November 14, 2022

Dear Colleague:

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on college and career preparation opportunities and the ability of students to successfully transition into postsecondary education. At the same time, the pandemic and the economic instability it brought have made postsecondary education and credential attainment crucial for economic security. Yet, in fall 2021, enrollment in postsecondary education by first-year students ages 24 and younger was 8.7 percent lower than it was prior to the pandemic in fall 2019.¹ We know that adults who have not achieved a high school diploma or have not engaged in postsecondary training have been hit hardest in the labor market.² The COVID-19 pandemic also erased a decade of progress in serving young people ages 16 to 24 who are disconnected (e.g., neither employed nor enrolled in school), leaving nearly 5 million youth adrift.³

Reimagining how we prepare youth for college and careers is essential to our nation's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and to our future socioeconomic vitality. Prior to the pandemic, our education systems offered modest opportunities for youth and especially underserved populations to learn about careers and how to navigate our postsecondary education system. The disconnect between our K-12, higher education, and workforce systems left too many young people without the skills and credentials needed to thrive in the workforce and in their communities. For example, in 2018-19, one in five students from low-income backgrounds and about one in three students with disabilities did not graduate high school on time with their peers.⁴ While the COVID-19 pandemic created additional barriers, it also increased awareness of how our disconnected systems exacerbate and perpetuate inequities in postsecondary and career outcomes. In order to successfully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to rethink the paths that young people walk throughout and beyond our education system.

Policymakers and educators are beginning to lay a new foundation of college and career pathways in states and communities across the United States. As we rebuild and recover, our challenge is to build on that foundation and bring together the component parts of our K-12, postsecondary, and workforce systems in a coherent manner with the goal of equipping every high school graduate with sufficient dual enrollment credits⁵ to provide momentum toward completing a postsecondary certificate or degree,⁶ a career plan for the future, a work-based learning experience, and an industry-sought credential.

The purpose of this letter is to describe how states and local educational agencies (LEAs) can continue to respond to the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by using funds appropriated under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) and the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act to develop and expand pathways to student success after high school by investing in efforts to:

• Expand access to dual enrollment opportunities so that every young person can earn college credit in high school and get a head start in earning a postsecondary credential.
• Provide strong career and college advisement and navigation supports so that every young person can graduate high school with actionable postsecondary and career plans and the skills and resources needed to pursue them.
• Expand opportunities for high-quality work-based learning so that every young person can apply classroom learning in real-world settings, develop employability skills, gain valuable work experience, and build a professional network.
• Give all students the option to earn industry-sought credentials so that every young person can earn higher wages after high school and have the capacity to pursue further education and independent living.

To the extent these funds remain available for obligation, states and LEAs may use funding appropriated under ARP for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) Fund, and CRRSA for the ESSER II Fund and the Governor's Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER II) for these purposes. In addition, this letter identifies several ways institutions of higher education (IHEs) may use Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF)(a)(1)) institution portion dollars to participate in creating stronger pathways to success for our young people.

Expand access to dual enrollment opportunities.

Dual enrollment is a proven, evidence-based strategy to increase high school achievement and completion and to boost postsecondary enrollment and credential attainment, the use of which has grown rapidly in recent years.⁷ These opportunities can be most beneficial to students when they include core academic courses—such as a first-year English or mathematics course—as well as courses aligned to careers.⁸ Unfortunately, the opportunity to participate in dual enrollment has been limited to a small group of students, leaving too many students unable to access the benefits dual enrollment has to offer. Among the high school class of 2019, only about one-third of white students, about one-quarter of Asian, Native American, and Hispanic students, and nearly a fifth of Black students took one or more dual enrollment courses during their time in high school.⁹ Other research has documented that students from low-income backgrounds are significantly underrepresented among dual enrollment course-takers.¹⁰ English learners (ELs) and students with disabilities are also often shut out of dual enrollment opportunities. For example, during the 2017-18 school year, 50 percent of high schools attended by ELs offered dual enrollment courses but did not enroll any ELs in these courses; another 26 percent of schools attended by ELs did not offer any dual enrollment opportunities. Similarly, 37 percent of high schools attended by students with disabilities during the 2017-18 school year offered dual enrollment but did not enroll any students with disabilities in these courses; another 28 percent of the schools attended by students with disabilities did not offer any dual enrollment opportunities.¹¹

