What does it mean for a student to be ready for life after high school?
For decades, college and career readiness has shaped how we think about preparing students for the future. But as artificial intelligence, automation, and a rapidly changing workforce reshape the world of work, the definition of readiness is changing too.
That question is at the heart of the first episode of Redesigning Readiness: Conversations About Career-Connected Learning, a new conversation series hosted by Dr. Joseph Goins, founder and CEO of Pathway2Careers.
In the inaugural episode, Dr. Goins sits down with Dr. Bill Daggett, founder of the Successful Practices Network and the International Center for Leadership in Education (now known as The Center for Model Schools). Dr. Daggett is also a longtime advocate for rethinking how schools prepare students for the future.
Drawing on decades of work with educators, business leaders, and schools, he makes a compelling case: schools can’t prepare students for tomorrow’s world by simply doing more of what they did yesterday.
Here are some of the key takeaways from their conversation.
Readiness isn't about the next test. It's about what's next.
Dr. Daggett challenges the way schools have traditionally defined readiness. Preparing students for the next grade, assessment, or level of education isn’t enough. Students ultimately need to be prepared to navigate life and work beyond the classroom.
“Ready … doesn’t mean the next grade, next test, next level of education. It means life. It means the workplace.”
— Dr. Bill Daggett
That broader definition of readiness asks schools to consider not only what students need to know, but whether they can apply what they learn in the real world.
AI is changing what students need to be ready for.
That question has become even more urgent as technology reshapes the workplace. Dr. Daggett compares the impact of AI on knowledge-based work to the way automation transformed manual labor, but notes that today’s changes are happening much faster.
As technology takes over more routine tasks, the value of human skills and the ability to apply knowledge in new ways becomes increasingly important. Schools therefore need to help students understand how technology is changing careers and what skills will matter in the jobs of the future.
Dr. Daggett points to prompt engineering as one example of an emerging skill area and asks, “Why the heck aren’t we teaching that in high school to all kids?”
The point isn’t that every student needs to become a prompt engineer. Rather, students need opportunities to engage with emerging technologies and understand how they are changing the world of work.
It’s time to rethink the degree-first mindset.
The conversation also challenges the assumption that there is one universally “right” path after high school.
Dr. Daggett describes a shift in the labor market toward greater emphasis on skills, including skills demonstrated through stackable microcredentials and other forms of preparation that don’t necessarily require a traditional four-year degree.
That doesn’t mean college is no longer valuable; it means students deserve a broader understanding of the possibilities available to them, along with the skills different careers equire.
For educators, that means helping students see that readiness can take many forms.
A student pursuing aviation maintenance, electrical work, construction, healthcare, technology, or another technical career may follow a very different pathway from a student pursuing a traditional bachelor’s degree.
Both can be meaningful pathways to a successful future. The challenge is making sure students have enough exposure to those possibilities to make informed choices.
Career-connected learning shouldn't be reserved for CTE students.
Dr. Goins describes a persistent divide in education: academic subjects on one side and career and technical education on the other. Too often, students are expected to encounter the connection between the two only later in life.
Instead, he argues, those connections should happen early and often. That means students shouldn’t have to enroll in a CTE program to experience the relevance of what they’re learning in an academic classroom.
Consider mathematics. As Dr. Goins points out, students frequently ask some version of the same question: “Where am I ever going to use this?”
The answer shouldn’t simply be something students discover after graduation. Career-connected learning can bring those connections into the classroom, helping students understand how academic knowledge is used in real jobs and real-world situations.
As Dr. Daggett explains, students are more likely to retain knowledge when they understand how to apply it: “You are a math teacher, teach me how to apply math, and I’m going to do well and remember math. If I just have to memorize the formula, I won’t remember a year from now.”
Career-connected learning, in this sense, isn’t about turning every academic class into a CTE course. It’s about making learning more relevant by helping students understand why the knowledge matters and where it can take them.
Change starts with culture, not strategy.
So how can schools begin making this shift? Dr. Daggett’s advice is surprisingly practical: don’t try to change everyone at once.
“Culture trumps strategy.”
— Dr. Bill Daggett
Before schools can successfully redesign instruction, Dr. Daggett says educators need to develop a deeper understanding of how dramatically the workplace and society are changing.
Then, rather than focusing first on those who are most resistant to change, he recommends starting with the educators who are ready to experiment.
His “top third” approach is straightforward: find the educators who are willing to try something different, support them, and give them opportunities to see what career-connected, future-focused instruction can look like in practice.
Those educators become change agents. As their classrooms begin to look differentand as students become more engaged—other educators can see the possibilities for themselves.
“Show them … show how them the classrooms, what they look like that are really doing it,” he advises. In other words, seeing is believing.
And importantly, Dr. Daggett argues that the biggest shift may not be the curriculum itself, but instructional practice and instructional design: how educators help students apply what they’re learning.
Schools can't prepare students for a changing world in isolation.
Dr. Daggett emphasizes the importance of stronger connections between education and business and industry.
If educators are preparing students for a workplace that is changing rapidly, they need opportunities to understand what that workplace actually looks like. That means getting outside the school building, visiting businesses, building relationships with employers, and seeing firsthand how technology is changing jobs and the skills workers need.
Dr. Daggett compares it to educators’ experiences with AI: once they actually begin using the technology, they understand its capabilities in a way they couldn’t from simply hearing about it.
The same is true of the workplace.
“They need to visit businesses to see, wow, this is the world my kids are going to have to function in,” Dr. Daggett says.
For schools committed to redefining readiness, those relationships can help bridge the gap between what students learn and what they will ultimately be expected to do.
Redefining readiness starts with asking a different question.
The conversation ultimately comes back to a fundamental question: Are we preparing students for the world they’re actually going to enter?
The answer requires rethinking what we mean by readiness—and creating more opportunities for students to connect academic knowledge with real-world applications, career possibilities, and the skills they’ll need to navigate a rapidly changing future.
As Dr. Daggett shared near the end of the conversation, a business leader recently asked a room full of educators a deceptively simple question about the eight-year-olds in their schools:
“Do you think they’re really ready for this world?”
The room went silent.
That question, and what schools choose to do with it, is at the heart of Redesigning Readiness.
Listen to the full episode... and more!
Hear the complete conversation between Dr. Joseph Goins and Dr. Bill Daggett on Redesigning Readiness here or wherever you get your podcasts.
Explore the series: Visit the Redesigning Readiness landing page for more episodes, resources, and insights on helping students connect what they’re learning today with the opportunities of tomorrow.
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