Today we’d like to introduce you to Riley Foster.
Hi Riley, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I moved to St. Louis in 2018 to teach high school math with Teach For America. In my first year, I taught mainly juniors and seniors. When I asked my students about their plans after high school, most said they plan to be a lawyer, a doctor, or an engineer. When I inquired further–asking about why the career would be a good fit for them, what they knew about it, or what additional education or training they’d need to pursue it–they usually couldn’t answer. I watched most of those students, who had such high aspirations and energy, go on to start and drop out of college, often landing a low-wage retail or food service job; four years into my teaching career, I was introduced to Jesse Dixon, a partner at The Opportunity Trust, who had done a lot of work in workforce development in East St. Louis and who was similarly concerned about the postsecondary outcomes for many of the students in St. Louis. After a few conversations, we decided to leverage my knowledge of students, school systems, and entrepreneurship (from a startup endeavor that I pursued alongside teaching) with Jesse’s extensive understanding of industry-recognized credentials and middle-skill pathways and his relationships with leaders in the business and education sectors to reimagine what postsecondary preparation could look like in high schools. We launched “Next Prep” in 2022 with a cohort of 75 students at Kairos Academies High School. After a positive first year, we expanded to serve all 230 students in 9th and 10th grades at Kairos, plus 35 12th-grade students in Indianapolis.
Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
Honestly, I’m surprised and excited by how quickly we’ve gotten Next Prep off the ground. In December of 2022, this program was a fledgling idea, and in April 2024, we’re serving 250 students in two states. One of the things that has made it possible to implement so quickly has been the willingness of our school partners to adopt an innovative approach to postsecondary readiness and the eagerness of our employer partners to engage with students in various ways. Learning how to connect employers and schools, which operate very differently, has been an interesting process that we’re still mastering. It’s proven the need for this intermediary function that Next Prep has stepped into. The financial and programmatic support we’ve received from The Opportunity Trust has also helped mitigate any of the programmatic challenges or potential expertise gaps that I foresaw at the outset. The one challenge I continue to grapple with is ensuring that all students are academically prepared for the careers we expose them to. Even if those careers don’t require Bachelor’s Degrees, they still require baseline academic and professional skills. Next Prep provides the infrastructure to develop professional skills, and we’re navigating how to provide additional academic support so that students can make their career dreams and long-term goals possible.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about Next Prep?
Next Prep is a four-year program that prepares students to earn a living wage within six years of high school graduation by serving as an intermediary between high schools, employers, and education and training partners. For the last two decades, high schools have mainly taken a “college for all” approach, preparing all students to be accepted to and begin college. As the value of the Bachelor’s Degree has declined and the cost has skyrocketed, more and more students are looking for options outside of the traditional 4-year college route. Next Prep understands the employment landscape in St. Louis, and we view one of our critical roles as showcasing the wide variety of pathway options to the students at our partner schools. We also place a heavy emphasis on our professional skill development work. Our students all participate in simulations whereby they learn a professional skill in a classroom setting and then have to demonstrate that skill with a trained actor while their peers watch on a live stream. They get immediate feedback from their peers and adults about their skill proficiency so that they can improve and be prepared to enter college and pursue a career. Simulations are just one example of how hands-on Next Prep is. We emphasize getting our kids in front of employers to build their skills, knowledge, and social capital meaningfully.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Over the next 5-10 years, we’ll continue to see a shift away from the “college for all” high school approach and towards industry-recognized credentials aligned to career pathways. We’ll also keep seeing a heavy emphasis on professional skills, especially in the wake of COVID and in the face of technology. Next Prep is well positioned at the forefront of these shifts to be a model for how schools can prepare their students for life after high school.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://theopportunitytrust.org/our-work/
- Other: https://vimeo.com/showcase/11060598/video/906059836
Image Credits
Lance Omar, Michael Thomas