Research shows that students experience barriers to dual enrollment including lack of awareness about programs, exclusionary entrance requirements, out-of-reach fees and transportation costs, or lack of prerequisite coursework.¹² While equity gaps in dual enrollment are persistent, they are not impossible to close and can be solved with intentional policies and practices, as demonstrated by LEAs that have begun to close these gaps.¹³

A state or LEA may use ESSER funds to expand access to and participation in dual enrollment, particularly for those students who have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.¹⁴ Student participation in dual enrollment became even more limited as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,¹⁵ with some IHEs reporting double-digit percentage declines in the number of high school students who were dually enrolled.¹⁶ States and LEAs may respond to the pandemic's impact on dual enrollment by using funds to:

• Remove cost and geographic barriers to participation in dual enrollment. This may include eliminating the cost for tuition and other fees of attendance like textbooks for students from low-income backgrounds. Funds may also be used to cover students' transportation costs, or provide transportation directly, when dual enrollment courses are offered at an IHE.
• Identify and close equity gaps in dual enrollment participation. ARP ESSER funds may be used for a systematic assessment of dual enrollment participation and outcomes to identify disparities by race, ethnicity, sex, income, and other subgroups of students, as well as to develop and implement recruitment and other strategies to ensure all students have an opportunity to access dual enrollment opportunities.¹⁷
• Address a shortage of qualified instructors exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic that limits participation in dual enrollment.¹⁸ This includes improving the skills of the existing education workforce through tuition assistance and stipends to teachers so that they can complete the education and training required to meet postsecondary credentialing requirements for teaching dual enrollment courses. It also includes the strategic recruitment of educators in hard-to-fill instructional areas using targeted incentives.¹⁹
• Ensure that all students receive the academic acceleration benefits offered by dual enrollment programs and are able to use the credits they have earned when they enroll in postsecondary education. This includes establishing an articulation and credit transfer agreement that enables all students to use dual enrollment credits at an IHE.
• Expand access to dual enrollment for students with disabilities and English learners. This includes providing professional development for dual enrollment coordinators and instructors on ways to offer scaffolded supports²⁰ and other strategies to meet the needs of these students; supporting collaboration with special educators and vocational rehabilitation counselors to integrate dual enrollment with other transition activities; and carrying out targeted outreach and recruitment activities.
• Create dual language programs for English learners complementing English language acquisition instruction with college level courses in English learners' native language. This language preparation affords English learners a competitive advantage in the workforce and acknowledges that there is an earnings premium in the labor market associated with employees who have proficiency in multiple languages.²¹

States and LEAs are already making these kinds of investments with ESSER funding. For example:

• The Buffalo City (New York) School District is using ESSER funds to support a dual enrollment coordinator to work with partner colleges to improve and expand dual enrollment opportunities for its students.²²
• Frederick County (Maryland) Public Schools used ESSER funds to purchase textbooks and course materials for students enrolled in Pathways, a new dual enrollment course designed for English learners that is offered in collaboration with Frederick Community College. English learners have been historically underrepresented in the LEA's dual enrollment courses.²³
• The New York City (NY) Department of Education is using ESSER funds to give 22,000 students dual enrollment opportunities at the City University of New York through the College Now program. Other ESSER investments by the city in college and career readiness include expanding the Immigrant Ambassador program that pairs immigrant college students with immigrant high school students for mentoring and college and career planning and providing afterschool college counseling to every junior and senior high school student.²⁴

Provide strong career and college advisement and navigation supports.

