In an ever-changing, increasingly complex world, it is more important than ever that youth are prepared to bring knowledge and skills to solve problems, make sense of information, and know how to gather and evaluate evidence to make decisions. Pursuing this specialized type of education helps foster the type of people with skillsets needed to do the work of the future. These are the kinds of skills that youth develop in science, technology, engineering, and math, including computer science — disciplines collectively known as STEM. Future leaders and workers must understand and solve some of the complex challenges of today and tomorrow through STEM. A policy focus on STEM education is believed to meet the demands of the dynamic and evolving workforce, building youths’ skills, content knowledge, and literacy in STEM fields.

Vocational-Technical Schools, or as they are usually called, vo-tech, is a type of trade school within US high schools. Traditionally they have had several objectives, including providing youth with general employability skills and preparing them to enter employment in specific occupations. In more recent years, however, the goals of vocational education have expanded to include preparing youth for entry-level work as well as to help foster career advancement and entry into further education and training. For instance, educators have been called upon to integrate academic and vocational education. Most public U.S. high school students participate in vocational education. At one point in time, nearly all public high school graduates (97 %) completed at least one vocational education course, and 87 % completed at least one occupationally specific course. With the proliferation of postsecondary education in the United States, coupled with concerns around low-income youth of color being tracked into non-academic programs, however, these rates have gone down.

The Advanced Placement program offers students the opportunity to take college-level courses and exams in high school and earn college credit, advanced placement, or both at many colleges and universities in the U.S. and around the world. By earning college credit in high school and skipping introductory courses in college, youth are able to save time and money as they work toward a college degree. Similarly, dual enrollment refers to students being enrolled concurrently in two academic programs (high school and college), which allows them to earn introductory college credit. While these programs allow students to reduce their future college course load, it is telling that usually only higher socioeconomic students are able to enroll in these courses.

Youth who do not speak English as a native language are referred to as English Language Learners (ELLs or ESL – English as a Second Language). As of 2021, there are approximately five million students in public schools in the United States who are English Language Learners. These youth can participate in language assistance programs to help ensure that they acquire the needed English proficiency while also meeting the academic content and scholastic standards that all students are expected to meet before graduating. It is hoped through participation in these types of programs that a young person’s English language proficiency will improve while also further connecting them to the American society. This ultimately leads to improved educational outcomes.