How do I get there? That’s one of the three questions the Consortium hopes to have students able to answer before they graduate high school, working with our partners to help students better understand how to plan and navigate pathways that prepare them to achieve their goals.
Designing an effective career pathway can start early, when youth and families have choices about what to study and what learning experiences (inside and outside the classroom) they want to pursue. When students enter high school, more choices become available, such as whether to register for career and technical education classes, complete a pre-apprenticeship, take a course to earn college credit, or apply for a job. The number of options is growing and, for youth and their families, building a meaningful pathway can be overwhelming.
The Consortium’s role as an intermediary, connecting education and workforce, positions us to help design and support cross-sector collaborations that create navigable and effective pathways, with on and off ramps that enable students to personalize their pathway.
This year, Neighborhood Learning Alliance (NLA) launched a healthcare pathway. Students in 12th grade at Woodland Hills High School have opportunities to earn college credit and job shadow at local hospitals. The Consortium collaborated with NLA to design the program so that it addresses academic and transportation barriers that often prevent high school youth from beginning to build their pathways.
The Consortium has also been invited to work with Butler Area School District to support their new health career pathway, a partnership with Butler County Community College (BC3) and Butler Memorial Hospital. This program includes opportunities to earn college credit, participate in a pre-apprenticeship, and shadow professionals in a variety of health careers. Consortium staff are serving as a liaison between the partners to ensure that students are supported and have what they need to be successful in the program. Later this year, Consortium staff will assist Butler’s educational leaders in designing a new pathway focused on another high-demand industry.
We are excited to be invited by our school and industry partners into these opportunities and are learning a lot from each of these experiences. We look forward to sharing what we have learned with more partners to help them design new pathway programs that can help students across the region make successful transitions from high school to post-secondary education/training and careers.