Navigating postsecondary education and the evolving labor market can be extremely complicated. As such, it is important for young people to leave high school with clear education and career goals, and the knowledge and skills needed to pursue them.²⁷ Career counseling and navigation supports have traditionally been provided by school counselors and educators.

However, school counselors and educators have noted that they were spending less time providing career advising and more time connecting students to social services and addressing students' social and emotional needs.²⁸ Teachers also reported a reduction in the number of students to whom they have provided college and career advisement during the COVID-19 pandemic.²⁹ To respond to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the availability of college and career navigation support services for students, states and LEAs may use ESSER funds to:

• Hire additional school counseling staff to lower the student- to-staff ratios or to add staff with specialized experience in career guidance (such as career coaches) that supplement the work of school counselors and ensure students have access to staff with diverse backgrounds, cultural and other identities, and lived experiences.³⁰
• Provide professional development to strengthen college and career advisement models that school counselors and educators provide to students, such as providing training on how to use labor market information and developing technical assistance resources to strengthen the capacity of school counselors and other educators in implementing individualized career and academic plans for students.
• Support college access and intensive college admission programs and strengthen partnerships between secondary and postsecondary schools, including by providing student financial aid counseling that spans the school year and the summer months. These activities are particularly important for youth who may become disconnected during the summer following high school graduation, a time when some students, particularly those from low-income backgrounds, need significant support to navigate the college enrollment and matriculation maze.³¹ GEER II and ESSER funds also may be used to pay college application fees.
• Provide supplemental support to help students plan for and apply to postsecondary education, as well as career navigation and other transition services, by contracting with nonprofit and community-based organizations and other external partners with expertise in serving youth from low-income backgrounds and young people who contend with barriers to success in school and the labor market.
• Purchase software that facilitates the development and use of individual career and academic plans and that offers students and their families opportunities to explore different career options; and, provide professional development to school staff in using these resources.

States and LEAs are already making these kinds of investments with ESSER funding. For example:

• Houston (Texas) Independent School District is using $53.2 million of ESSER funds to provide additional support services to help its students navigate the postsecondary education admissions process. The LEA's plans include increasing the number of college and career readiness advisors available to work with students; expanding partnerships with organizations that help students plan for and apply to college and prepare for careers; developing community-based centers to support families with college and career readiness activities; and increasing the number of local, regional, and national college visits it coordinates for its students.³²
• The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is using ESSER funds to launch a statewide initiative to ensure high school students, particularly those in rural communities, have an advisor exclusively focused on helping them achieve success following graduation. The program, called the Missouri Postsecondary Advising Initiative, will place trained advisors into rural high schools, alongside school counselors, to provide students with individualized college and career support.³³
• ESSER funds awarded to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction are being used to expand the number of National College Advising Corps advisers working in high schools throughout the state to increase the number of underrepresented, low-income, or first-generation postsecondary degree or certificate students entering and completing their postsecondary education at community colleges and universities. Advisers are recent college graduates who work full-time in schools organizing campus visits and helping students and their families complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) and postsecondary applications and carrying out other activities to foster a college-going culture within the schools they serve.³⁴

Expand opportunities for high-quality, work-based learning.

The COVID-19 pandemic reduced the availability³⁵ of work-based learning.³⁶ These impacts have been more pronounced in certain industries, particularly those that have traditionally engaged a youth workforce, in addition to industries that support earn-and-learn educational models like Registered Apprenticeship. Work-based learning is a proven strategy that reinforces academic instruction by giving students opportunities to apply knowledge and skills in real- world situations. Work-based learning also helps young people to generate income, establish future earning potential, and connect with professionals in the labor market.³⁷ To respond to the loss of these work-based learning opportunities, states and LEAs may use ESSER funds to:

