WHITE PAPER
Making Career Exploration Count: Identifying Opportunities to Deliver Outcomes for Youth
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This white paper presents findings from an evidence and opportunity assessment that combined research across youth development, career development, education, and workforce fields with insights from practitioners, researchers, and state and district leaders. It examines what young people should gain from career exploration, defines the core components of high-quality practice, reviews what current evidence shows about youth outcomes, and identifies priorities for improving implementation, measurement, and future research.
Supported by the Walton Family Foundation and Britebound, this publication is part of a broader set of resources on career exploration in middle and high school, including What Works in Career Exploration and Laying the Groundwork for Effective Career Exploration. Together, these resources synthesize current evidence, define the core components of high-quality exploration, examine the conditions that shape implementation, and identify priorities for practice, policy, measurement, and future research.