Commission on Purposeful Pathways

 

The Case for Integrated Pathways Experiences for all High School Students

Every student should graduate from high school empowered to pursue their passions, make an impact, and earn a comfortable income. The most powerful way to break cycles of poverty and open up lifelong opportunities is through high-quality education that meets students where they are and helps them move forward with purpose. However, recent studies show that many students feel that their high school experiences failed to prepare them for their futures. Less than one in four young adults feel well prepared to succeed in college or in their careers and just 35% of Gen Z students feel they are learning relevant skills for their careers. This is why it’s so critical that all students have experiences that connect them with purpose, clarity, and opportunity as they make their plans for life after high school.

Research has shown what some of those key pathways experiences are: dual enrollment and other opportunities to take college courses early; thoughtful advising that helps students imagine bigger futures; and exposure to real work and careers. These experiences build students’ awareness of and readiness for the varied high-quality pathways that can secure economic mobility for their futures, and in recent years, education and workforce leaders across the country have made great progress in providing more students access to these experiences.

Yet, these efforts often remain fragmented, and much work remains to be done to integrate and improve the rigor, cohesiveness, and scale to expand access to all students, particularly students facing economic or structural barriers. We have a unique opportunity to help reimagine how students transition from high school to postsecondary education and meaningful careers by clarifying how these evidence-based components can be delivered in an integrated way that uniquely prepares students to confidently choose a path to success after high school.

All high school students should have access to integrated pathways experiences…

These experiences include:

• college and career advising,
• accelerated coursework sequences,
• career-connected learning, and across these foster students’ sense of belonging, purpose and networs of social capital.

…which help connect students to high-quality postsecondary pathways…

High-quality pathways are defined by their ability to connect young people to credentials of value and include (but aren’t limited to) two and four-year degrees and credentials, the military, and apprenticeships.

…and empower students to build the lives they envision.

Students tell us they want economic mobility, security and connection to purpose.

Our Vision for High Quality Pathways Experiences

As a Commission, we believe that the proven value of the individual components (such as advising) can be magnified when integrated coherently with other components into a holistic experience that supports students in preparing and planning for life after high school. The majority of young people aspire to keep learning and working hard to build skills after high school, but all too often, the pathways to and through education and on to a career are murky, confusing, or uninspiring. Course selection is disconnected from advising, academic courses are viewed as separate from career-focused courses, and the connection between school and the real world is unclear. This siloed approach can lead to confusion, missed opportunities, and disengagement. In contrast, this Commission’s Vision is one that creates an integrated set of experiences that begins in high school and continues through the year after graduation— empowering students to see, understand, and stay on high-quality pathways as they transition into college, career, and life.

The Commission’s Vision for Integrated Pathways Experiences in grades 9-13 includes a focus on:

  • College and career advising that helps students discover their interests and skills, develop career goals, and create an education plan to reach those goals.
  • Sccelerated coursework sequences, such as dual enrollment, that is aligned to programs of study, and supports students in developing critical mindsets and yields transferable college credits.
  • Career-connected learning that provides students with opportunities to build and apply their knowledge and skills in the real world. These experiences range from career exploration to career and technical education (CTE) courses to more intensive work-based learning such as internships and apprenticeships.

To drive impact for students, these pathways experiences must also cultivate critical mindsets and durable skills. In particular, this Commission believes that these experiences should foster a sense of belonging, purpose and access to networks of social capital.

  • Belonging helps students build relationships with caring adults, such as counselors, teachers, and mentors, who support students in making decisions about their future.
  • Purpose supports students in understanding their interests and passions, and ensures that high school environments are intentionally designed to nurture and connect those interests to future opportunities.
  • Social capital gives students access to, and the ability to activate, relationships and networks that help them explore options, navigate systems, and pursue their goals.

Role of the Commission

This Commission seeks to shape a national agenda that drives real, measurable impact by providing a clear vision for how these experiences, when integrated, can uniquely propel students toward their desired futures. We believe we can contribute to the field by grounding our recommendations in the lived experiences of young people (especially those who have been historically underserved), identifying ways to connect often-siloed programs into a coherent student experience, and providing practical advice based on research and experience.

The Commission is co-chaired by Melissa Connelly of One Goal, Paul Herdman of the Rodel Foundation, and John Garcia III of the Pathways Impact Fund. It is funded by the Gates Foundation, facilitated by Education First, and composed of youth representatives alongside adult leaders, practitioners, and researchers from K12 education, higher education, and the workforce.

Our Charge

Our charge is to share simple and accessible information about these pathways experiences and how they can be woven together to maximize impact.

  • We seek to connect and build upon existing work, not duplicate it. We will synthesize existing research about these pathways experiences, as well as the system conditions and practices needed to deliver those experiences.
  • We will develop a conceptual framework and common language. This will help demystify how these pathways experiences come together in a coherent student experience and facilitate stronger collaboration across key groups who must partner to bring this to fruition.

Our Work

Our work is designed to drive action.

  • Our intended audiences are: K12 leaders, higher education leaders, employer leaders, intermediary organizations, and policymakers. Our work will also inform the strategy of a new organization, the Pathways Impact Fund, which will mobilize increased funding for regional intermediaries and help organizations understand and deliver the experiences defined by the Commission.
  • We will help education leaders at all levels with concrete advice about how to take the next step to improve the pathways experiences they provide to students, so that they lead to better and more equitable outcomes for young people.

Our Perspective

Our perspective is grounded in student experiences, not adult structures.

  • The Commission–which includes both youth and adult members–views the components that make up these pathways experiences through the lens of how  students experience them. We understand that creating a unified experience for students may require significant changes to the many separate, adult-run structures that facilitate these experiences.

Our Focus

Our focus is on experiences in high school and the year after graduation.

  • Pathways work should start before high school and continue well after. We are focused on this period because it plays an outsized role in students’ trajectories.

Our Vision

Our vision for student success is centered on purpose.

  • We are focusing on purpose because young people tell us they want more than just a career plan; they want to be on a path that is both easily navigable and meaningful. They want to understand their options, connect with purpose, and have trusted adults and systems that support their next steps.
  • Upon graduation, students should be able to say, “I know where I am, I know where I’m going, and I have people to help me get there.”

What’s Next?

  • We plan to deliver a report in early 2026, supported by actionable resources. Our publications will seek to build alignment in the field around a vision for how to design these pathways experiences in an integrated way as well as the enabling conditions needed to sustain them. Accompanying the report, we will also provide a:
      • Measurement Framework to support the assessment and continuous improvement of these pathways experiences. The framework will identify and recommend indicators of the impact and quality of these experiences, including traditional outcomes data as well as measures of whether and how these experiences provide students with belonging, purpose, and social capital. It will also point out where measurement is hard and more data and research are needed.
      • Youth Engagement Playbook, developed by Young Adult Commissioners, a Youth Voice Working group, and supported by Big Picture Learning, this resource will provide recommendations for how students can be meaningfully engaged in designing and implementing these pathways experiences.
  • The Commission’s Call for Engagement begins in June. We are sharing this Concept Paper to gather feedback on our emerging ideas and direction. As part of this effort, we’ll host interviews, focus groups, and share with stakeholders—including policymakers, practitioners, intermediaries, and young people. We want to hear how this vision aligns with your work. What tools, resources, or guidance would help make it possible to design and/or expand these pathways experiences in your community?

What’s next? Action steps to help you benefit from our expertise:

Work with us Gain insights Learn about our expertise