KIPP Public Schools Expands Partnership with YouScience Bringing Student Aptitude Assessments to 48 Schools Across the Nation

AMERICAN FORK, Utah, Feb. 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, YouScience announced its career guidance tool, YouScience Discovery, is now available for students in 48 KIPP Public Schools, a network of national public charter schools. With the recent expansion, YouScience Discovery now reaches over 3,000 high school and 200 middle school students. Nearly 19,000 KIPP Public School students have taken the YouScience Discovery Assessment since the partnership began in 2016.

YouScience is the only provider of a fully-integrated platform that delivers highly accurate aptitude-based assessments, personalized career guidance, and industry-recognized certifications. With YouScience Discovery, KIPP students are provided with a proven, research-based assessment that empowers them to discover their aptitudes, eliminating their natural bias and showcasing opportunities for success.

"Knowing what students are good at, or their natural aptitude, is one of the most accurate measures of which careers they will excel in. It's critical we help students understand this as early as possible, so that they can select the best educational pathway for themselves. In return, this will help combat the country's current talent gap," said Edson Barton, Founder and CEO of YouScience.

According to research published by Cambridge University Press, entitled "Mitigating the skills gap by addressing the gender imbalance in high-demand careers," interests are influenced by perceived "societal norms" that can limit the scope of students' career exploration. While interests can vary by gender, in the research, both males and females demonstrate equal aptitudes for careers in the four industries reviewed: healthcare, computer technology, manufacturing, and construction. As STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and other job opportunities grow, it's critical that we aid future talent by directing them into areas for education and careers that are ideally suited to their abilities and interests, and eliminate self-imposed biases.

"YouScience Discovery has really helped our students make a connection between their passions, skills, and purpose as they make decisions on the postsecondary paths they want to go on. In essence, it helps them have a better understanding of the strengths and skills that drive their career interests. At KIPP, we are committed to preparing all students with the skills and confidence needed for their postsecondary education. YouScience, as a tool, allows us to anchor pathway conversations on the innate skills found within each student," said Jorge Ochoa, Senior Manager, Career Continuum, KIPP Foundation. "A key driver of our mission is equity and to work with families and students to provide a joyous, rigorous education, for college, career, and beyond, so that students can lead fulfilling lives. To that end, I'm thrilled to expand this partnership with YouScience."

In KIPP Texas, YouScience Discovery is also being used to support alumni once they have graduated.

"We look back at our YouScience data when students come back to us after feeling lost in their postsecondary journey and use the data as a reference point," said Danny Zendejas, Director of Career Readiness and Alumni Engagement for KIPP Texas. "We can say this has helped our counselors because now that all juniors take YouScience Discovery, we have a book of data to use moving forward including into their years after high school."

In KIPP Northern California, staff have been using YouScience Discovery with alumni who are currently not enrolled in any postsecondary institutions, to support students on figuring out what career they really want to pursue before choosing a postsecondary pathway.

"YouScience Discovery allows students to see additional careers and explore options they had not considered," said one of KIPP Northern California's counselors. "Students enjoy seeing where they are strong fits in and also what they can do to make careers that they think they have a stronger for since they can get their info from the aptitudes and interests' section."

For KIPP alumni, using YouScience Discovery has been helpful in allowing them to understand the different careers and career clusters they could pursue. "YouScience helped me see what other careers I could think about researching to see if I might like it," said one KIPP Northern California alumni.

For more information about YouScience and its solutions, please visit www.youscience.com.

About YouScience
YouScience is the only provider of a fully-integrated platform that delivers highly accurate aptitude-based assessments, personalized career guidance, and industry-recognized certifications, empowering individuals in their educational and career pathways. Leveraging proven research and industry input, YouScience helps individuals identify their natural talents, validate their skills and knowledge, and get matched with real-world educational and career pathways in high-demand occupations. YouScience is the preferred choice of individuals, parents, educators, and counselors to guide and support educational and career pathways, currently serving more than 7,000 educational institutions and nearly one million users.

About KIPP
KIPP, the Knowledge Is Power Program, is a national network of 270 public charter schools dedicated to preparing students in educationally underserved communities for success in college, career and life. KIPP schools are part of the free public school system and enrollment is open to all students. Started in 1994 as a middle school program, KIPP has since expanded to enroll over 115,000 students in all grades from PreK through high school. Nationwide, KIPP students complete their bachelor's degree at three to four times higher rates than the average for students from economically disadvantaged families.

SOURCE YouScience