Career Pathways

Career pathways are a coordinated approach to postsecondary education and workforce training that prepares individuals for middle-skills jobs, referring to employment that requires more than a high school diploma but less than a 4-year college degree. Initiated primarily by federal, state, and local policy and funding, the idea of career pathways has moved from experimentation to mainstream implementation over the last two decades. Besides public funding, philanthropic foundations have helped to spread career pathways initiatives to states throughout the United [Page 212]States, and career pathways policy has also been adopted by other nations, most notably Australia, Canada, and several countries in the European Union. Career pathways systems coordinate these integrated education and training programs with student services, job placement, and other support strategies in order ...