Career and Workforce Development

Career and Workforce Development

Consider what it means for students to be prepared for the future. Workforce preparation must include essential knowledge and technical skills required for jobs today, but also deeper human skills – known as social and emotional skills. Successful integration of SEL and workforce development advances our vision to prepare all students for success as lifelong, engaged learners and effective contributors to the complex future they will inherit, including in their future work lives — as entrepreneurs, business owners, or employees.

Resources from CASEL

Feel free to download, customize, and use with attribution, e.g., “Adapted from the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning and used with permission.”

• A Developmental Framework for the Integration of SEL and Career and Workforce Development. This 2022 brief aims to assist all states seeking to integrate SEL with career and workforce development efforts systemically so SEAs can support districts and schools in preparing students for postsecondary success. Download the framework.
• Educating Future-Ready Students: Policy Roadmap to Bridge Social and Emotional Learning and Career and Workforce Development. This report reframes what it means for students to be future-ready and provides a state policy roadmap for a PreK-12 education that prepares students to succeed in a rapidly changing world. Download the report.
• Educating Future-Ready Students: A Social and Emotional Learning Webisode Series. This five-part webisode series for state and district leaders provides key lessons for bridging SEL and career and workforce development. Watch the webisode series.
• State Case Studies: SEL with Career and Workforce Development. These three case studies describe the development and implementation of  SEL integrated with career and workforce development efforts in Delaware, Kansas, and Wisconsin. Download the case studies.
• The Playbook to Leverage the Power of Communities of Practice. The playbook is designed to support state teams as they work to build and sustain a community of practice (CoP) centered on SEL. Download the playbook.
• The Graduate Profile: Imagine the Possibilities on #SELDay. CASEL with Urban Assembly, SEL4US, Portland Public Schools, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The webinar features leaders discussing how Graduate Profiles can cultivate meaningful school experiences and how social and emotional learning can strengthen our vision of future-ready graduates. (March 2021). Watch the webinar (via YouTube).
• Preparing Youth for the Workforce of Tomorrow. The report identifies the skills employers are seeking in the workforce and how those skills directly align with CASEL’s core SEL competencies. (June 2020). Download the report.
• Ready To Lead: A 2019 Update of Principals’ Perspectives on How Social and Emotional Learning Can Prepare Children and Transform Schools. The report, developed with Civic and Hart Research, finds that principals stand ready to bring systemic, school-wide SEL to their schools, but need greater support from leaders at the state and district levels. (October 2019). Download the PDF.
• Respected: Perspectives of Youth on High School & Social and Emotional Learning. The report, developed with Civic and Hart Research and funded by The Allstate Foundation, finds most current and recent high schoolers see a big missing piece in their education – a lack of social and emotional skills development – and most recent students feel unprepared for life after high school. (November 2018). Download the PDF.

Resources from Other Organizations

• Building a Grad Nation: Progress & Challenge in Raising High School Graduation Rates. America’s Promise Alliance. The annual report examines both progress and challenges toward reaching the GradNation campaign goal of a national on-time graduation rate of 90 percent. (October 2020). Visit the website.
• WIOA Youth Program Element Resources. WorkforceGPS. The website includes high quality services for youth beginning with career exploration and guidance, continued support for educational attainment, opportunities for skills training, and culminating with a good job along a career pathway or enrollment in post-secondary education. (August 2018). Visit the website.
• Making School Relevant with Individualized Learning Plans: Helping Students Create Their Own Career and Life Goals. V. Scott H. Solberg. The book from counseling expert V. Scott H. Solberg introduces a new paradigm for career development focused on teaching skills that all students need to set long-term goals and experience post-secondary success. (October 2019). Purchase the book.
• Handbook of Career and Workforce Development: Research, Practice and Policy. Book. V. Scott H. Solberg and Saba Rasheed Ali. The book describes how the current research can be used to promote the design of more effective career development programs and services at local, state, and national levels. Purchase the book.
• Do High Schoolers Feel Ready for Life after High School? 2021 infographic from America’s Promise provides key survey data on high school student attitudes. View the infographic.

Resources from States and School Districts

• Delaware and CASEL Bridge Crosswalk: Empowering Every Student to Achieve Purpose, Place, and Plans for the Future. This crosswalk identifies the intersection of SEL and employability skills in Delaware. (October 2020) Download the PDF.
• Delaware Career and Technical Education website. The Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs allow Delaware students the chance to earn early college credits, industry-recognized credentials and work experience while still in high school. Access the webpage.
• Delaware Pathways webpage. Delaware Pathways stems directly from the “Delaware Promise,” Governor Jack Carney’s commitment that by 2025, 65% of Delaware’s workforce will earn a 2- or 4- degree or professional certificate, matching the percentage of Delaware jobs requiring one. Access the webpage.
• Kansas Career and Technical Education webpage. CTE can help all students achieve the objectives of the Kansas College and Career Ready Standards (KCCRS) through authentic, applied learning experiences. Access the webpage.
• Kansas Individual Plan of Study (IPS) Digital Reference Guide. This resource summarizes the implementation and measurement of the IPS which is required for Kansas students in middle and high school. It intersects the social-emotional and career domains by explicitly addressing employability skill sets with SEL competencies and skills and serves as a guide for practitioners. Access the webpage
• Nevada Career and Technical Education webpage. Their mission is to ensure that all students have access to quality programs that lead to marketable skills for the 21st Century. Access the webpage.
• North Dakota Department of Career and Technical Education webpage. The webpage Includes publications, reports, and resources for educators, students and families, and business and industry leaders. Access the webpage.
• Ohio Career Tech webpage. It includes programs, resources, and upcoming events on career tech in Ohio. Access the webpage.
• Pennsylvania Career Ready Skills webpage. The Pennsylvania Career Ready Skills are social emotional learning progressions that support the development of student competence. By design, the PA CRS reflect priorities to ensure youth are career ready and prepared to meet the demands of the 21st century workforce. Access the webpage.
• Pennsylvania Career and Technical Education webpage. It offers students the opportunity to develop critical skills through a combination of classes and hands-on learning experiences, which allow them to apply academics to real-world problems. Access the webpage.
• Utah Career and Technical Education webpage. It provides all students access to high-quality, rigorous career-focused programs that result in attainment of credentials with labor market value. Access the webpage.
• Wisconsin Career and Technical Education webpage. Just as some of the models of delivering content may be challenging to engage students, CTE’s real-life approach offers an option that boosts participation. Access the webpage.
• Wisconsin Connecting the Dots: Between SEL, Employability Skills, and a Graduate Profile Video. The presentation on Wisconsin’s work to identify employability skills, discover intersections with SEL, and begin to envision a graduate profile for the state. (March 2021). Watch the video.
• Wisconsin Academic & Career Planning (ACP) webpage. The page includes tools to equip students and their families to make more informed choices about postsecondary education, training, careers for life after high school. Access the webpage.
• Wisconsin Academic & Career Planning Handout. The handout that summarizes ACP Plan Guiding Questions, relevant links, and connection to SEL. (April 2020). Download the handout.