Using a New Model to Create Pathways to Higher Learning

Education Week
By Stanley S. Litow and Robert B. Schwartz

American schools have been too narrow in their one-size-fits-all approach of preparing students to go to four-year colleges. That’s the important conclusion of a report published earlier this year from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and co-authored by one us—Robert B. Schwartz. The report , titled “Pathways to Prosperity,” goes on to outline a new vision, one that would expand opportunity for all students.

The report argues that “preparing for college” and “preparing for a career” should not be mutually exclusive options. Because while preparing for college has become the nearly exclusive focus of educators, the fact is that seven in 10 Americans don’t earn a bachelor’s degree by their mid-20s. Moreover, only slightly more than 20 percent of students who enroll in community colleges obtain a two-year associate degree, even after three years. This is a huge missed opportunity with a significant cost because, as the report points out, roughly one-third of new jobs over the next decade will require some form of postsecondary education or training but not necessarily a bachelor’s degree.

The solution is to create new, more holistic education options, built on public-private partnerships, that provide new paths not just to higher education,...