User:Traxellt/sandbox

Definition
Linked Learning is an approach to secondary education that combines college-focused academics, work-based learning and intensive student supports. Schools that use the Linked Learning approach create career-themed pathways (including engineering, arts and media, biomedicine health and more ) that integrate the given career subject into academic work, where appropriate. Typically, students choose which pathway they’d like to pursue upon entering high school.

Vision
A central goal of the initiative is to provide all students with equitable access and opportunities for full participation in a variety of high-quality career-themed pathways. Evidence of such choice and access includes the percentage of students participating in pathways, as well as the range of students served (in terms of prior achievement, socioeconomic status, gender, race/ethnicity, etc.), the absence of “tracking by pathway” (clustering students with low prior achievement in one set of pathways and students with high prior achievement in others), and retention in pathways, particularly for students with special learning needs, such as special education students and English learners.

Core Components
Each Linked Learning pathway is grounded in a set of four guiding principles:
 * Rigorous academics – Core subjects that prepare all students for college, including the a-g coursework required by California’s public universities and aligned to the Common Core State Standards.
 * Career-based learning in the classroom – Professional skills and industry-related knowledge woven into lessons and projects to give students context for what they’re learning.
 * Work-based learning in professional settings – A range of real-world experiences, from mentoring and job shadowing to internships, which expose students to possible career paths.
 * Integrated student supports – Dedicated support services tailored to the needs of students, such as counseling and supplemental instruction, that help ensure students are successful in school and life.

District Initiative
The Linked Learning District Initiative was an exploratory endeavor to test the viability of the Linked Learning approach. A total of 37 pathways are certified across the nine participating districts as of July 2014. The districts vary in size and demographics. High school enrollment in these districts ranges from nearly 5,000 to 200,000 students. Collectively, they serve more than 315,000 of the roughly 2 million high school students enrolled in California public schools. The districts included:
 * Antioch Unified
 * Long Beach Unified
 * Los Angeles Unified
 * Montebello Unified
 * Oakland Unified
 * Pasadena Unified
 * Porterville Unified
 * Sacramento City Unified
 * West Contra Costa Unified

A total of 63 local educational agencies have been selected to participate in the first year of the Pilot Progam, which is managed by the California Department of Education (CDE). They join the nine others districts already involved in the Linked Learning District Initiative.

Pathways/Industry Sectors
Each school can have multiple pathways, and each pathway can represent a different California industry sector. Through Linked Learning, students choose a pathway organized around one of California’s 15 major industry sectors that connects relevant coursework and allows them to apply their knowledge in real-world settings through internships, externships, and job shadows.

National Presence
Linked Learning is primarily in California, but is also prominent in Houston, Texas, Detroit, Mich. , and Rochester, New York (regional hubs, cpt recipients )

Data/Evidence
In November 2014, SRI International released a study of the nine District Initiative districts – five years of data. Compared to similar peers in traditional high schools, Linked Learning students:
 * Earn an average 6.9 more credits in the 10th grade
 * Are 7.9 percentage points more likely to be on track to complete graduation requirements at the end of 10th grade
 * Are 5.2 percentage points more likely to stay in their district through 12th grade
 * Were 12 percentage points more likely to report having support navigating decisions on what they wanted to do after graduation
 * Were 10 percentage points more likely to report seeing connections between what they learned in class and the real world
 * Were 21 percentage points more likely to report that high school prepares them for working with people in professional settings
 * Were 22 percentage points more likely to report improved presentation skills

California Career Pathways Trust
Created by AB 86 in July 2014, The California Career Pathways Trust (CCPT) is a $250 million fund available to school districts, superintendents, charter schools, occupational centers and community college districts in one-time competitive grants for career pathways that accomplish the following goals:
 * Fund specialists in work-based learning
 * Establish collaborative relationships with businesses and organizations
 * Integrate academics and career-relevant activities
 * Provide pathways to postsecondary education
 * Leverage and build on existing structures, resources, the California Community Colleges Economic and Workforce Development Program or the local Community Colleges Skills Panel

AB 790
Established the Linked Learning Pilot Program to be administered by the State Department of Education for the purpose of implementing districtwide Linked Learning programs in all participating school districts. The bill would authorize a school district that maintains any of grades 9 to 12 to apply to the Superintendent to operate a pilot program.

The Linked Learning Pilot Program is a state initiative to develop and support systemic, district-wide systems and policy for the delivery of Linked Learning. The State Linked Learning Pilot Program was authorized in 2011 with the passage of Assembly Bill (AB) 790, authored by Assembly member Warren Furutani and sponsored by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

The tremendous response from districts seeking to participate in the California Linked Learning Pilot Program reflects growing recognition that Linked Learning prepares students for college, careers, and life after graduation.

SB 1070
Established the Career Technical Education Pathways Program, which required the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and the Superintendent of Public Instruction to assist economic and workforce regional development centers and consortia, community colleges, middle schools, high schools, and regional occupational centers and programs to improve linkages and career technical education pathways between high schools and community colleges in the form of contracts and competitive grants.

Oakland Measure N
Authorized a parcel tax to fund efforts to “prepare students for admission to the University of California and other four-year colleges; expand mentoring, tutoring, counseling, support services, and transition to job training programs”

Irvine Foundation
The Irvine Foundation has granted approximately $103,215,000 since 2010 to various organizations supporting the Linked Learning brand, including the Linked Learning Alliance and ConnectEd.

California Endowment and Atlantic Philanthropy
The California Endowment and Atlantic Philanthropy have granted $12.2 million to Oakland Unified School District and Alameda Health Care Services Agency to support and expand health career pathways in Oakland

Linked Learning Alliance
The Linked Learning Alliance is a statewide coalition of education, industry, and community organizations dedicated to improving California’s high schools and preparing students for success in college, career, and life. Established in May 2008 by the Irvine Foundation, it aims to build a collective voice and coordinate efforts to expand access to Linked Learning in California. Numerous materials to help foster the implementation and expansion of the Linked Learning approach are available on their website.

ConnectEd California
ConnectEd: The California Center for College and Career was founded in 2006 by a grant from The James Irvine Foundation. The organization develops tools, supports demonstration projects, provides technical assistance, leads collaboration, and promotes policies that expand high-quality pathways.