This project is exploring the types and early progress of equitable practice changes in career coaching services. Postsecondary educators are increasingly working towards supporting post-completion outcomes for students and investing in new education-to-career approaches. Capturing the nuances of implementation across grantee institutions and the strategic opportunities for scalability are key to promoting learning in the field and informing future investment in innovative career services approaches.
Supported by the Strada Education Foundation (Strada), RFA will learn how innovative career services drive stronger student enrollment, persistence, completion, and career outcomes. The initiative is based on Strada’s Guiding Principles that outline evidence-based and emerging innovative practices, services, and resources. RFA will utilize a principles-focused approach to coherently evaluate complex interventions across varied institutional contexts.
This study has two main phases. First, a formative evaluation to document how institutions are implementing quality services, alignment with the Guiding Principles, uplifting catalyzing factors and bottlenecks, and examining how barriers to change are overcome. A summative evaluation of implementation, student outcomes, and costs across the entire initiative comprises the second phase. The summative evaluation will highlight exemplary institutions where practices and outcomes are most promising to uplift those examples for postsecondary institutions, Strada, and the broader field. This project will explore:
- How institutions are making progress on efforts for improved education-to-career services
- Alignment between new practices, programs, and policies at institutions and Strada’s Guiding Principles
- How students impacted by inequitable systems are experiencing and benefiting from improvements to education-to-career services
- Trends in student participation with a focus on equitable program reach
- Equitable changes in postsecondary and/or career outcomes for priority student populations
- Program components that indicate a return on investment and lessons learned to inform future education-to-career investments
This evaluation will center equity in its approach by amplifying the voices of students from marginalized backgrounds and providing actionable learning for institutions, funders, and the broader postsecondary field. By examining implementation and highlighting promising practices across several institutions, this project seeks to magnify the importance of educational and career alignment for postsecondary students.