What Early Career Outcomes Data Means for D.C. Youth
Across the District, public and public charter schools work hard to prepare students for success in postgraduate education before starting their careers. And while the city’s education leaders have access to data that can tell them with a great level of precision the extent to which graduates are enrolling, persisting, and completing college, the same does not exist for graduates’ career outcomes. What we all want for our own children and the youth of our city is to be able to support themselves and their families in the city in which they were raised and educated. In order to truly know if we are effectively preparing our youth to be successfully employed in the city and region’s excellent jobs, we need to be able to access and analyze comprehensive academic and professional data.
Last month, the D.C. Policy Center, in partnership with CityWorks DC, published a report examining the benefits of collecting more systematic information on the early career outcomes of D.C.’s public school alumni. This early career data is crucial to informing practices and investments to build an equitable talent pipeline that will connect D.C. students, especially Black and Latinx students, with the jobs that are driving the region’s economy forward.
At CityWorks DC, we are focused on dramatically improving the early career outcomes of D.C. youth and young adults of color by creating innovative programs and mobilizing employers, educators, and city leaders to create an employer-driven, local, equitable talent pipeline. Data is an essential driver for achieving this progress. By collecting and analyzing this data, employers, policymakers, and educators would be able to examine the barriers that exist in the labor market, monitor postsecondary degree completion, and develop new and hone existing programs, partnerships, practices, and supports that effectively address the needs of both students and local businesses.
Excitingly, there are great data system models that we can learn and draw from as we explore establishing systems and mechanisms here in DC. Our neighbors in Maryland have, for example, one of the best longitudinal data systems in the nation, and have partnered with leaders in Baltimore City to learn from the data, and to improve existing and create new programs, opportunities, and supports to improve the early career outcomes of their youth.
There is some real energy, support, and momentum gathering around this issue among leaders across our city. You can see it loudly and clearly during this panel we held to celebrate the release of the report. Stay tuned for more updates as our work progresses, and let us know what you think and what other best practices we should consider. Email me at ebibo@citybridge.org
Read the findings and considerations at dcpolicycenter.org/publications/measuring-outcomes.
Definitions from D.C. Policy Center
Early career outcomes refer to information about the employment, income, and educational attainment (including degrees, certificates, and credentials) of D.C.’s former public and public charter school students and graduates. Ideally, information on early career outcomes would be available for D.C.’s young adults for their first professional experiences in addition to their twenties and thirties as they progress in their careers in order to eliminate gaps related to race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, etc.
Career assets are the set of tools, skills, experiences, and competencies that an individual has acquired or has access to, that help them successfully navigate the workforce. Activities that help individuals acquire career assets include a variety of skill-building opportunities such as volunteer positions, work experience, apprenticeships, internships, exposure to career options, career counseling, mentorship, and postsecondary planning. In this brief, students were considered to have acquired career assets if they participated in multiple activities that had a statistically significant impact on outcomes for their particular educational pathway.