• Support new skill-building experiences like internships, cooperative education, pre- apprenticeships, and registered apprenticeship programs that are integrated within school-day instruction and other extended learning models that occur after school or over the summer months. This includes connecting school-sponsored work-based learning programs with state and regional summer youth employment programs.
• Facilitate participation in work-based learning by paying for student transportation or other costs associated with worksite placements, such as tools and uniforms.
• Hire work-based learning coordinators to support student and family engagement, employer engagement, and/or to liaise with intermediary organizations that can help to connect communities, schools, employers, and students. Intermediaries could include, for example, entities that organize and convene employers, such as chambers of commerce; nonprofit organizations with established relationships with employers, such as organizations that convene sector partnerships; or IHEs that work closely with employers in implementing their workforce development programs.
• Identify and implement assistive technology options needed by students with disabilities to participate in work-based learning opportunities.
• Develop and expand "virtual" work-based learning opportunities where work is performed remotely by students in partnership with employers or intermediary organizations.

States and LEAs are already making these kinds of investments with ESSER funding. For example:

• During summer 2021, approximately 2,300 youth participated in New Mexico's Summer Enrichment Internship Program. Youth worked 20 hours per week for 6 weeks in dozens of paid career opportunities. The New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) used $9.89 million of its ARP ESSER allocation to support the initiative.³⁸ In its approved ARP ESSER state plan, NMPED also indicates that it will award funds to community-based organizations to implement evidence-based afterschool programs for students, some of which will include paid internships for high school students.³⁹
• The Ohio Department of Education will use ARP ESSER state-level funds for Work-Based Learning Incentive Grants that will be awarded to local workforce development boards to incentivize employers to develop internships, pre-apprenticeships, and apprenticeship opportunities for high school students.⁴⁰
• Denver (Colorado) Public Schools is using a portion of its ARP ESSER funds to support summer work-based learning opportunities that give high school students who aspire to be teachers, classroom experience under the supervision of master teachers. After completing training, students work alongside master teachers to provide instruction to middle school students in both academic and enrichment courses, debriefing after every classroom session with the supervising teachers to receive feedback. For their participation, students receive a cash stipend and an AmeriCorps educational award that can be used to pay for postsecondary educational expenses when they complete high school.⁴¹

Give all students the option to earn industry-sought credentials.

Education programs that incorporate the opportunity to earn an industry-sought credential can give young people a leg up in the labor market when they graduate high school. This is particularly important for young people who choose not to pursue further learning immediately after high school⁴² or those who choose to work and learn simultaneously. There is some evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic reduced opportunities for students to earn industry credentials,⁴³ particularly those credentials that required clinical hours or on-the-job training. To address the negative impact of the pandemic on credential attainment among young people, states and LEAs may use ESSER funds to:

• Identify credentials that have value in the labor market and are truly sought by employers, including through analyses of the labor market, review of employer hiring models and patterns, consultation with state and local workforce development boards to better understand employer needs, and other real-time labor market analysis.
• Expand opportunities for students to earn industry-sought credentials, including by offering programs after school and during the summer months, and modifying existing programs to incorporate credentials.
• Eliminate barriers to credential attainment by paying examination fees for students from low- income backgrounds, providing transportation for students to testing sites, and identifying and implementing assistive technology options and accommodations needed by students with disabilities to participate in credentialing exams.
• Make testing opportunities more accessible to students by paying the costs of training for school personnel to become certified to administer credentialing exams, as well as paying for the start-up costs associated with the school becoming a testing site.
• Develop and implement data-sharing agreements with credential providers that enable the collection and interoperable sharing of data⁴⁴ about student attainment of certificates in a manner consistent with federal and state student privacy requirements.

