The authors analyze data from three RAND survey panels to examine career-connected learning in kindergarten through grade 12 schools in academic year 2025–2026. They explore this topic using the perspectives of district leaders, school leaders, and school students. This report can inform policymakers and education leaders across the United States who are working to design or strengthen career-connected learning opportunities for students.

Preparing Students for What Comes Next

Educator and Student Perspectives on Career-Connected Learning in K–12 Schools

Benjamin K. Master, Melissa Kay Diliberti, Cristina Alvarez, AK Keskin, Elizabeth D. Steiner

ResearchPublished Aug 31, 2026

Increasingly, when employers hire entry-level workers, they are placing a higher value on candidates who have a variety of skills and experiences. As the labor market for young adults shifts accordingly, educators are facing a growing need to understand how kindergarten through grade 12 (K–12) students learn about and navigate college and career pathways. Research on how schools help students explore career fields and gain professional experience is therefore a key complement to research on traditional college preparation supports.

In academic year 2025–2026, the authors of this report gathered survey data from district leaders via the American School District Panel, from school principals via the American School Leader Panel, and from students via the American Youth Panel. These data included information about college advisory and preparatory activities and work-related learning. Together, the three survey panels offer a timely and nationally representative view of career-connected programming in K–12 public schools and students’ experiences with that programming. These findings can inform policymakers, workforce development coordinators, career and technical education directors, and school leaders across the United States who are seeking to design or strengthen these learning opportunities.

Key Takeaways

  • Career-connected learning in high school centers on pathways to college. Sixty-six percent of high school students reported hearing a lot of emphasis from educators about attending a four-year college, while other pathways received much less emphasis.
  • Most leaders described providing students with their first experiences with career-connected learning in middle school, with most districts offering some form of career exploration or planning support.
  • Students described making after high school plans late in their high school careers: By spring of their junior year, more than four in ten students had yet to make a plan or meet with their counselors about college and career plans.
  • Students’ plans for work-related learning consistently outpace their follow-through. By spring of their senior year, only 39 percent reported visiting an employer or workplace, even though 71 percent said that they had planned to do so; only 22 percent had actually participated in an internship or apprenticeship, even though 66 percent indicated that they had planned to do so.
  • Sixty-three percent of high schools set numeric targets for students to meet with guidance counselors about college or a career, and around half of high schools (52 percent) set targets related to students developing postsecondary plans. Few track whether students are accepted to college or secure employment after high school.
  • Students who do not want to pursue a bachelor’s degree rated their schools’ supports the most negatively. Students from lower-income families were also less likely to report that school supports are well-matched to their families’ financial situations.

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Master, Benjamin K., Melissa Kay Diliberti, Cristina Alvarez, AK Keskin, and Elizabeth D. Steiner, Preparing Students for What Comes Next: Educator and Student Perspectives on Career-Connected Learning in K–12 Schools. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2026. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA5137-1.html.
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This research was commissioned by The Wallace Foundation and conducted by RAND Education, Employment, and Infrastructure.

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