Perris Union High School District

155 East 4th Street, Perris, CA 92570, USA

Perris Union High School District partnered with ConnectED to support the planning and design of the Linked learning approach for Liberty High School as well as do an orientation for district leaders and staff at Perris High School. ConnectED is continuing to work with the district leadership team to ensure the supports are in place to support Liberty and Perris High Schools in planning and implementing the Linked Learning approach.

Rochester

131 West Broad Street, Rochester, NY 14614, USA

Providence

797 Westminster Street, Providence, RI 02903, USA

Houston Independent

4400 West 18th Street, Houston, TX, USA

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Public Schools, 341 S Bellefield Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA

Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) contracted ConnectED to conduct a feasibility study to identify the need to create a career exploration-focused middle school and identify the needs, strengths, and opportunities for growth to develop a district-wide comprehensive career exploration strategy that will serve all district middle school students. The readiness assessment and feasibility study identify the district’s assets that can be opportunities for growth. ConnectED provides recommendations for the next steps which will include aligning the middle school strategy to Pittsburg Public School district high school career pathways efforts.

Adams 14

5291 60th Avenue, Commerce City, CO 80022, USA

North Kansas City Schools

North Kansas City School District, Northeast 46th Street, North Kansas City, MO, USA

ConnectED has partnered with North Kansas City Schools in Kansas City, MO since 2020. One of the largest and most diverse districts in Missouri, North Kansas City Schools is seeking to boldly change how students experience high school so that they graduate prepared for lasting success in postsecondary education, career, and civic life. Using the Linked Learning approach, we are partnering with the community to provide professional development and to help district and site leaders design and successfully implement college and career pathways in each of the district’s four high schools.

Gallup

Gallup, NM, USA

Miyamura High School in Gallup New Mexico is working with John Hopkins University, the Department of Education in New Mexico, and ConnectED to create a High School Redesign model. After researching many options, they are most interested in the opportunities and design of Linked Learning. The redesign work is already underway, and staff has participated in the Power of Pathways and Partnerships Conference; ConnectED staff has done an initial orientation with staff; and provided a two-day summer institute to support the development of interdisciplinary project-based units for the initial grade-level team of teachers. ConnectED is currently providing the follow-up training and feedback for existing pilot team of teachers and prepares the next group of teachers for participation in the 2020-2021 school year.

Portland

Portland School District 1j, OR, USA

In January 2019, ConnectED began partnering with Portland Schools to develop and implement a master plan for career and technical education (CTE), one that would make CTE and integral part of high school redesign aiming to prepare all students for lasting success in college, career, and civic life.

The first year of the partnership focuses on conducting a Needs and Capacity Assessment, mapping community assets and key challenges. Then, in collaboration with the district and community leaders, ConnectED will help draft a master plan that can guide the design and implementation of a district-wide system of college and career pathways in the future.

Detroit

Detroit, MI, USA

Since 2014, ConnectED has partnered with the United Way of Southeastern Michigan to support college and career pathways in Detroit.  The partnership has focused on the development of a cohort of pathways within Detroit Community Public Schools (DCPS), building site-based team’s capacity to develop and sustain high quality pathways.

ConnectED has provided support through professional development, coaching, instructional design, and work-based learning assessment.

San Diego County

San Diego City Unified, San Diego, San Diego County, CA, USA

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.

Pasadena

Pasadena Unified School District, CA, USA

Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) was one of the nine participating districts in the Linked Learning District Initiative. PUSD has implemented Linked Learning pathways—called College and Career Academies—in all four of their high schools, as well as two alternative education sites (currently, 50% of all high school students are enrolled in a pathway).

Since the end of the District Initiative, ConnectED has collaborated with Envision Learning Partners to support the district’s implementation of a board-approved senior defense of learning. ConnectED continues to support the district’s commitment to instructional equity and improvement through projects such as the Literacy and Math Design Collaboratives, cross-district Learning Walks, and as a key partner of the Learning Policy Institute’s California Performance Assessment Collaborative (CPAC).