States and LEAs are already making these kinds of investments with ESSER funding. For example:

• Council Bluffs (Iowa) Community School District is using $990,000 in ESSER funds to enhance its Plus One Pathways initiative that provides students with a wide variety of opportunities to earn a high school diploma and a second credential. Trade Works Academy is one option for students. During 9th and 10th grades, students complete foundational coursework in skilled trades like mechanics and electrical systems and earn a credential from the National Center for Construction Education and Research. During 11th and 12th grades, students earn a postsecondary certificate from Iowa Western Community College and complete the first year of a two-year Registered Apprenticeship.⁴⁵
• La Joya (Texas) Independent School District is using more than $500,000 in ARP ESSER funds to increase opportunities for career and technical education students to earn industry- based certifications, including through tutorials offered after school and on Saturdays.46
• St. Paul (Minnesota) Public Schools is using ARP ESSER funds to expand career centers and related curriculum at every high school, to offer internships, and to offer opportunities to earn certifications.⁴⁷

As a country, we have just begun to unpack and confront the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. We should continue leveraging the momentum, commitment, and creativity expended during these past three years and invest ESSER funds prudently to enhance existing or to create new college and career preparation strategies and systems that afford all young people with a bright future and abundant opportunities.

Sincerely,
/s/
Miguel A. Cardona, Ed.D.
U.S. Secretary of Education

1 National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (2022), Current Term Enrollment Estimates, Fall 2021. Retrieved from: https://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/CTEE_Report_Fall_2021.pdf

2 Daly, M.C., Buckman, S.R., and Seitelman, L.M. (2020), "The Unequal Impact of COVID-19: Why Education Matters," Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Economic Letter 17-20 (June 29, 2020). Retrieved from: https://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economic-letter/2020/june/unequal-impact-covid-19-why-education-matters/

3 Lewis, Kristen (2022), A Disrupted Year: How the Arrival of COVID-19 Affected Youth Disconnection. New York: Measure of America, Social Science Research Council. Retrieved from: https://measureofamerica.org/youth-disconnection-2022/

4 National Center for Education Statistics (2021), Digest of Education Statistics, Table 219.46: Public high school 4- year adjusted cohort graduation rate (ACGR), by selected student characteristics and state: 2010-11 through 2018- 19. Retrieved from: https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/tables/ACGR_RE_and_characteristics_2018-19.asp

5 Dual enrollment enables students to earn high school and postsecondary credit concurrently through a partnership between a school district and an institution of higher education. Other terms sometimes used to describe this type of program include concurrent enrollment, dual credit, high school in college, early college high school, and middle college. See Higher Learning Commission (2013), Dual Credit in U.S. Higher Education. Retrieved from: https://download.hlcommission.org/DualCreditinUSHigherEd_2013_INF.pdf

6 For example, researcher Clifford Adelman reported that "12 [dual credits] is a guarantee of momentum" that increases the likelihood of degree attainment in his analysis of the postsecondary outcomes of a national sample of students who were scheduled to be in 12th grade in 1992. See Adelman, Clifford (2006), The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion from High School to College. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED490195. Similarly, Justine Radunzel and colleagues found that students who first entered one of the four-year public institutions of higher education in Texas in 2005 and 2006 with 12 or more dual credits were more likely to progress toward a degree over time and complete a bachelor's degree. See Radunzel, Justine, et al. (2014), Dual-Credit/Dual-Enrollment Coursework and Long-Term College Success in Texas. ACT Research and Policy Brief. Retrieved from: https://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/DualCreditTexasReport.pdf.

7 What Works Clearinghouse, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education (2017), Dual Enrollment Programs: WWC Intervention Report. Retrieved from: https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/InterventionReports/wwc_dual_enrollment_022817.pdf

8 Community College Research Center (2012), What We Know About Dual Enrollment Report, Retrieved From: https://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/publications/what-we-know-about-dual-enrollment.html

9 U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (2022), 2019 NAEP High School Transcript Study (HSTS) Results: A Closer Look, Retrieved from: https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/hstsreport/#closerlook_3_0_el. Dual credit course-taking by Native American students tabulated using the Data Explorer for the High School Transcript Study at: https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/ndecore/xplore/hsts

