Strada collaborates with students, policymakers, educators, and employers across the U.S. to strengthen the link between education and opportunity.
Learn More
We prioritize policies, practices, and programs that help ensure postsecondary education provides equitable pathways to opportunity.
We advance our mission through research, grantmaking, social impact investments, public policy solutions, Strada-supported nonprofit organizations, and strategic initiatives.
Every individual considering or pursuing postsecondary education can benefit from high-quality coaching.
Read time
The journey from education to employment can be confusing and difficult to navigate. Individuals face a series of high-stakes decisions as they begin to explore education and career pathways, and every choice can shape future possibilities.
Education-to-career guidance and coaching can be a game changer, helping students complete their postsecondary education and position themselves for career success.
We envision a future in which everyone has access to coaching that helps students identify their talents and interests, choose career goals, map education pathways, and navigate challenges.
Navigating the landscape of available degree and credential programs involves reflection on interests and individual circumstances, as well as an understanding of options and outcomes. For students, identifying the education program that fits their talents and interests and will help them achieve the life they envision is no easy task. Research from Strada’s State Opportunity Index shows that 69 percent of recent graduates who received education-to-employment coaching have a first job that requires a degree, and 63 percent of recent graduates who received education-to-employment coaching were satisfied with their jobs and with the progress they are making toward their long-term career goals.
Advisors, professors, community members, and employers can all play a role in coaching students. Highly coveted internships at prominent tech companies can be hard to come by, with more than 100,000 students nationwide vying for just thousands of positions. The recruitment process can favor students at top universities and those who have industry connections. A Strada-funded partnership between Seattle organization Mentors in Tech and a local community college aims to improve opportunities for students who live in a region with a robust tech industry that can be difficult to access. Mentors in Tech recruits tech professionals to mentor students, and those relationships typically evolve to include education-to-employment coaching that help the students land internships and prepare for job searches and interviews.
Employment outcomes for college graduates have changed as the labor market evolves and tightens. Research from Strada’s recent Talent Disrupted report shows 52 percent of graduates are underemployed a year after graduation. Quality coaching provides students with information about the job market for their field of study, so they can make education decisions with their future careers in mind. Unfortunately, only about one-quarter of graduates from two-year institutions and one-fifth of graduates from four-year institutions experienced personalized coaching that included key information and support.
Strada’s newest report, Quality Coaching, looks at students’ experiences across three elements of quality coaching and we examine the experiences of recent graduates. The report also offers insights to leaders, practitioners, and others seeking to improve students’ career outcomes.
Mentors in Tech recruits tech industry veterans from the region’s robust tech industry to mentor students at the area’s small, affordable, open-access colleges. The partnership between Green River and Mentors in Tech, or MinT, is supported in part by a $400,000 grant from Strada’s Employer and Community College Partnership Challenge.
Strada Education Foundation, today announced two new leadership appointments. These leaders will support the foundation’s efforts to conduct research and develop policy solutions in two critical areas: quality coaching and work-based learning.
The State Opportunity Index was developed to help states build a stronger connection between education after high school and equitable pathways to opportunity so students realize the full value of their education and employers have the workforce they need to fill high-demand jobs.
The gift of time. A recognition of talent. A helping hand. How our mentors helped shape us as people and professionals.
As provost and later president at the University of Utah, Ruth Watkins called out the “hollow promise” a university delivers to college students who have access to higher education but leave without completing a degree.
The baccalaureate degree remains the surest path to economic mobility, employment stability, and a host of associated social benefits.
Nationwide, about 80 percent of students enrolling in community college say they intend to continue at a four-year college or university to earn a bachelor’s degree. But only 15 percent of community college students achieve that goal within six years.
The high school classes of 2020 and 2021 have endured massive disruption to their education.
From its onset in early 2020, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has upended life across the world, leading to uncertainty around health, work, finances, education, and a host of other issues.
Talent Path’s Learn-and-Earn Model Bridges Skills Gap Between College and Career
XULA President Reynold Verret on How His HBCU Helps Students Succeed
How individuals who attend and don’t graduate feel about education