Blog

ConnectED Announces Ash Vasudeva as Next President and CEO

October 8, 2024
By connectED Admin

ConnectED: The National Center for College and Career, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students’ economic and educational mobility through college preparatory curricula integrated with career-connected learning experiences, is thrilled to announce Dr. Ash Vasudeva as its next President and CEO, starting January 1, 2025.

Upcoming Experiential Site Visits

August 12, 2024
By connectED Admin

ConnectED is excited to announce several upcoming Experiential Site Visits!

ConnectED Partnering with Education Through Imagination

December 18, 2023
By Gary Hoachlander

ConnectED is thrilled to begin partnering with Education Through Imagination, a division of Garner Holt Productions, the world’s leading manufacturer of theme park animatronics. Along with its award-winning AniMakerspace program, Education Through Imagination is producing products and services to provide students with a strong foundation in creativity, innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship that will help ensure […]

Adams 14 School District seeing Positive Results

December 18, 2023
By Gary Hoachlander

In May 2023, ConnectED began partnering with Adams 14, in Commerce City, CO, about twenty minutes northeast of downtown Denver…

Return of PoPPCon

September 6, 2023
By connectED Admin

ConnectED is excited to officially announce the return of PoPPCon (The Power of Pathways and Partnership “unconventional” Conference) to San Diego on January 30-Februray 1, 2024…

ConnectED Featured in new Professional Learning Partner Guide (PLPG)

August 24, 2023
By connectED Admin

We are excited to announce that we are officially a certified provider in Rivet Education’s Professional Learning Partner Guide.

Advancing College and Career Pathways in New Mexico’s Rural Schools

August 14, 2023
By connectED Admin

With support from the LANL and Thornburg Foundations, in June, ConnectED published College and Career Pathways in Rural New Mexico: Strategies and Policy Implications. Using college and career pathways to transform education is challenging no matter where it is undertaken, but it is especially difficult in rural communities with small, geographically isolated schools. For the […]

ConnectED Issues 2022 Annual Report

August 14, 2023
By connectED Admin

ConnectED recently issued our 2022 Annual Report. It highlights that over the past 15 years, ConnectED has supported communities in 15 states, serving more than 40 school districts, over 300 high schools, more than 1,000 pathways graduating more than 85,000 students. It also spotlights three initiatives that reflect the heart of ConnectED’s ongoing work. The […]

North Kansas City Experiential Site Visit—October 23-25, 2023

August 14, 2023
By Gary Hoachlander

ConnectED is excited to officially announce our first Experiential Site Visit for the 2023-2024 school year in Kansas City, Missouri. Back by popular demand, North Kansas City Schools is partnering with us to provide: visits to their four high schools, deep dives into specific implementation topics, and time to ask questions and plan your own […]

Recent North Kansas City Experiential Site Visit

May 15, 2023
By connectED Admin

Experience a College and Career Pathways approach in action! What inspires educators and leaders to think differently about high school? We believe, as do our partners, experiencing the College and Career Pathways approach in action, is deeply inspirational in driving educator learning and innovation. On March 28-30, 2023, North Kansas City Schools’ Pathways, in partnership […]

Reflecting on What’s the “Right” Answer?

May 10, 2023
By Gary Hoachlander

My wife and I alternate Sunday afternoons with our two grandchildren. One Sunday, Marissa age 8, visits with us. The next Sunday, Tyler age 4 is here. We visit, play games, build stuff, do puzzles, cook, do goofy things, and just enjoy each other. We’re so pleased that they each fight over whose turn it […]

ConnectED Hosts Japanese Educators

November 15, 2022
By Gary Hoachlander

On October 13, ConnectED hosted two visitors from Japan who were eager to learn more about Linked Learning and…[click to read more]

Giving Tuesday: November 22

November 15, 2022
By Gary Hoachlander

Over the last year we saw a 100 percent increase in website traffic. More than 800,000 people viewed a video in our Day at Work series…

