Quality Coaching
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A successful transition from postsecondary education into employment starts long before graduation.
Education-to-career coaching that includes guidance, timely information, and support can be a game changer for students. This kind of quality coaching and guidance helps students identify their talents and interests, choose career goals, map education pathways, and navigate challenges.
By the numbers
recent bachelor’s degree graduates of public colleges and universities received all three elements of personalized education-to-career coaching: guidance, timely information, and support.
of recent graduates who received education-to-career guidance have a first job that requires a degree, compared with 52 percent who did not.
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Why quality coaching matters
Individuals face a series of high-stakes decisions as they begin to explore education and career pathways, and every choice shapes future possibilities. Coaching and career guidance that incorporates career exploration, mentorship, and support with the job search is tied to stronger earnings and employment outcomes.
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Quality Coaching
This national overview of student experiences defines quality education-to-career coaching as consisting of three elements: guidance, timely information, and support. Students’ experiences across these elements vary, and this report examines the experiences of recent graduates.
How we support quality coaching
Strada partners with states, institutions, policymakers, foundations, and other organizations to promote greater access to quality education-to-career coaching.
Principles for Quality Education-to-Career Guidance
In partnership with Strada, an advisory group of education and workforce development leaders and practitioners developed a set of education-to-career guiding principles for quality coaching. These principles describe the core components that quality education-to-career guidance includes, and reflect the importance of making education-to-career guidance available to all learners.
Innovation in Career Services grants
In partnership with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, Strada awarded eight Innovation in Career Services grants to institutions that will design, implement, and evaluate innovative approaches to career services that are aligned with the principles for education-to-career guidance.
Mentors ease paths to students' first jobs
Highly coveted internships at prominent tech companies can be hard to come by, with more than 100,000 students nationwide vying for thousands of positions. A partnership between a Seattle organization and a local community college includes education-to-employment coaching that helps students land internships and prepare for careers.
How we measure progress
Providing education-to-employment coaching and guidance helps individuals achieve their education goals while positioning themselves for career success.
Strada developed the State Opportunity Index to help states measure the percentages of recent graduates that had access to the kind of education-to-career coaching and guidance that provides timely information and support. To establish a baseline for this important data, we conducted a national survey of individuals who graduated from public two- and four-year institutions between 2020 and 2023, as well as graduates of public four-year institutions from the four largest states: California, Florida, New York, and Texas.
The 2025 State Opportunity Index found that recent graduates who experienced quality education-to-career coaching are more likely to report that their first job required a college degree, and are more likely to report that their education had a positive impact on their well-being and helped them to achieve their goals. The survey also found that experiences with quality education-to-career coaching vary significantly by major.
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FAQs
Quality coaching is education-to-career guidance that helps students reflect on their talents, choose a career goal, map pathways through education, and navigate challenges. It centers on three elements working together: guidance, timely labor market information, and support. This kind of coaching can change the trajectory of a student's career.
Quality coaching has three elements: guidance, timely information, and support. Guidance helps students set career goals and map education pathways. Timely information gives them current labor market data. Support helps them overcome obstacles along the way. Students benefit most when they receive all three together, not just one.
Quality coaching matters because it is tied to stronger earnings and employment outcomes. Students face a series of high-stakes decisions as they explore education and careers, and every choice shapes what comes next. Coaching that includes career exploration, mentorship, and job-search support helps learners secure college-level jobs and feel satisfied early in their careers.
Only about 1 in 5 recent bachelor's degree graduates of public colleges received all three elements of quality coaching: guidance, timely information, and support. Most students experience some elements but not the full combination that research links to the strongest education and career outcomes. Access remains far too low.
Yes. Among recent graduates who received education-to-career guidance, 69 percent landed a first job that required a degree, compared with 52 percent who did not. Graduates who experience quality coaching are also more likely to report that their education had a positive impact on their well-being and helped them reach their goals.
Quality coaching is measured through the State Opportunity Index, which tracks the share of recent graduates who had access to it. The baseline comes from a national survey of people who graduated from public two- and four-year institutions between 2020 and 2023, including four-year graduates in California, Florida, New York, and Texas.
Strada partners with states, institutions, and others to widen access to quality coaching. With an advisory group of education and workforce leaders, it developed the Principles for Quality Education-to-Career Guidance, which describe the core components of good coaching and stress the importance of making it available to every learner, not just a few.
The Innovation in Career Services grants are eight awards made to institutions designing, testing, and evaluating new approaches to career services. Created with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, the grants align with the principles for quality education-to-career guidance.
These five resources were developed to provide a summary of the research behind each of the five Principles for Quality Education-to-Career Guidance.
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At a State Higher Education Executive Officers Association convening in Washington, D.C., delegations of state leaders exchanged policy developments on work-based learning evidence and solutions.
As Strada’s eight-year investment in historically Black colleges and universities reaches its halfway point, the partner institutions and students involved reflect on how it helps students connect their education to economic opportunity.
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