10 See, for example, Lochmiller, C. R., et al. (2016), Dual enrollment courses in Kentucky: High school students' participation and completion rates (REL 2016–137). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/appalachia/pdf/REL_2016137.pdf. Also see Miller, Trey, et al. (2017), Dual Credit Education in Texas: Interim Report, RAND Corporation. Retrieved from: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2043.html

11 Fink, John, "How Many Schools in Your State Shut Out Students from Dual Enrollment or AP?" The Mixed Methods Blog (November 10, 2021), Community College Research Center. Retrieved from: https://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/easyblog/schools-dual-enrollment-ap.html

12 Taylor, J. L., Allen, T. O., An, B. P., Denecker, C., Edmunds, J. A., Fink, J., Giani, M. S., Hodara, M., Hu, X., Tobolowsky, B. F., & Chen, W. (2022). Research priorities for advancing equitable dual enrollment policy and practice. Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah. Retrieved from: https://cherp.utah.edu/_resources/documents/publications/research_priorities_for_advancing_equitable_dual_enrollment_policy_and_practice.pdf

13 Mehl, Gelsey, Wyner, Joshua, et al., The Dual Enrollment Playbook: A Guide to Equitable Acceleration for Students. The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program and the Community College Research Center. Retrieved from: https://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/publications/dual-enrollment-playbook-equitable-acceleration.html

14 See page 19, U.S. Department of Education (2021), ED COVID-19 Handbook: Roadmap to Reopening Safely and Meeting All Students' Needs, Volume 2. Retrieved from: https://www2.ed.gov/documents/coronavirus/reopening-2.pdf

15 National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (2021), COVID-19: Stay Informed with the Latest Enrollment Information. Retrieved from: https://nscresearchcenter.org/stay-informed/

16 Villareal, A. (2021), "Pandemic reduces number of high school students taking dual enrollment courses." The Hechinger Report, April 3, 2021. Retrieved from: https://hechingerreport.org/pandemic-reduces-number-of-high-school-students-taking-dual-enrollment-courses/

17 See, for example, Mehl, G. et al., (2020), The Dual Enrollment Playbook. The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program, Community College Research Center, and The Aspen Institute Education and Society Program. Retrieved from: https://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/publications/dual-enrollment-playbook-equitable-acceleration.html

18 Zinth, J. et al. (2022), Building a Concurrent Enrollment Teacher Pipeline: Opportunities, Challenges, and Lessons. Washington, DC: College in High School Alliance. Retrieved from: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/589d0f90ff7c507ac483988e/t/6230e0ef64abca0e30d22b6e/1647370501095/Building+a+Concurrent+Enrollment+Teacher+Pipeline+-+Opportunities%2C+Challenges%2C+and+Lessons.pdf

19 See U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, (2021) ED COVID- 19 Handbook, Volume 2: Roadmap to Reopening Safely and Meeting All Students' Needs. Retrieved from: https://www2.ed.gov/documents/coronavirus/reopening-2.pdf.

20 As referred to in this document, scaffold is a temporary support provided by a teacher to help a student achieve a learning goal. As the student begins to master the content, the teacher gradually removes the support. See The IRIS Center, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University (n.d.) Providing Instructional Supports: Facilitating Mastery of New Skills. Retrieved from: https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/sca/#content

21 Gándara, P. (2015), Is There Really a Labor Market Advantage to Being Bilingual in the U.S.? ETS Research Report Series, 2015: 1-34. https://doi.org/10.1002/ets2.12054.

