State leaders should designate one individual or agency to coordinate work across silos and bring together key players (government agencies, K-12 education leaders, employers, and higher education representatives). In larger states, regional governance structures may also be necessary to tailor pathways to local employer needs and workforce opportunities. These cross-agency entities can set and track goals promoting equity in pathways participation and outcomes, design systems for quality assurance, and offer policy recommendations to ensure pathways are cost-effective and produce results.

Labor markets don’t coincide perfectly with school districts, which also often lack the staff and expertise to engage employers effectively. Different schools and districts have different capacities to offer pathways; regionalizing programs helps ensure more students have access to more opportunities. States should thus help establish and support a regional approach to pathway development.

Information from K-12, postsecondary, and the workforce will enable policymakers to understand which pathways are yielding the desired outcomes and make adjustments as necessary. Ideally, data systems should link student choices and success in high school to postsecondary and labor market outcomes.

Invest in pathways that lead to careers with a “family sustaining wage” in growth industries. Make labor market data available to schools, colleges, and employers, and avoid creating “dead-end” pathways into declining or low-wage industries.

Pathways programs may be able to take advantage of federal funds from multiple sources, including from: the Higher Education Act, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. State policymakers are often the only entity that has jurisdiction over all of these sources of funding and can bring together the stakeholders necessary to achieve cross-sector goals.

State and local policymakers should examine state graduation and college admission requirements to make sure that students can earn course credit for work-based learning. They should also work with higher education institutions to ensure that work-based learning counts toward postsecondary degree and major requirements.

As part of successful pathways programs, students should have the opportunity to earn industry-recognized credentials and valuable certificates that demonstrate employability skills. State and local leaders should partner with employers and community organizations to bring credentialing and certificate programs to high schools.

State high school graduation and higher education admissions requirements must support integrated curriculum, so that all courses are rigorous and “count” for both graduation and college admission.

This will help promote system alignment and mutual accountability across K-12 and higher education.

Students who take one or more dual enrollment courses are more likely to enroll in, and complete, college, but participation is not distributed equitably among students. White students are twice as likely to enroll in dual enrollment than their Black and Latino peers. State and local policymakers should provide support and funding for historically underserved students to expand access and completion rates for early college credit. A first step would be to conduct an audit of the availability of advanced coursework in high schools across the state, set goals for participation and success for each racial and ethnic group, and target resources to address gaps in access.

“Contextualized” classes are those that combine a college-preparatory subject matter (like geometry) with career and technical applications (like construction). These courses satisfy multiple college and career pathway requirements while at the same time giving students who struggle with traditional courses another option to master rigorous material. State and local leaders can support the development of these courses by ensuring that students can meet graduation and pathway requirements simultaneously across vocational and traditional subject areas. In addition, teachers must have access to the professional development and certification opportunities they need to teach in multiple areas.

Transition courses are classes taught in high school where a passing score automatically allows a student to enroll in the subsequent college-level course without taking a placement exam. They are powerful tools in reducing remediation rates. State and local policymakers should support the development of these courses, which K-12 and postsecondary institutions should design together.

Students don’t know what they cannot see, so schools should offer students early and sustained advising to a wide variety of careers, as well as access to workplace experiences. State and local leaders can help provide schools with data about careers (earning, availability, etc.) by coordinating among industry leaders and state agencies. They should also invest in strengthening counselor training and certification programs, and sponsor initiatives to ensure that all students develop individual career plans. Further, state and local leaders can help explore development of apprenticeship programs while students are still in high school.

College-in-high school programs take different forms, but they all bring college-level coursework, and the ability to earn college-level credit, to students who are in high school. These programs are a powerful strategy to help students prepare for and succeed in college, as well as reduce the cost and other obstacles of higher education. State and local leaders should support the development of these programs in their jurisdictions.

High school students are often required to select a graduation pathway and make choices about course enrollment without understanding the consequences of those decisions. State and local leaders should ensure students have access to navigational support throughout high school, including by providing funding for additional school counselors and establishing partnerships with non-profit organizations.

Public institutions of higher education, particularly community colleges, are essential to this work. They should be included in designing everything from state governance structures to individual college-in-high-school courses. State and local leaders can help bring these higher education leaders to the table.

State and local leaders can incentivize – by setting state-wide goals and providing financial and technical support – schools and colleges to offer a range of pathways with multiple options and off-ramps. Students should be able to earn valuable certificates – like those in engineering, manufacturing, and construction trades – and college credits while still in high school, and go on to earn bachelor’s degrees and beyond.

Workplace experiences should be informed by employer needs and available to all students, regardless of school or district. Experiences should also cover a continuum of involvement – both from employers and from students – to match individual needs. State and local leaders should recruit employers to participate and match employers with schools, districts, and regional partnerships that are coordinating pathways.

Students should learn job skills for careers they want to pursue instead of working in low-skill jobs like food service or retail. State and local officials can help arrange the support that employers need to hire high school students, including working through issues of liability, transportation logistics, and human resource administration.

Teachers must understand the need for high quality pathways and learn how to teach in that context. That means that teachers must be involved in the development and implementation of pathways. State and local leaders can help by including teachers in state and regional governing structures and in feedback structures.

Teacher certification requirements are often aligned to outdated policies that put college preparation in tension with career preparation. But for pathways to succeed in preparing students for college and career, the opposite must be true. This means that teachers of traditional college preparatory requirements must coordinate with vocational instructors – or train across subject areas themselves – to align curriculum. State and local leaders must help clear policy obstacles to allow for greater flexibility in what and where teachers teach, including by updating teacher certification rules and graduation requirements.

There are not enough college professors to offer college-level courses in high schools at the scale we need to satisfy growing demand from students. State officials should modify existing teacher certification rules to encourage K-12 teachers to get credentials to teach dual enrollment classes.

Teachers can’t teach what they don’t know. Teacher externships – in the field in which they are teaching pathway courses – are essential to help teachers understand what skills the job requires and better educate students to meet workforce demands. State and local officials should help incentivize and support these externships, including by recruiting employers to participate and funding leave for participating teachers.