ConnectED Annual Report

November 15, 2022
By connectED Admin

ConnectED is thrilled to release our Annual Report 2021. During the past fifteen years, ConnectED has worked in 12 states serving more than 40 school districts, over 300 high schools, more than 1,000 pathways, and over 85,000 students. Our Annual Report spotlights three of those communities: Porterville, North Kansas City, and Gallup. As in all […]

Grateful For Our Teachers

June 6, 2022
By Gary Hoachlander

Colleagues, A week ago, my wife was sitting quietly on the back porch of her daughter’s duplex. There is a high school just down the street. She could hear the celebratory sounds of graduation, and she began to cry. In a normal year, these would have been tears of joy, but this night she could […]

Interdisciplinary Education: Literature Review and Landscape Analysis

June 6, 2022
By Jennifer Lutzenberger Phillips

Ideas around interdisciplinary education have been in play for longer than some of us might realize. If you are interested in learning more about what the literature has to say about interdisciplinary education, and curious about the landscape of this work, give this report a read! Related to project-based learning, interdisciplinary education can create more […]

Virtual Den for Deeper Learning 2022

June 6, 2022
By Kiera Brodsky Chase

Based on the work that ConnectED and Envision Learning Partners are doing to support mathematics initiatives in several districts we were invited to host a Virtual Den talk for Deeper Learning 2022. We gathered a group of passionate and knowledgeable educators with diverse perspectives and experience to tackle some big ideas in the field of […]

Notes from the Field – Challenger Middle School

June 6, 2022
By Kiera Brodsky Chase

At ConnectED we recognize that there is a well-documented and persistent relationship between success in 9thgrade mathematics, Algebra I or equivalent, and success accessing and persisting in post-secondary learning. Meaning also that those students who struggle in Algebra I are less likely to graduate high school, less likely to enter post-secondary learning, and less likely […]

ConnectED Revises Key Resources for Undertaking Systemic Change

October 27, 2021
By connectED Admin

Implementing a cross-district system of high-quality college and career pathways requires across-the-board participation and support. ConnectED’s approach to pathway implementation recognizes and facilitates the interdependent connections between the levels of the education ecosystem: Community, District, Site, Pathway, and Classroom. The Graduate Profile provides a through line helping to align and clarify the outcomes across all […]

JD Hoye Joins ConnectED’s Board

October 27, 2021
By connectED Admin

We are thrilled to announce that JD Hoye has joined ConnectED’s Board. JD is the former Chief Executive Officer of NAF and a current member of the NAF Board of Directors. With a deep commitment to preparing students for college and meaningful careers, JD has worked at both the grassroots and the highest levels of […]

 Story Telling Through Animation

October 27, 2021
By Gary Hoachlander

  Recently a former ConnectED Board member introduced us to Ron Diamond, CEO of The Animation Show of Shows, Inc. Through this non-profit, Ron curates and releases some of the best animated short films created by students and professionals around the world. The films appear in his annual programs at universities and colleges from Harvard […]

ConnectED Receives Grants from Gates Foundation to Launch Illustrative Math Initiatives

October 27, 2021
By connectED Admin

ConnectED has been awarded two major grants from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to use the Illustrative Math curriculum to help teachers raise the proficiency in mathematics of both middle school and high school students. One of these grants, in partnership with Oakland Unified School District, focuses on Algebra 1, which is one of […]

How Student Work can Drive Learning: A Case Study From Distance Learning

June 25, 2021
By Kiera Brodsky Chase

In the summer of 2019, ConnectED: The National Center for College and Career joined forces with Envision Learning Partners, Callahan Consulting, UCSD CREATE and San Diego Unified School District to launch the San Diego Enhanced Mathematics initiative (SDEM).

