By Stanley Litow

We are living through an existential crisis, and it’s hard to limit the daily challenges to a single-digit set of issues. At the college level, National Institute of Health funding for vital research was halted, at least for now. K-12 schools are still making up ground from the COVID-19 disruption, and the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education is looming, threatening a range of services for our most vulnerable children. Executive orders restrict the teaching of slavery and promote funding for private school vouchers. Add to this the number of students who are not attending because of immigration enforcement.

People are exhausted and desperate for some good news. Well, we now have some….

.…In New York State, the Power Authority, a big green jobs employer, is partnering with SUNY to not only double the number of micro-credentials for green jobs but also offer them to high school students in some of the state’s P-TECH schools, at no cost. This year Gov. Kathy Hochul announced free community college tuition for students seeking degrees in areas of labor market growth….

.…The P-TECH approach, which offers a model of education combining high school and college via dual enrollment along with industry engagement, has spread to over 500 schools across 28 countries. It offers a clear pathway from school to college to career for students regardless of income or achievement levels. Many employers — including IBM, Cisco, Northwell Health, Micron, GlobalFoundries, and the NY Power Authority — are seeing strong results from this model. An independent evaluation by MDRC demonstrates its success, especially for low-income students and students of color….

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