Porterville

Porterville Unified School District, CA, USA

The roots of Linked Learning started in Porterville when the district opened Harmony Magnet Academy in 2008. Since that time, the Porterville Unified School District (PUSD) has expanded pathways to all of its high schools, and is now seeking ways to introduce Linked Learning into its middle and elementary schools as well. The district, which was in the original cohort of the Linked Learning District Initiative, benefits from a broad base of community and business support, ensuring that even when leadership turnover occurs, the commitment to Linked Learning remains strong.

In addition to the support provided to PUSD through the District Initiative, ConnectED continues to engage with the district around its Graduate Profile development, scaling up work-based learning, and providing district-level leadership consultation.

Oakland

Oakland Unified School District, Oakland, CA, USA

Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), one of the original participants in the Linked Learning District Initiative, is in the process of implementing pathways at each of the district’s high schools. This is in large part supported through a ground-breaking local initiative, Measure N, a parcel tax which Oakland voters approved in 2014 that provides nearly $12 million per year for ten years to fund college and career pathways within the district.

ConnectED has partnered with OUSD since the beginning of the Linked Learning District Initiative, and continues to work with the district as it expands pathways to all of its high schools.

Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA, USA

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) was one of the original nine participating districts in the Linked Learning District Initiative. Since that time, the district has expanded its Linked Learning pathways, adding a new cohort of schools each year (there are now 72 pathways in the district).

ConnectED has partnered with LAUSD since the beginning of the Linked Learning District Initiative, helping the district develop a system of pathways and a Graduate Profile, as well as training a cadre of coaches. LAUSD, in partnership with Envision Learning Partners, is now implementing a senior defense model aligned to its Graduate Profile, where all seniors in pathways present a portfolio of work and defend it in front of a panel of teachers and industry panelists. ConnectED is also working with the Linked Learning office to develop a series of blended learning modules to support high quality instructional practices in pathways.

Long Beach

Long Beach Unified, CA, USA

Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) has long been recognized as one of the nation’s leading urban school districts (it was awarded the Broad Prize in 2017). It also is one of the leading districts in terms of Linked Learning implementation with “wall-to-wall” pathways, meaning that every high school student in the district is enrolled in a pathway. LBUSD was one of the original districts in the Linked Learning District Initiative and it has since been established as a regional Linked Learning hub, providing mentorship for other nearby districts seeking to implement pathways.

In addition to the support provided to LBUSD through the District Initiative, ConnectED continues to partner with the district through the use of its Online Pathway Tool for Improvement and Certification (OPTIC), which Long Beach uses for each of its pathways to help guide progress, ensure high quality implementation, and build a culture of continuous improvement.

Fresno

Fresno Unified School District, CA, USA

Fresno Unified School District (FUSD) has been a ConnectED partner since 2013. Fresno’s College and Career Readiness office has worked closely with ConnectED’s Learning and Teaching team to build systems and structures to implement, and to provide ongoing support to over 20 Pathways across 8 high schools. These Pathways span such industries as health sciences, digital and media arts, law and justice, business, education and engineering. Additionally, FUSD continues to engage in ongoing systems change work and continuous improvement towards instructional impact, through team development at both the central office and school sites.

Elk Grove

Elk Grove Unified School District, CA, USA

Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD) was an early adopter of College and Career Pathways via the California Partnership Academy model. District leaders and pathway teams began using the Essential Elements for Pathway Quality as their framework for developing a culture of continuous improvement of pathway development. Supported by a team of pathway coordinators and district leaders, pathways can now participate in a robust program quality review and receive pathway certification and formal recognition from the school board, through an internal validation process.

