May 13, 2025
This report highlights the need for states to build more effective career navigation systems to better meet the needs of all young people and analyzes the extent to which each state has enacted the policies necessary to achieve that goal.
Few young people have access to the essential career navigation services they need to make informed decisions about their education and career options after high school. Without this guidance, many are left uncertain about what to pursue next, unable to support themselves and their families, and unsure of which paths to take to reach their goals.
State leaders can help. By adopting policies that contribute to the development of a comprehensive, integrated, and effective career navigation system, states can empower more young people ages 16-24 to gain the skills, credentials, and connections that lead to meaningful, quality jobs.
In this report, we identified 19 specific policies across 4 components that contribute to an ideal career navigation system: actionable information, personalized guidance, work-based learning, and short-term credentials. We also examined the adoption of these 19 policies across all 50 states and the District of Columbia to determine how much progress each state has made.
Here’s what we found:
The maps below illustrate each state’s progress. States shown with a darker color have adopted more key policies related to career navigation than states shown with a lighter color.
🔵 Hover
over each state to learn more about how many policies included in our scan have been adopted.
✅ Click
on each state within the individual component maps to reveal more details about the number of adopted policies for each state.
Data sources for the information included in each map are available in the report’s appendix.
 | Actionable Information |
| Every young person needs access to high-quality information about postsecondary and career opportunities to make informed choices about their future. | |
 | Personalized Guidance |
| Personalized guidance, supported by well-trained career coaches, can be crucial for helping young people gain clarity on their education and career goals, acquire critical career navigation skills, and choose from the vast array of available postsecondary education and training programs. | |
 | Work-Based Learning |
| Work-based learning opportunities are essential for bridging the gap between education and employment by providing young people in secondary and postsecondary settings with hands-on experience and practical skills that are directly applicable in the workforce. | |
 | Short-Term Credentials |
| Short-term, workforce-aligned credential programs play a vital role in rapidly equipping individuals with the skills needed to meet the demands of the job market. | |
We hope this policy scan will encourage state leaders and the broader field to consider the supports and conditions required for truly effective career navigation systems that enable young people ages 16-24 to pursue education and career paths that lead to economic advancement.
JFF plans to release a policy agenda later this year offering additional actions state leaders and others can take to improve their career navigation systems. The ASA Center for Career Navigation at JFF is also connecting with young people, practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and others to further explore what high-quality career navigation services are and how policymakers at all levels of government can take action to empower the next generation to chart their own course after high school.
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