6 Questions to Ask about Your CCLR Programming

Does your current college, career, and life readiness program really prepare your students for postsecondary success?

Preparing students for life after high school means preparing them for a multitude of options. Whether they’re attending college or a technical school, enlisting in the military, joining the workforce, or pursuing an internship, students need resources to optimize their success.  

An effective college, career, and life readiness (CCLR) program prepares students for any life path. It helps them refine their academic skills and their social and emotional (SEL) awareness to build resilience, strengthen interpersonal relationships, and surmount obstacles.  

As schools and districts work to meet federal and state mandates regarding postsecondary readiness, it’s important that administrators and educators design and evaluate their CCLR programming for positive impact. Here are six key questions that help to determine how well a school or district is preparing students for their futures.  

For students to achieve their goals, they need to know the steps to take to work toward that accomplishment. Becoming a software engineer requires a different kind of training than becoming an anthropologist. An effective CCLR solution helps students map what various pathways could look like. This helps both students and families understand the continued education, time investment, and finances necessary for a student’s goals, allowing them to make an informed decision about their best-fit path.   

Research indicates that students who experience career-connected learning opportunities are more likely to develop a positive vision of themselves in the workplace. Giving students the chance to directly engage with working professionals helps them understand what their future might look like, turning dreams into attainable realities. This can be especially important for students who might be receiving cultural and social messaging that discourages them from pursuing certain fields. It also helps students make a smoother connection between what they’re learning in the classroom and their future goals.  

College and career readiness programming has long focused on helping students master “hard skills” so students can demonstrate their abilities to prospective employers. “Soft skills,” or the personal traits that students develop, are equally important and should be nurtured in an effective CCLR solution. Qualities such as teamwork, leadership, clear communication, empathy, resilience, problem–solving, and critical thinking are beneficial in both the professional and personal realms. CCLR programming should give students opportunities to develop these skills.  

Schools and districts are responsible for meeting state and federal mandates targeting student outcomes. CCLR programming should help students and families see what requirements have been completed and which ones are still outstanding in order to keep students on track to graduate. Clear visibility into the expectations of every student is essential for ensuring that students get the support they need while planning their course path.  

CCLR solutions need to be measurable so that schools and districts can see if their initiatives are working and intervene if their programming isn’t yielding the desired results. Key performance indicators like on-time graduation rates should be easily accessible and actionable. Ideally, a school or district with an effective CCLR program leverages an edtech provider with an established record of positive student outcomes to get a holistic picture of student performance.  

Interoperable systems provide an extra layer of data security and help reduce data entry errors while saving time that can be lost toggling between separate applications. Connected systems deliver a comprehensive overview of students from an individual to a district level so that educators can personalize student support, identify areas for improvement, and centralize course management and student progress. Effective CCLR solutions streamline workflow and give valuable insight.  

The many components of CCLR programming can overwhelm schools and districts that are already working to balance strained resources, curricular mandates, and community health. Keeping these six questions in mind as you evaluate the best fit solution for improving student outcomes will help you choose a platform that meets the unique needs of your students and educators.