Students approaching high school graduation have faced unique challenges during the pandemic. With schools closed in the spring, many lacked access to the resources they needed to make key decisions about their futures. And with continuing uncertainty about the return to schools, campuses, and training programs in the fall, students are confronting difficult choices about their college and career plans.
A recent poll found that Black and Latino students were more likely to report changes to college plans than their white peers. This is yet another example of how the pandemic is disproportionately impacting our most marginalized students. To help address these growing inequities, we need to provide a strong foundation of career and college programming that can be done remotely or in person.
This guide provides strategies for educators and school leaders to support students with career exploration, college preparation, and civic readiness, focusing mostly on supports educators can provide with existing resources.
Our Back-to-School Blueprint is an interactive series of research-based, online action guides to help schools prepare to return to learning, whether in-person or remotely, in the fall. The Blueprint aims to help schools implement practices that will not only address the pressing issues facing our students right now, but also become building blocks for a more supportive and high-performing system in general.