The more than 20,000 middle and high school students enrolled in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) have access to a range of career development opportunities (CDOs). These opportunities help students explore potential careers, develop job-seeking knowledge and professional competencies, and acquire the technical skills and credentials necessary to enter the workforce. 

This summary describes the landscape of CDOs available to DCPS students, including their components, intended outcomes, and distribution across the city, as well as how CDOs are funded and managed. The results reported here are part of a four-year study being conducted by the DC Education Research Collaborative, with researchers from the Urban Institute, D.C. Policy Center, and Georgetown University and in partnership with DCPS. 

Data were collected through a combination of public materials review; a questionnaire fielded to DCPS central services staff members, other government agencies providing CDOs, and core nonprofit program provider partners; interviews with key staff members; and data requested from DCPS. Unless otherwise specified, school year 2023–24 is the year of focus. 

Key findings include: 

• DCPS students can participate in 38 types of CDOs.
• DCPS central services shapes how CDOs are designed, and schools manage implementation.
• Common components of CDOs include surveys of students' skills, competencies, or postsecondary interests; job shadowing, field trips, and workplace tours; and career fairs or networking.
• The foundation of DCPS’s theory of action for career development is formal coursework in the form of career and technical education (CTE) programs of study.
• Participation in some types of CDOs, especially coursework and work-based learning, can be limited by what is offered at a student’s home campus, eligibility requirements, or practical considerations.
• The number of CDO program types offered at each school is not related to the school’s concentration of economically disadvantaged students.
• Most schools offer more than one CTE program of study, with associated occupations that have a range of average median wages. The average median wages of occupations associated with the CTE programs of study offered by DCPS high schools are not related to a school’s share of economically disadvantaged students. 

This work is part of a multi-year study. Phase 1 (2024–2026) is a landscape analysis of career development opportunities available to DCPS students and details program components, participants and outcomes, funding sources, management structures, and the ways students access each program. Phase 2 (2025–2028) will be a detailed study of a single program to understand implementation, costs, and outcomes. More information and additional publications can be found on the project page. 

The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education, through Grant R305N240059 to the Urban Institute. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Urban Institute or the US Department of Education.