Building a System of College and Career Pathways in New Mexico

March 11, 2021
By Gary Hoachlander

In collaboration with the Learning Policy Institute, ConnectED has prepared a report providing state leaders and other stakeholders in New Mexico research and policy recommendations for developing a system of college and career pathways… [Read More]

Working Towards Equity: A Partnership Approach in the Great Lakes

February 22, 2021
By Julie Koenke

In 2016, The Joyce Foundation wanted to answer the question, how can we increase educational outcome and economic mobility for students furthest from opportunity?  To answer this question the Joyce Foundation launched the Great Lakes College and Career Pathways Partnership. Soliciting the expertise of ConnectED: the National Center for College and Career, Education Systems Center […]

Math on the Rise

February 22, 2021
By Kiera Brodsky Chase

  In the summer of 2019 ConnectED: The National Center for College and Career joined forces with Envision Learning Partners, Callahan Consulting, UCSD CREATE and San Diego Unified School District to launch the San Diego Enhanced Mathematics initiative. San Diego Enhanced Mathematics initiative, or SDEM, is a district-wide community of educators working together to enhance […]

Your Continued Support

December 2, 2020
By connectED Admin

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

#GivingTuesday is here! We know it’s been a tough couple of months but we’re excited to participate in this inspiring day of giving back. We hope that you’ll join in supporting the important work we are doing to prepare youth for success in both college AND career.

ConnectED Welcomes New Board Members

October 23, 2020
By Gary Hoachlander

We are thrilled to welcome three new members to ConnectED’s Board.

Pursuing School Transformation in a COVID-19 World

October 23, 2020
By Gary Hoachlander

  In the turmoil and chaos created by the COVID-19 pandemic, it would have been easy for districts aggressively pursuing school reform to put aside those initiatives and focus exclusively on the current crisis. In most of the communities where we’re working, that has not happened. Perhaps because the pandemic has exposed more starkly than […]

Operationalizing the Graduate Profile

October 23, 2020
By Dave Yanofsky

We’re excited to announce that ConnectED has received a generous grant from the Hearst Foundation to develop a toolkit that will help districts operationalize its Graduate Profile. Over the past decade, an increasing number of school districts in California and across the country have convened community stakeholders to create a Graduate Profile: a succinct one-pager […]

Learning from the Field During COVID

July 29, 2020
By connectED Admin

As the COVID 19 crisis began to take hold in late March the disruption to our schools was unprecedented.

We Will Learn and Heal Together

June 5, 2020
By The Board and Staff of ConnectED

The past weeks have been wrought with the tragic murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Dion Johnson. Moreover, there have been countless other cases of harm to and harassment of people in the black community as we saw with Christian Cooper in New York City. Most of these instances do not make it to the daily news, ignored testimony to how common racism and police brutality are in American life.

Should California create a Graduate Profile?

June 2, 2020
By Guest Blogger: Roman J Stearns

Would doing so drive shifts that more equitably and holistically prepare students for future success?

Transportation – Today and Tomorrow

May 22, 2020
By connectED Admin

 How do you actually design and build a car? What are the main components of an electric vehicle? What does the future of the auto industry look like? Join us Tuesday, May 26 at 9:30am PDT for a conversation with one of the industry’s leaders, Marques McCammon, as he answers some of these questions, and launches a student Design Challenge.

This Teachable Moment

April 14, 2020
By Gary Hoachlander

Nationwide, schools—from K-12 all the way through postsecondary institutions—are shuttering their doors. Government officials predict that schools are likely to remain closed for the next three to six months, through summer break. As parents, teachers, and students absorb the shocks and challenges of this new reality, many are wrestling with whether and how to sustain learning and teaching during these tumultuous times. In most respects, this is unprecedented. But in some respects, it is not.

Welcome Team Members

February 25, 2020
By Gary Hoachlander

In order to meet the growing national demand for College & Career pathways, the ConnectED team is growing. We are excited to announce the addition of two new members to the ConnectED staff, as well as a new board member.

Experiential Learning as Valuable for Adults as It is for Students

February 12, 2020
By Gary Hoachlander

The City of Long Beach needs to measure pedestrian traffic in the northwest quarter of the city. To assist the city, a team of seniors in the Academy of Advanced Manufacturing, Construction, and Engineering at Jordon High School are designing a device integrating infrared sensors, an electronic controller, and wireless communication.