EGUSD partnered with ConnectED to build the capacity of the coordinators and leadership team to lead and support pathways through continuous improvement cycles.  At the center of their work is OPTIC, an online workspace within ConnectED studios, where teams and coordinators are engaging consistently around pathway quality.  EGUSD also invested in customizing OPTIC to align to their internal pathway certification process, which provided for a transparent, collaborative online workspace

Eastside Union

East Side Union High School District, CA, USA

Eastside Union High School District (ESUHSD) embarked on an ambitious plan in 2014 to create a system of College and Career Pathways at each of its high schools.. The district has established links with both its community college partners so students can earn post-secondary credits, and with its middle school feeder schools to better prepare incoming students for a pathway experience. Today, it has 21 thematic pathways.

ConnectED has partnered with ESUHSD to help onboard new pathway teams, train a cohort of internal coaches to support pathway implementation, and create a video documenting the district’s systemic approach to work-based learning.

Madison

Madison, WI, USA

Seeking to address a long-standing equity challenge, the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) began a planning process in 2013 to identify a strategy to reform their high schools. As a result of that process, the district embarked on a multi-year plan to ensure all of their students graduate college, career and community ready. The initiative, titled Personalized Pathways, has been rolling out over the last few years, beginning with Health Sciences pathways and now expanding to include Information Technology and Communications.

Since 2014, ConnectED has provided support around the following areas: designing, implementing and scaling a system of college and career pathways; developing a community-wide work-based learning system; providing district leadership consultation; and working with pathway teams to transform the learning and teaching in every classroom

New Orleans

New Orleans, LA, USA

New Orleans schools are transitioning from a “college for all” mindset to “college AND career for all”. ConnectED has been supporting YouthForce NOLA since 2016 as they implement college and career pathways within a select number of New Orleans high schools. Schools are partnering with YouthForce NOLA through pathway implementation grants, which offer resources and support to move their pathways forward.

Through this collaboration, YouthForce NOLA is developing systems and processes to drive pathway development.  ConnectED partners with school teams, usually consisting of site leadership, Career and Technical Education leaders, and teacher teams, to assist them in areas of pathway development aligned to the Linked Learning approach.

Boston

Boston, MA, USA

Since 2017, ConnectED has been supporting Boston Public Schools as they begin to implement College and Career Pathways. The first year focused on two high schools, Excel and Brighton, that were designated Level 4 by the state and were charged with undertaking a significant transformation. BPS is using College and Career Pathways as its primary reform strategy in those schools, injecting more relevancy and real world application into the curriculum and providing more engagement for students. The results so far are promising, with BPS adding three more schools for the 2018-19 school year.

ConnectED has provided support by working with two high schools to implement the four components of Linked Learning and providing leadership consultation to BPS as they work to further expand their college, career and life readiness efforts.

Holyoke

Holyoke, MA, USA

After a year of visiting various school reform models around the country, Holyoke Public Schools (HPS) landed on Linked Learning as the primary approach it would use to redesign its two high schools. Facing the challenge of combining a traditional comprehensive high school with a technical high school, ConnectED partnered with HPS to help facilitate the transformation into college and career pathways at the now-combined high school.

ConnectED continues to  work with Holyoke’s administrative team and academy leaders to prioritize areas of work related to launching the 10th-grade academies and planning for the 11th and 12th-grade academy programs of study.

Great Lakes

Great Lakes, North Chicago, IL, USA

Since 2016, ConnectED, in partnership with Education Systems Center and Jobs For the Future, has been leading the Great Lakes College and Career Pathways Partnership (GLCCPP).  The GLCCPP supports four communities: Columbus, Ohio; Madison, WI, Rockford, Illinois, and the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago in the development of college and career pathways. The GLCCPP has developed a regional community of practice by bringing together K-12 educators, post-secondary administrators, representatives from business and workforce to better address the educational and economic challenges within each community.

ConnectED works closely with each community to strengthen their leadership and governance systems, improve the alignment between secondary and postsecondary, and develop scalable work-based learning delivery systems. The initiative  supports each community in building and sustaining the systems needed to ensure all students become college, career, and life ready.