22 Buffalo City School District (2021), "ARP-ESSER Application." Retrieved from: https://www.buffaloschools.org/cms/lib/NY01913551/Centricity/Domain/10232/SUBMITTED%20ARP_ESSER%20Application.pdf

23 Frederick County Public Schools (2021), American Rescue Plan (ARP) Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) III Fund Application and Certification. Retrieved from: https://campussuite-storage.s3.amazonaws.com/prod/33903/86de7fb0-3a18-11e6-b537-22000bd8490f/2313610/3430cf60-1243-11ec-88c8-02d6f1f148e5/file/ARP_ESSER_Application.pdf

24 New York City Department of Education, "Updates on American Rescue Plan (ARP-ESSER) & on Foundation Aid Funding." Retrieved from: https://www.schools.nyc.gov/docs/default-source/default-document-library/preliminary-update-on-arp-esser-and-on-foundation-aid-funding

25 U.S. Department of Education (2021). Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) II Public and Private Nonprofit Institution (a)(1) Programs (ALN 84.425E and 84.425F) Frequently Asked Questions, Question 22. Retrieved from: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/updatedfaqsfora1crrssaheerfii.pdf.

26 U.S. Department of Education (2022), Fact Sheet: The U.S. Department of Education Announces Partnerships Across States, School Districts, and Colleges of Education to Meet Secretary Cardona's Call to Action to Address the Teacher Shortage. Retrieved from: https://www.ed.gov/coronavirus/factsheets/teacher-shortage.

27 See, for example, Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy (2015), Charting a Path to the Future through Individualized Learning Plans. Roadmap for Expanding Opportunity: Evidence on What Works in Education. Retrieved from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED589400.pdf and V. Scott Solberg, et al. (2014), Use of individualized learning plans as a promising practice for driving college and career readiness efforts: Findings and recommendations from a multi-method, multi-study effort, National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth, Institute for Educational Leadership. Retrieved from: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED588651.pdf

28 Nearly half (48 percent) of school counselors surveyed by researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2020 reported that they were spending less time on career guidance but were spending more time connecting students to social services and addressing students' social and emotional needs. See Savitz-Romer, Mandy et al. (2021), "When the Kids Are Not Alright: School Counseling in the Time of COVID-19," AERA Open (July 31, 2021). Retrieved from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/23328584211033600

29 Mulhern, Christine and Elizabeth D. Steiner (2022), Changes in College and Career Readiness Supports During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. Retrieved from: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA827-5.html.

30 The American School Counselor Association recommends a student-counselor ratio of 250-1 while the ratio is usually 415-1. It is important to note that community and demographic factors may require even smaller ratios. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/About-School-Counseling/School-Counselor-Roles-Ratios#:~:text=Student%2Dto%2DSchool%2DCounselor,PDF)%20(2020%2D2021

31 Castleman, B. L. and Paige, L. C. (2014), Summer Melt: Supporting Low-Income Students Through the Transition to College. Retrieved from: https://www.hepg.org/hep-home/books/summer-melt.

32 Houston Independent School District (2021), Houston ISD's ARP Act ESSER III Use of Funds Plan. Retrieved from: https://www.houstonisd.org/Page/188723

33 Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (2022), "Guidance for Missouri Postsecondary Advising Initiative Under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) - Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSERIII) Fund." Retrieved from: https://dese.mo.gov/media/pdf/mpai-guidance-doc

34 North Carolina General Assembly (2021), Current Operations Appropriations Act of 2021 (Session Law 2021- 180), page 76. Retrieved from: https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2021/Bills/Senate/PDF/S105v8.pdf

35 About two-thirds of career and technical education (CTE) teachers and administrators responding to an Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) survey reported that their programs were less effective in providing work-based learning opportunities for students in 2020-21 than they were prior to the pandemic. See Association for Career and Technical Education (2021), High-Quality CTE During COVID-19: Challenges and Innovations. Retrieved from: https://www.acteonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/HighQualityCTE_COVID_ChallengesAndInnovations_March2021_Final.pdf.

36 Work-based learning includes a continuum of activities that begins with lower-intensity, shorter-term experiences that facilitate career awareness like career fairs and classroom presentations by employers. The continuum progresses to more-intensive, longer-duration, skill-building experiences like internships, cooperative education, pre-apprenticeships, and apprenticeships in which participants perform work for an employer at a jobsite.