Giving Tuesday

December 3, 2019
By Gary Hoachlander

#GivingTuesday is here! We’re excited to participate in this inspiring day of giving back and hope that you’ll join in supporting the important work we are doing, work that prepares youth for successful lives in college and career via academically aligned Linked Learning pathways.

ConnectED Receives Multi-Year Grant

November 6, 2019
By Megan Reed

ConnectED is thrilled to receive a grant from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to lead a 30-month partnership, led by Kiera Brodsky Chase and Jennifer Lutzenberger-Phillips, with Envision Learning Partners and the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD). This project will pilot an integrated sequence of the Illustrative Mathematics (IM) curriculum in high school […]

A Leader Among Us: Daphannie Stephens

November 6, 2019
By connectED Admin

We are so very pleased to announce formally that Daphannie Stephens has taken on the position of Chief Program Officer at ConnectED. Daphannie joined ConnectED six years ago and during that time she led ConnectED’s coaching cadre, as well as our work in Detroit. A consummate coach herself, Daphannie brings so many important qualities to […]

ConnectED Links Learning to Career Pathways

October 29, 2019
By connectED Admin

Read Getting Smart’s article about ConnectED’s work with two long-term partners

Celebrating True Partnership in Detroit

August 14, 2019
By Gary Hoachlander

Since 2013, ConnectED, in partnership with NAF and the United Way of Southeastern Michigan, has supported a transformational approach to preparing students for college and career in Detroit. This work has been dynamic, complex, and collaborative. It has incorporated all levels of linked learning, from professional development, to coaching; instructional design, to work-based learning…

My First Year at Harvard

August 14, 2019
By Kentaro Iwasaki

After seven wonderful years designing learning and teaching at ConnectED, I left to attend a doctoral program in Education Leadership at Harvard. There are many times over the past year that I’ve been struck by just what a thorough foundation ConnectED has provided me with, grounded in both theory and practice…

How Four Great Lakes Communities Are Changing Pathways to College and Career

June 27, 2019
By Gary Hoachlander and Julie Koenke

This new report tracks the groundbreaking work in the Great Lakes, and why it’s a model for other communities.

How One High School Is Connecting Learning to Community Health

April 22, 2019
By Gary Hoachlander

Colleagues, Last month’s Linked Learning Convention in Palm Springs offered many opportunities to see and hear about so much good work in the growing number of districts around the country embracing the Linked Learning approach. On Tuesday morning, I had the opportunity to tour Indio High School, home to several strong pathways. In particular, The […]

The Light at the End of the Linked Learning Tunnel

April 22, 2019
By Ben Crosby

As part of my work with ConnectED, I recently had the privilege of serving as a Lead Evaluator for the Linked Learning Alliance’s Gold Certification Pilot…

The Power of Pathways & Partnerships Conference Brings Linked Learning to Life

February 22, 2019
By Rob Atterbury

On January 16-18, 2019, San Diego Unified School District hosted the first Power of Pathways and Partnership Conference with University of California San Diego and ConnectED.  The convening was truly an “unconference,” with nearly 300 education leaders from across the country participating in project-based, experiential learning activities. With SeaWorld as our backdrop, we started by […]

Bringing Linked Learning to Portland

February 22, 2019
By Gary Hoachlander

ConnectED is thrilled to begin a partnership with Portland Public Schools (PPS), Oregon’s largest school district. Learn more about this exciting collaboration.

How School Districts Can Help Lift the Curriculum Off the Page

February 22, 2019
By Dave Yanofsky

There was a distinct buzz in the air when we arrived at Andrew P. Hill High School. Students were dashing around attending to last minute details and huddling with their teams to go over their assignments. We were there to film a school-wide Mass Casualty Drill that nearly every student on the campus was taking […]

Message from the President: Reintroducing ConnectED

December 3, 2018
By Gary Hoachlander

Learn what’s changed, and what will stay the same, about ConnectED as we take this work national.

