Delivering high-quality college and career pathways requires consistent, long-term funding that can be adaptable and flexible to the demands of industry and the varied needs of learners. For pathways to exist at scale and be sustainable, the approach to funding must be strategic, aligned across K–12, postsecondary, and workforce systems, and include a diversified mix of funding types.
Over the past two years of collaboration, leaders and participants in the Launch initiative learned a great deal about the conditions that must be in place to advance high-quality, equitable, and sustainable pathways systems. The conditions are related to a framework of five levers that are critical for driving lasting systems change.
This second blog in the series elevates three state-level examples featured in Conditions For Sustainable and Equitable Pathways Systems of how state CTE leaders are leveraging funding to build college and career pathways for scale and sustainability.
Delaware
Delaware intentionally leverages and aligns federal, state, institutional, and private funding streams to support Delaware Pathways, officially created by executive order in 2016. The Delaware Pathways program is a statewide system of career pathways for youth, as well as training opportunities for educators and community-based partners. The state identified and implemented three major strategies to optimize and coordinate financial support for career pathways: developing a structure for philanthropic contributions and investment, coordinating state and federal supports to leverage additional resources, and developing a catalog of additional funding.
In 2021 the governor announced Delaware Pathways 2.0, a $15.8 million expansion of the state initiative that has enabled the program to reach 6,000 middle school learners and more than 12,000 additional secondary learners. The expansion specifically targets career pathways in health care, information technology, finance, and engineering. The state has developed a new work plan and has mapped the various funding streams to the priorities to demonstrate areas of alignment and further fundraising.
Kentucky
Starting in 2016, Kentucky began a multiyear effort to align 100% of career pathways offerings with high-skill, high-wage, and in-demand occupations, with the goal of being more strategic with its funding dedicated to state-approved career pathways. The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) first released a comprehensive list of career pathways programs aligned with the commonwealth’s five priority industries and top occupations to help local leaders identify those programs in need of transformation. After taking an inventory of existing career pathways and leveraging enrollment and labor market data from the Kentucky Center for Statistics (KY STATS), KDE in 2017 began phasing out and transforming career pathways that did not meet alignment criteria.
To ensure buy-in at all levels of the education system, members of KDE met with school administrators across the commonwealth to discuss the need for labor market alignment in educational programs. Plans to phase out and transform career pathways were met largely with approval by local school staff. By the end of 2020, KDE had phased out, adjusted, or realigned all of its career pathways that did not meet the state expectations.
Texas
Through the Tri-Agency Workforce Initiative, Texas is prioritizing a coordinated approach to pathways funding across the state’s K–12, higher education, and workforce development agencies to invest in statewide initiatives. Additionally, Texas is supporting regional pathways partnerships and building the capacity of regional intermediaries in 17 areas across the state in the Texas Regional Pathways Network through funding, technical assistance, and peer-learning opportunities.
The Texas Regional Pathways Network currently includes two initiatives. First, Tri-Agency Regional Convener grantees, funded through H.B. 1525, are developing regional pathways infrastructure and have goals to create systems that support scalable and sustainable pathways aligned with industry demand. These organizations are working toward being designated as the Regional Convener for their workforce development area. Second, Regional Pathway Teams, funded by federal Perkins VRreserve funds, are focused on implementing pathways aligned to a specific industry and developing goals around learner outcomes. These efforts are complemented by outcomes-based funding that incentivizes postsecondary institutions to offer credentials of value and rewards school districts for improving learners’ college, career, and military readiness (CCMR).
Dive into additional state examples and the conditions that enable accessible and sustainable high-quality pathways systems at scale across the five levers of policy, funding, partnerships, data, and equity in the first publication from the Launch initiative Conditions For Sustainable and Equitable Pathways Systems.
