College and Career pathways have been part of the San Diego county educational landscape for almost twenty years. Leveraging the Small Learning Community (SLC) grants it received in the early 2000s, San Diego Unified expanded this work to include college and career pathways. The district is home to two of the first certified Linked Learning pathways, the School of Digital Media & Design (DMD) and what is now called Engineering, Innovation and Design (EID). The district has also helped transform Clairemont High School from a traditional, comprehensive high school into one that is “wall-to-wall” pathways. It has been designated as a Linked Learning Demonstration Site and hosts a series of on-site experiential visits each year.

ConnectED’s initial support focused primarily on San Diego Unified, and has since expanded to include district and pathway support throughout the region. Current work includes helping the county build out and sustain a regional work-based learning system (they are using an ePortal platform to power this work), as well as improving the overall quality of Career and Technical Education (CTE), which is a core component of Linked Learning.