“Delicious” Interventions for Learner-Directed Environments (Part 3)

November 29, 2018
By Jennifer Lutzenberger Phillips

How important are the right conditions are for student-directed learning?

Why Going for the Gold (Certification) Matters

November 29, 2018
By Gary Hoachlander

As students return for the new school year, ConnectED looks forward to working with our school, district, and community partners around a shared belief: all students deserve the right to a great education. We’re working in communities across the country to challenge the status quo so that students become more inspired and better equipped to […]

How “Delicious” is Your Learning Environment—for Adult Learners? (Part 2)

November 29, 2018
By Jennifer Lutzenberger Phillips

In a recent blog post, I suggested that those who doubt students’ ability to direct their own learning because “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink” might want to focus not on the horse, but what he’s being urged to drink. Students are more likely to try ambitious, self-directed […]

Can Linked Learning Work in Rural School Districts?

November 29, 2018
By Gary Hoachlander

Friends, Parents, teachers, community members and anyone in the Linked Learning field have all seen the transformative effect that Linked Learning has on students, especially in some of the biggest, most challenging school districts across the country. We know that when students love what they’re learning, they work harder, dream bigger, and learn more. As […]

Bringing Together School, Work and the Wider Community

November 29, 2018
By Gary Hoachlander

Colleagues, Making learning real and relevant is a big part of what we, in the Linked Learning field, do. We do this because we’ve seen, through research and testimonials, that when students are able to apply what they’re learning through professional pathways and experiences, their connections are deeper and they retain more of what they’re […]

How “Delicious” is Your Learning Environment? (Part 1)

November 29, 2018
By Jennifer Lutzenberger Phillips

When you picture students directing their own learning, what comes to mind? In my long career serving students far from the center of opportunity, I’ve grown as a professional by working with skillful colleagues, in schools built around a core of career-themed, work-based application.  In these schools, the teaching expectations included real-world problem solving, where […]

Lessons from the 2018 Linked Learning Alliance Convention

February 5, 2018
By connectED Admin

We were honored to meet and get to know so many of you at this year’s Linked Learning Alliance Convention in Anaheim, and to learn from colleagues new and old. In the spirit of sharing lessons across our field so that every student can be better prepared for college, career and life, please find links […]

Your Generosity Makes Our Work Possible

January 25, 2018
By Lucia Villasana

Since 2006, we have walked this journey, hand-in- hand with more than 45 school districts across the nation, corporate partners, policy makers, government, local and national funders and donors. Through your support, each of you has affirmed the transformative power of a Linked Learning education. In this rapidly changing environment of a global and digital […]

Reimagining Career and Technical Education

December 6, 2017
By Gary Hoachlander

In my work as President of ConnectED, I meet with a lot of teachers, district leaders, superintendents, and community members. There’s something we all agree on: every child in this country deserves the right to a good education—and we’re failing to provide that opportunity to far too many students. In our sector, we see many […]

Letter from the President

October 25, 2017
By Gary Hoachlander

As the new school year gets into full swing, there are more than 300 Linked Learning Pathways in more than 55 districts across the country. Today, Linked Learning is reaching more kids than ever before. This matters—not just because of numbers, but because of who we are serving. Linked Learning is for all students. Linked […]

What’s the Future of Digital Badges for Educators?

August 10, 2017
By Dave Yanofsky

Many of you may have heard the term ‘digital badge’ or ‘micro-credential’ these days, mostly in regards to students earning badges as a way to capture and recognize their skill development (similarly to how the Boy or Girl Scouts award badges for demonstrating specific skills). While student badges continue to be popular across the educational […]

Seeing is Believing!

May 19, 2017
By Rob Atterbury

If a picture is worth 1000 words, seeing it first hand must be worth a billion!  Experiential Site visits are designed for teams of teachers, site administrators, district administrators and business partners in a district to come and see Linked Learning in action and all that it entails.  Hosted ConnectED and partner districts, these school […]