Teens often feel compelled take on adult economic responsibilities when their families struggle to make ends meet. Our schools can make it incredibly difficult for young people to balance these responsibilities and stay on track to graduate. This toolkit provides practical recommendations for school systems, as well as state and federal policymakers, on how to identify young people before they fall behind, make mainstream educational systems more flexible and supportive, better align career and technical education with paid work opportunities, and improve access to employment. These reforms are fundamentally an issue of equity, but they can also make education and employment more humane for all students.
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