37 See, for example, National Academy Foundation (2017). Guide to Work-Based Learning: A Continuum of Activities and Experience. New York, NY: National Academy Foundation. Retrieved from: http://ioer.ilsharedlearning.org/ContentDocs/bc2cc184-41bf-464b-a363-11a554da4126/303/Guide_to_Work-Based_Learning.pdf and Ross, Martha, Kazis, Richard, Bateman, Nicole, and Stateler, Laura (2020). Work-Based Learning Can Advance Equity and Opportunity for America's Young People. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. Retrieved from: https://www.brookings.edu/research/work-based-learning-can-advance-equity-and-opportunity-for-americas-young-people/

38 New Mexico Public Education Department (2021), "PED initiative provided summer internships to students." (August 3, 2021, news release). Retrieved from: https://webnew.ped.state.nm.us/news-releases/2021-archive/

39 New Mexico Public Education Department (2021), State Plan for the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. Retrieved from: https://oese.ed.gov/files/2022/01/New-Mexico-ARP- ESSER-Revised-State-Plan.pdf

40 Ohio Department of Education, State Plan for the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. Retrieved from https://oese.ed.gov/files/2022/07/OH-ARP-ESSER-Plan-Redacted-1.pdf

41 Invest Forward (2022) Invest Forward Snapshot: Denver Public Schools. Retrieved from: https://investforward.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IF_Snapshot_Denver_R4.pdf See also Generation Teach at https://www.generationteach.org/teach

42 For example, the unemployment rate of high school graduates ages 25 or older who have an industry certification or professional license, but no further education is 35 percent lower than high school graduates who lack one of these credentials, and their median weekly earnings are 15 percent higher. See Cunningham, Eva (2019), "Professional certifications and occupational licenses: evidence from the Current Population Survey," Monthly Labor Review, June 2019, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved from: https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2019/article/professional-certifications-and-occupational-licenses.htm

43 For example, Florida provides financial incentives to LEAs to offer students the opportunities to earn industry credentials in high-demand fields. It saw the number of certifications awarded to students drop 28 percent between the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years. Though the number of certifications rebounded during the 2020-21 school year, the total was still 12 percent lower than the number awarded in 2018-19. See Florida Department of Education, CAPE Industry Certifications, CAPE Acceleration Industry Certifications and CAPE Digital Tool Certificates Earned by Title, 2013-14 through 2020-21. Retrieved from: https://www.fldoe.org/academics/career-adult-edu/research-evaluation/cape-industry-certification.stml

44 As used in this document, interoperability is the seamless, secure, and controlled exchange of data between applications. See Project Unicorn (n.d.), Interoperability Crash Course. Retrieved from: https://www.projectunicorn.org/what-is-interoperability

45 Council Bluffs Community School District (2021), ESSER Plan. Retrieved from: https://www.cb-schools.org/cms/lib/IA02205019/Centricity/Domain/4/ESSER%20Plan.pdf. See also Council Bluffs Community School District, (n.d.), D+1 Initiative. Retrieved from: https://ia02205019.schoolwires.net/cms/lib/IA02205019/Centricity/Domain/23/Plus%20One%20Pathways%20Slides.pdf

46 La Joya Independent School District (2021), La Joya ISD Learning Recovery and Acceleration Plan for the 2021 – 2022 School Year. Retrieved from: https://s3.amazonaws.com/scschoolfiles/1121/rssp_and_esser_iii.pptx.

47 St. Paul (Minnesota) Public Schools (2022), SPPS American Rescue Plan (ARP) Spending Brief (January 2022). Retrieved from: https://www.spps.org/cms/lib/MN01910242/Centricity/Domain/17657/SPPS%20ARP%20Final%20Spending%20Brief%20UPDATED%20Jan%202021.pdf

48 City Colleges of Chicago (n.d.), Future Ready: Programs Offered at No Cost to Qualifying Students. Retrieved from: https://pages.ccc.edu/apply/futureready/