Pathways

This tool is intended for states attempting to connect high-barrier-to-employment populations to career pathway opportunities. The Career Advancement Model provides guiding considerations to help states determine best practice and policy research with respect to welfare reform. The Model recommends a series of skill- and opportunity-enhancing provisions for individuals to be able to transition from welfare dependency to higher levels of education and family-wage careers. 

This report highlights quasi-experimental and experimental research on promising approaches for increasing dropouts’ rate of GED attainment, other high school equivalency credentials, and successful transition to college. The report divides these interventions into three categories: college and career ready standards and curricula, GED-to-college “bridge” programs, and dual enrollment.

Many schools, districts, and states are looking for alternatives to the traditional seat time- and credit hour-based system. While mastery- or competency-based education (CBE) principles have a history in vocational settings, CBE models are new to the K-12 setting. The Proficiency-Based Pathways Project, funded by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, awarded grants to seven projects operating in 11 schools that employ a range of competency-based education models.

This report provides an overview of the state of postsecondary career and technical education (CTE) in the United States, including strengths and challenges of the CTE system. It also includes examples of various aspects of CTE systems in other countries and state case studies and recommendations for improving student outcomes of the postsecondary CTE system with a focus on three issues: quality and funding, credentials, and transitions.

This report includes findings from an impact evaluation of the Early College High School Initiative, launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The study compared the educational outcomes of students who applied and received admission into Early College through a lottery system to the outcomes of students who participated in the lottery system but did not receive admission. The study sample included 2,458 students and included data from 2004 to 2012.