Key points:
Fifty-nine percent of students say they would like more career-related learning opportunities, according to a new report from the New Hampshire Learning Initiative and Gallup.
The report, New Hampshire Student Voices: The Role of Career-Connected Learning in Building Bright Futuresexamines the impact of career-related learning on New Hampshire's more than 8,500 students in grades 5-12.
About half of students say that while in school, they learned about a job or career they didn't know about before. Students who have a mentor who supports their development are more likely to be engaged in school (36 percent) than their peers (16 percent).
Fifty-nine percent of students surveyed would like more career-related learning opportunities, especially if those opportunities align with their specific interests in jobs and careers. Just under half (48 percent) of high school students and just 25 percent of middle school students report that their school's career-related learning offerings include careers that interest them.
Career-related learning opportunities may include elective classes, units taught in core classes, career fairs, job shadowing opportunities, internships, and volunteering. About a third of students (34 percent) say their career-related learning experiences have helped them formulate plans for life after high school. What's more, at least half of students who completed an internship or externship (57 percent), completed a registered apprenticeship (54 percent), participated in job shadowing (51 percent), or took advantage of a volunteer opportunity for a job or career. related positions (51 percent) say such activities helped inform their post-high school trajectory.
Student engagement also increases with career-related learning opportunities. Fifteen percent of students who did not participate in any career-related activities are engaged in learning, compared to 26 percent of those who have participated in at least one career-related learning opportunity. Greater participation in career-related activities leads to even higher levels of engagement: 45 percent of students who participated in 10 or more activities are involved, compared to 22 percent among those who participated in one to four .
“The NHLI-Gallup poll has been a game-changer for districts, providing data that underscores how important career-related learning is to student engagement and mindsets about the future. The data could not have come at a better time,” NHLI Executive Director Ellen Hume-Howard said in the report.
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