Publications and tools featured on this page are organized by the four components of CORD’s Framework for Career Pathways Alignment. You are encouraged to use these resources with colleagues and students. Please include appropriate citations when sharing.
Partnerships are essential to building and sustaining a vibrant career pathway ecosystem. Use the resources below to better understand the ecosystem approach to career pathways, identify existing partners, and plan outreach to potential partners.
Employer engagement in the design of career pathway programs embedded with stackable credentials is critical. Programs should be demand driven and industry responsive. Detailed input from employer partners about workplace expectations should serve as the cornerstone of program design and as a continual source for program improvement and innovation.
A career pathway is a combination of high-quality education, training, and related supports that focus on alignment between education and industry need, secondary and postsecondary credential attainment, entry and advancement in specific occupations or occupational clusters, acceleration of educational and career advancement, and career-focused counseling services.
Career pathway programs should address the skill demands of local employers and enable students to earn stackable credentials on the way to a degree. These milestones should prepare learners to enter the labor market with credentials of value and build on them to access advancing levels of employment and earnings.
For many learners, the road to credential attainment is often filled with academic, financial and personal challenges that can be barriers to success. Providing wrap-around support services for all students can be the difference-maker in ensuring our communities have the talent they need to meet workforce demands.
Help learners persist and finish credentials.
Create stackable pathways to advancement.
Align programs with real workforce demand.
