NCCEP’s Career & College Clubs: Spoiler alert…it works!

NCCEP’s Career & College Clubs has gone through three ACT impact studies, with the most recent study published in the fall of 2021. We wanted to examine the efficacy of the program and curriculum…basically does it really do what we say it does? And it does! I am so excited to share these positive results with the GEAR UP community.

This latest report, Examining the Efficacy of Career & College Clubs, was done in collaboration with ACT and Alliance GEAR UP, and it explored the development of college readiness skills in over 900 GEAR UP students. So let me share some specific results with you.

Now when I first read the report, I read a lot of different skills and categories, some numbers, and a symbol that looked like a fancy ‘a’. And to say the least, I was confused. I received help to translate the report, and now I can pay it forward. So, here’s a summary.

The results presented in this report suggest that the Career & College Clubs curriculum, within the context of GEAR UP programming, can increase students’ college readiness by supporting and building students’ social and emotional skills, postsecondary knowledge, and education intentions.

First, students developed stronger social and emotional skills. Social and emotional skills include interpersonal, self-regulatory, and task-related behaviors that allow people to be successful in school and work settings. Examples include managing emotions, setting and achieving personal goals, and maintaining relationships with others. From the report we learned students improved in all areas, especially within career exploration, academic discipline, and managing feelings.

The second result from the ACT report is that students increased their knowledge of postsecondary education and felt they were on track to have enough information about college entrance requirements and what it takes to get into a 4-year college. They learn about how to apply to college, their post-secondary options, and financial aid.

The last result of the ACT report is that students improved education intentions with 93% of participants planning to get a college degree. Another measure of college readiness is whether students can see themselves attending college, and whether or not they have a plan for higher education.

Stronger social and emotional skills.

Increased knowledge of post-secondary education.

Improved education intentions.

What a success.

Email ccc@edpartnerships.org to learn how you can take advantage of NCCEP's Career & College Clubs.

References

Bauer-Wolf, J. (2019, January 17). Survey: Employers want ‘soft skills’ from graduates. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/01/17/survey-employerswant-soft-skills-graduates

Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). (n.d.). Fundamentals of SEL. Retrieved from https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/

Flanagan, S. K., Margolius, M., Pileggi, M., Glaser, L., Burkander, K., Kincheloe, M., & Freeman, J. (2021). Where do we go next? Youth insights on the high school experience during a year of historic upheaval. Retrieved from America’s ACT Research | Research Report | November 2021 26 Promise Alliance website: https://www.americaspromise.org/resource/wheredo-we-go-next

National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP). (n.d.). Our mission. Retrieved from https://www.edpartnerships.org/mission

Quinn, D. M., & Polikoff, M. (2017, September 14). Summer learning loss: What is it, and what can we do about it? Brookings. Retrieved from ACT Research | Research Report | November 2021 27 https://www.brookings.edu/research/summer-learning-loss-what-is-it-andwhat-can-we-do-about-it/

Ryeberg, R., & Warren, J. (2021, April 27). COVID-19 has disrupted college plans for students in households with children. Child Trends. Retrieved from https://www.childtrends.org/publications/covid-19-has-disrupted-collegeplans-for-students-in-households-with-children

Torpey, E. (2015, January). Career planning for high schoolers. Career Outlook, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2015/article/career-planning-for-highschoolers.htm

• All Refrences

  ACT. (2020). ACT national curriculum survey® 2020. Iowa City, IA: Author.

  Camara, W., O’Connor, R., Mattern, K., & Hanson, M. A. (2015). Beyond academics: A holistic framework for enhancing education and workplace success (Research Report No. 2015-4). Iowa City, IA: ACT.

  Casillas, A., Way, J. D., & Burrus, J. (2015). Behavior is critical for education and work success. In W. J. Camara, R. O’Connor, K. Mattern, & M. A. Hanson (Eds.), Beyond academics: A holistic framework for enhancing education and workplace success (pp. 25–38). Iowa City, IA: ACT.

  Cress, C. M., Astin, H. S., Zimmerman-Oster, K., & Burkhardt, J. C. (2001). Developmental outcomes of college students’ involvement in leadership activities. Journal of College Student Development, 42(1), 15–27.

  Deming, D. J. (2017). The growing importance of social skills in the labor market. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 132(4), 1593–1640.

  Domina, T., Conley, A., & Farkas, G. (2011). The link between educational expectations

  and effort in the college-for-all era. Sociology of Education, 84(2), 93–112.

  Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011).

  The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A metaanalysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82, 405– 432.

  Haimovitz, K., & Dweck, C. S. (2017). The origin of children’s growth and fixed

  mindsets: New research and a new proposal. Child Development, 88(6), 1849–1859.

  Hooker, S., & Brand, B. (2010). College knowledge: A critical component of college and career readiness. New Directions for Youth Development, 127, 75–85.

  Kanopka, K., Claro, S., Loeb, S., West, M. R., & Fricke, H. (2020). Changes in socialemotional learning: Examining student development over time (Working Paper). Palo Alto, CA: Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE).

  Lounsbury, J. W., Steel, R. P., Loveland, J. M., & Gibson, L. W. (2004). An investigation of personality traits in relation to adolescent school absenteeism. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 33(5), 457–466.

  McMahon, G., Griffith, C., Mariani, M., & Zyromski, B. (2017). School counseling

  intervention research on college readiness, college access, and postsecondary success: A 10-year content analysis of peer-reviewed research. Journal of College Access, 3(2), 7–27.

  Noftle, E. E., & Robins, R. W. (2007). Personality predictors of academic outcomes: Big five correlates of GPA and SAT scores. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(1), 116–130.

  Parker, J., Hogan, M. J., Eastabrook, J. M., Oke, A., & Wood, L. M. (2006). Emotional intelligence and student retention: Predicting the successful transition from high school to university. Personality and Individual Differences, 41, 1329–1336.

  Poropat, A. E. (2009). A meta-analysis of the five-factor model of personality and academic performance. Psychological Bulletin, 135(2), 322–338.

  Rogers, A. A., Ha, T., & Ockey, S. (2021). Adolescents’ perceived socio-emotional impact of COVID-19 and implications for mental health: Results from a U.S.-based mixed-methods study. Journal of Adolescent Health, 68, 43–52.

  Simpkins, S. D., Tulagan, N., Lee, G., Ma, T. -L., Zarrett, N., & Vandell, D. L. (2020).

  Children’s developing work habits from middle childhood to early adolescence: Cascading effects for academic outcomes in adolescence and adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 56(12), 2281–2292.

  Soto, C. J., John, O. P., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2011). Age differences in personality traits from 10 to 65: Big five domains and facets in a large cross-sectional sample. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(2), 330–348.

  Spengler, M., Damian, R. I., & Roberts, B. W. (2018). How you behave in school predicts life success above and beyond family background, broad traits, and cognitive ability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114(4), 620–636.

  Taylor, R. D., Oberle, E., Durlak, J. A., & Weissberg, R. P. (2017). Promoting positive youth development through school-based social and emotional learning interventions: A meta-analysis of follow-up effects. Child Development, 88(4), 1156–1171.

  Topino, E., Di Fabio, A., Palazzeschi, L., & Gori, A. (2021). Personality traits, workers’ age, and job satisfaction: The moderated effect of conscientiousness. PLoS ONE, 16(7), 1–14.

  Walton, K. E., & Murano, D. (2020). Students have shown significant social and emotional skill development during COVID-19 (Data Byte). Iowa City, IA: ACT.

  Wang, M., & Eccles, J. S. (2012). Adolescent behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement trajectories in school and their differential relations to educational success. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 22(1), 31–39.