User:Janan douglasgould/Career pathways

Career pathways is a workforce development strategy used in the U.S. to support workers’ transitions from education into and through the workforce. This strategy has been adopted at the federal, state and local levels in order to increase education, training and learning opportunities for America’s current and emerging workforce (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workforce)

Career pathways programs are an integrated collection of programs and services intended to develop students’ core academic, technical and employability skills; provide them with continuous education and training; and place them in high-demand, high-opportunity jobs.

A Career pathway program consists of a partnership among community colleges, primary and secondary schools, workforce and economic development agencies, employers, labor groups and social service providers.

Community colleges coordinate occupational training, remediation, academic credentialing, and transfer preparation for Career Pathways initiatives.

Career pathways have been adopted at the federal, state and local levels.

The US Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration had advocated for career pathways to fill the need for more highly trained and skilled workers. The US Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education has also supported career pathways initiatives to provide students with postsecondary education and training to improve their skills to advance in the workplace. and recently selected five sites as recipients of grants to strengthen their career pathways efforts.

States including Arkansas, California, Kentucky, Ohio, Oregon and Washington have statewide career pathways initiatives in place.

The state of Oregon defines career pathways as a “series of articulated educational and training programs and services that enables students, often while they are working, to advance over time to successively higher levels of education and employment in a given industry or occupational sector. Each step on a career pathway is designed explicitly to prepare students to progress to the next level of employment and education.[1]”

Career pathways initiatives are also in place on the local level including programs at Madison Area Technical College, Portland Community College and Rhodes State College.