞nd a persisting “forgotten half” of young people in 2011. For one thing, the term “non-college-bound” has essentially disappeared from our vocabulary. Over the last 20 years, there has been growing public agreement that all young people need to be prepared for further education as well as careers. When high school students are asked today what they are going to do after high school, over 90 percent say they are going on to college or university. More important, over 70 percent of high school graduates do in fact go on to enroll in a higher education institution. But when we ask what proportion of young Americans have earned a college or university degree by their mid-20s, the answer isless encouraging: only 32 percent have graduated from a four-year institution, and another 10 percent from a two-year college.3 We estimate that roughly another 10 percent have acquired a recognized one-year occupational certi􀀞cate from a postsecondary education or training institution.4 􀀝is brings us to just over half the population with a meaningful postsecondary credential by their mid-20s. It maybe an exaggeration to characterize the other half of the age cohort as “forgotten,” but in an economy in which the gap between those with postsecondary credentials and skills and those without is widening, the one young person in 􀀞ve who drops out of high school is especially vulnerable, but so are those who start some form of higher education but never 􀀞nish. Our conclusion, looking at our high school and higher education dropout data, was that, if anything, the case for investing in developing a set of rigorous career and technical education pathways alongside the strictly academic pathway is even stronger today than it was 20 years ago. 24 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | FALL 2014 􀀝is conclusion was buttressed by two sources of data. First, job projections from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce suggest that over the next decade, nearly a third of jobs will be “middle

FAQs

What question does the study aim to answer about youth opportunities?

It asks whether a “forgotten half” still exists and, if so, how to make more progress in serving that population over the next 20 years than in the previous 20.

What do the text’s statistics say about college participation and completion by mid-20s?

Over 90% of high school students report going to college, and over 70% enroll, but only 32% of young Americans have graduated from a four-year institution and another 10% from a two-year college by their mid-20s.

Why does the text argue for combining academic pathways with career and technical education?

Because the gap between those with postsecondary credentials and skills and those without is widening, and because investing in rigorous career and technical education pathways is presented as strengthening the case for workforce-relevant preparation.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious