Career-Connected Exploration & Four Design Pillars

Career-Connected Exploration & Four Design Pillars

Future Ready Pathways span the entire K–12 experience and are grounded in career-connected exploration and four foundational design pillars that connect classroom experiences to the world learners will navigate post-graduation. These pillars call for agile, modern, and coherent pathways that align K-12, postsecondary education, and the world of work, so every student can graduate with purpose, a plan, and the credentials needed to thrive. These pillars serve as more than a set of programs; they are levers for system-wide change. These pillars are not meant to be standalone add-ons; they are interconnected experiences that, when combined, create more relevant, equitable, and future ready high school experiences. They reflect the core experiences each student should have access to in a high-quality college and career-connected pathway: intentional opportunities to explore, personalized guidance, exposure to real-world learning, access to rigorous coursework, and the opportunity to earn industry-recognized credentials.

Future Ready Pathway experiences must be equitably designed and supported through wraparound services that ensure access, including language translations for families, transportation where needed, and food for off-campus learning, as well as inclusive accommodations for learners with disabilities or unique needs. High-quality pathways aren’t built on programs alone; they’re built on systems that account for the full student experience. When intentionally implemented together, these pillars of Future Ready Pathways increase opportunities, close equity gaps, and prepare learners to navigate an increasingly complex and dynamic future with purpose.

Why Career-Connected Exploration Should Begin in Elementary School

Laying the foundation for Future Ready Pathways begins long before learners step into a high school classroom. Introducing career-based exploration in elementary school is essential for building awareness, sparking curiosity, and helping learners begin to envision a future beyond their classroom walls. At a young age, learners are naturally inquisitive and open to possibilities, making it an ideal time to expose them to a wide range of careers, role models, and real-world applications of learning. Early exposure, through age-appropriate experiences like classroom guest speakers, career-themed read-alouds, interdisciplinary career-focused projects, or exploration days, helps learners connect their unique interests and strengths with future opportunities while also countering stereotypes and broadening their view of what’s possible. Early career exploration begins with helping students understand who they are as learners. Tools like the RIASEC Model allow students to identify their interests and how those interests connect to roles and opportunities in the world around them. By planting these seeds early, students begin to see the relevance of classroom learning and build a language for describing themselves and their future. This foundation equips them to make more informed decisions as they move into middle and high school, whether it’s through targeted advising, selecting courses that reflect their interests, or engaging in dual enrollment and work-based learning experiences.

Career-Connected Exploration at the Elementary and Middle Levels

What It Is:
Career-connected exploration provides learners with early, hands-on experiences that help build their identity and spark curiosity, broadening their awareness of the world of work. These opportunities are developmentally appropriate and designed to help learners reflect on their interests, passions, and strengths before choosing a specific pathway. A strong system of exploration is not limited to one-off activities or career days; it is woven into the curriculum, supported by all staff, and embedded into a district-wide strategy that evolves and builds from elementary through middle school. Effective systems ensure that career-connected learning is engaging, inclusive, and aligned with a learner’s personal development and community context. Districts must treat exploration not as enrichment, but as a foundational component of career-connected learning, supported by leadership, intentional scheduling, usage of frameworks, and planning. Historically, Career & Technical Education was viewed as an alternative to a traditional pathway, but that notion is changing fast. Speaking positively about the trades in the younger years is vital in helping to change perceptions about these critical areas.

Why It Matters:
The foundation of meaningful career pathways begins with exploration and self-discovery. Learners cannot aspire to what they don’t know exists. When learners are exposed to a wide range of careers, especially those not represented in their immediate environment, they begin to see new possibilities and make connections between their learning and their future. Districts that prioritize exploration and self-discovery early help learners make more informed decisions later, reduce equity gaps in access to opportunity, and foster greater engagement in middle and high school. Systematic exposure also strengthens relationships with families, introduces learners to mentors and role models, and builds critical identity and agency skills. Simultaneously, strengthening the relationships between school and families can open doors in family participation and engagement in the process of incorporating career-related learning best practices, such as career talks, shadows, internships, summer employment, interview practice, etc. This work aligns with All4Ed’s commitment to building pathways that begin with interest-based exploration and identity development, particularly in underrepresented and underserved communities.

System-Level Strategies for District Implementation
To implement this pillar at scale, districts must:

• Embed career exploration into the curriculum across content areas and grade levels, especially in elementary and middle school.
• Invest in frameworks, tools, and technology for learners to explore their interests, participate in structured assessments that include interpretation and discussion of results (e.g., RIASEC), and support the building of career-connected portfolios over time.
• Provide professional learning for teachers, counselors, and instructional coaches to support identity-based learning and career awareness, building system capacity.
• Leverage community partners, parents, and local employers as co-creators of real-world learning experiences (e.g., career fairs, classroom visits, virtual and in-person tours, career centers, and experts).
• Collect and analyze learner input to ensure that exploration activities are inclusive, culturally affirming, and representative of the broader workforce.

• Are we providing all learners with early opportunities to explore who they are and what careers align with their interests?
• How are we ensuring that exploration activities reflect the diversity of our community and the global workforce?
• What infrastructure do we have in place (people, time, tools, partners) to make career exploration a regular part of each learner’s experience?
• How are we preparing and empowering teachers to confidently integrate career-related learning into everyday instruction?
• Are we helping educators explore their own interests, strengths, and values so they can model and facilitate career conversations with learners?
• Who is at the table making these decisions? Whose voices are not in the mix but should be?

Expanding Pathway Opportunities into Middle and High School

Once learners have begun exploring the world of work and, more importantly, who they are and who they want to become, that foundation must be built upon through intentional, scaffolded supports that begin in elementary, expanded in middle school, and deepen throughout high school. This exploration is not a one-time moment, but a developmental process that continues through graduation and into adulthood.

Pillars 1 through 4, College and Career Advising and Navigation, Dual Enrollment, Work-Based Learning, and Industry-Recognized Credentials, represent the actionable layers that transform early curiosity into purpose-driven, Future Ready Pathways. Middle school is a pivotal time to introduce individualized guidance, help learners set meaningful goals, and begin mapping a plan that aligns their interests with real educational and career opportunities.

As learners transition into high school, these supports must become more personalized and hands-on, providing access to authentic work-based learning, advanced coursework, and opportunities to earn industry-recognized credentials. By starting early and intentionally planning together and expanding supports over time, districts can ensure that learners graduate not only with a diploma but with direction, confidence, and a tangible head start on their future.

Pillar 1: College and Career Advising and Navigation

What It Is:
College and Career advising and navigation is a comprehensive system of support that helps learners understand their options, make informed decisions, and take meaningful steps toward their future goals. This includes personalized guidance, planning tools, and consistent opportunities for learners to reflect on who they are, where they want to go, and how to get there. Effective advising systems begin in middle school and expand through high school, connecting learners with counselors, mentors, educators, and digital tools that support postsecondary and career planning. When intentionally designed, these systems move beyond one-time check-ins to become a sustained, developmental experience that fosters purpose, agency, and confidence.

Why It Matters:
Navigating the transition from school to career and college is complex, and no learner should have to do it alone. High-quality career navigation systems help learners clarify their aspirations, understand the evolving world of work, and identify postsecondary options that align with their interests, values, and labor market demand. As emphasized in A Vision for Equitable Pathways (The Education Trust & All4Ed, 2024), providing access to personalized, developmentally appropriate advising, particularly for learners of color, multilingual learners, and learners from low-income backgrounds, is critical to disrupting inequities in access to opportunity.

¹ Research also shows that learners who receive personalized advising are more likely to complete high school, enroll in postsecondary education, and pursue pathways that lead to economic mobility.

Recent data also confirms that learners who use college and career advising services experience better workforce outcomes. Graduating seniors who used at least one advising service received an average of 1.24 job offers, compared to 1.0 for those who used none. Each additional service used increased the likelihood of a job offer, and learners who received help finding internships were 2.2 times more likely to secure a paid internship, thereby enhancing both their earning potential and long-term outcomes .

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Furthermore, in many states, learners can graduate with different types of diplomas; however, these options aren’t always well understood by learners or their families. Some pathways may limit access to four-year colleges, while others better prepare learners for a range of career and postsecondary options. Districts must ensure every learner has access to high-value pathways and transparent advising that supports informed decision-making.

Advising systems must help learners understand not only their postsecondary and career options but also the implications of the graduation pathway they choose. Too often, learners from historically underserved communities are steered, intentionally or not, into diploma tracks that limit access to four-year colleges or competitive workforce opportunities. Clear, transparent advising is essential to ensure every learner has access to and support through high-value pathways that align with their goals.

⁵ Without a coherent advising system, learners, especially those from historically underserved communities, are often left to navigate critical decisions without the information, relationships, or resources they need. Systems that embed college and career advising throughout the learner experience are better positioned to support informed postsecondary planning, workforce readiness, and equity in access. Advisors help learners ask deeper questions, such as: “Where am I headed?”, “What will this career look like in 10 years?”, and “How can I grow or pivot as I move through life?”

High-quality advising systems are longitudinal in nature, extending beyond high school graduation to support the transition into postsecondary education and the workforce. This piece is especially important as the handoff from 12th grade to community college or other post-secondary institutions is often fragmented and problematic. Districts must be intentional in these connections and relationships.

System-Level Strategies for District Implementation
To implement this pillar at scale, districts must:

• Develop a district-wide college and career advising framework that builds on the work at the elementary level, expands in middle school, and continues throughout high school, ensuring consistent advising at each grade level.
• Ensure adequate staffing and training for counselors, career coaches, and advisory roles to meet recommended learner-to-staff ratios and support equity in access.
• Align local graduation pathways with postsecondary and workforce outcomes, ensuring families and advisors understand how diploma options impact future opportunities.
• Leverage data systems to monitor and connect learner interests, plans, and progress, enabling personalized support and informed decision-making.
• Integrate advising into the school day through structured activities, advisory periods, and curriculum connections, rather than treating it as an add-on or afterthought.
• Build partnerships with families, postsecondary institutions, and workforce organizations to ensure learners receive timely, aligned guidance and access to real-world experiences.
• Ensure that advising services are accessible and culturally responsive, including translated materials for families, as well as support for military-connected learners and those with disabilities.
• Provide ongoing professional learning for counselors, advisors, and educators to better understand labor market shifts, postsecondary systems, and workforce trends.
• Extend advising beyond high school graduation to support learners during the first steps of postsecondary education or career training.
• Advocate for change in out-of-date state laws that are getting in the way of career-connected learner opportunities.

Pillar 2: Dual Enrollment

What It Is:
Dual enrollment allows high school learners to take college-level courses and earn both high school and postsecondary credit at the same time. These opportunities provide learners with early exposure to college expectations, reduce the time and cost of completing a degree, and help bridge the transition from high school to higher education. An effective dual enrollment system is not limited to individual learners “opting in,” but is intentionally designed to expand equitable access, align with a learner’s broader career pathways, and ensure credit earned is meaningful and transferable. It requires strong collaboration between K–12 districts, postsecondary institutions, and state agencies to deliver scalable, sustainable results. Quality dual enrollment is not random; it is intentional. Courses should be tied to learners’ long-term goals, embedded within pathway design, and coordinated across systems to ensure credits are both stackable and transferable.

Why It Matters:
Dual enrollment can be a powerful tool for improving postsecondary outcomes, particularly for learners who might not otherwise see college as an option. Learners who participate are more likely to graduate from high school, enroll in college, complete their degrees, and accumulate less student debt. For many, these courses serve as a confidence boost and a first step into academic and career pathways they hadn’t previously considered. But the benefits of dual enrollment don’t happen automatically. Without thoughtful system design, programs may unintentionally widen opportunity gaps by limiting access to learners who are already high-achieving or well-resourced. That’s why dual enrollment must be implemented with intentional local policies, outreach, and support structures that center equity. It must be designed not just as an academic acceleration tool, but as a career-connected strategy that reduces time and cost to credentials and aligns learners’ coursework with real workforce needs.

Furthermore, the return on investment for dual enrollment is substantial. Although additional “early college” considerations beyond dual enrollment were considered, an evaluation by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) found a 15:1 cost-benefit ratio; $3,800 in public investment yielded over $57,000 in student and public benefit. Similarly, in Texas, every $1 spent on dual credit programming returned $1.18 in direct savings and nearly five times that in long-term economic gains through higher degree attainment and workforce participation. In Colorado, learners who accessed dual enrollment through the state’s Concurrent Enrollment program earned approximately 10% more five years after graduation than their peers who didn’t participate. These outcomes show that dual enrollment is both an equity strategy and a smart economic investment in communities, the future workforce, and ultimately, the next generation.

System-Level Strategies for District Implementation
To implement this pillar at scale, districts must:

• Align dual enrollment courses with career pathways, ensuring learners can earn credit that contributes meaningfully to their future goals and postsecondary programs.
• Offer dual enrollment opportunities at no cost to students.
• Offer an organized block of at least 12 dual enrollment credits to provide a meaningful set of aligned experiences.
• Establish clear partnerships and articulation agreements with postsecondary institutions that define course offerings, credit transferability, eligibility requirements, and instructional support.
• Remove access barriers, such as placement test requirements, tuition costs, transportation, childcare, food insecurity, or scheduling conflicts, especially for learners from underserved populations.
• Design advising systems that help learners and their families understand dual enrollment options, benefits, and risks, ensuring enrollment is intentional and informed.
• Monitor participation and outcomes by learner group to monitor equity, adjust policies, and ensure the program is reaching those who benefit most.
• Ensure instructors are appropriately credentialed and equipped to teach college-level courses.
• Collaborate with higher education partners to ensure learners take college courses that are transferable and meet degree requirements, not just electives.
• Advocate at the district and state level for clear articulation policies and credit transfer guarantees for dual enrollment courses.
• Monitor where learners’ credits apply after high school to evaluate the real ROI of dual enrollment partnerships.
• Use local, state, and philanthropic funds, and explore new funding to cover hidden costs, like transportation, tech access, or meals, for off-campus participation.
• Create intentional outreach plans to recruit and support first-generation college learners, English learners, learners with disabilities, military-connected youth, etc.

Partner with higher education systems and policymakers to develop or strengthen statewide credit transfer policies, such as articulation agreements, transferable core sequences, and guaranteed transfer of associate degrees.9

While the benefits of dual enrollment are widely recognized, reduced college costs, faster time to degree, and improved postsecondary access, these outcomes depend on whether college credits earned in high school successfully transfer to a learner’s eventual degree-granting institution. Alarmingly, the U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates that up to 43% of credits are lost upon transfer, with even public institutions seeing a 37% loss rate. Without statewide articulation agreements or guaranteed transfer policies, learners may be required to repeat courses, which can delay graduation and increase financial burdens. It’s important for school and district leaders to do their homework in this area and advocate on behalf of learners in their higher education partnership!

Pillar 3: Work-Based Learning

Leading Note: It’s imperative that district leaders are familiar with relevant state laws regarding work-based experiences and use them as guardrails for the opportunities that they offer.

What It Is:
Work-based learning connects classroom learning with real-world work experiences, allowing learners to apply their knowledge in meaningful ways, build professional skills, and gain exposure to career paths in authentic settings. These experiences can include internships, apprenticeships, job shadowing, employer-supported projects, or workforce engagements. A strong work-based learning system isn’t just a collection of placements; it’s an intentional and coordinated strategy that embeds meaningful career-connected experiences into the a learner’s journey. It requires sustained employer partnerships, trained staff to manage logistics and relationships, and policies that ensure access, relevance, and reflection. Work-based learning must evolve with the future of work, exposing learners not only to traditional industries but also to emerging roles in technology, digital media, and entrepreneurship.

Why It Matters:
Work-based learning (WBL) offers learners hands-on, authentic, real-world experiences that help them develop essential employability skills, explore potential careers, and build social capital. Whether through job shadowing, internships, cooperative education, or youth apprenticeships, these opportunities bridge the gap between classroom learning and industry expectations. WBL offers opportunities for growth (personally and professionally), builds confidence in the learning process by allowing for a fail-forward, growth mindset, and gives the students a pathway to earning right out of school. Additionally, students build employability skills that will last a lifetime.

Research underscores the impact: Completing a paid internship is associated with an increase of over $3,000 in annual wages just one year after graduation. Participating in any type of WBL during undergraduate education predicts higher annual income and greater satisfaction with one’s educational and career pathway. And the benefits begin even earlier—learners who engage in internships, apprenticeships, or cooperative education in high school are more likely to be employed after graduation. For learners from disadvantaged backgrounds, these experiences are especially transformative, increasing the likelihood of securing a higher-quality job by age 30.

Many states now require learners in career-ready graduation pathways to complete work-based learning experiences. Embedding high-quality work-based learning ensures learners gain real-world skills that are valued in both career and college contexts. In fact, eight states currently require such experiences as a condition of graduation, reinforcing their critical role in pathway design.

Supported by the general public, WBL doesn’t just prepare learners for employment; it helps them build confidence, clarify their goals, and see themselves in professional roles. More than 40 states now allow learners to demonstrate mastery via performance-based assessments or WBL experiences to earn credit; an essential lever for building equitable, learner-centered pathways. When designed equitably and offered early and often, WBL becomes a game-changer for learners and communities alike.

System-Level Strategies for District Implementation
To implement this pillar at scale, districts must:

• Develop a coordinated work-based learning infrastructure with dedicated staff to manage employer outreach, learner placements, and logistics.
• Engage regional employers, industry partners, or intermediaries as co-designers of experiences, ensuring alignment with emerging labor market demand and learner interest.
• Embed work-based learning across multiple formats and entry points, from short-term experiences (e.g., job shadows) to sustained engagements (e.g., internships, paid pre-apprenticeships).
• Provide structures for preparation, mentorship, and reflection, so learners are not just placed, but supported before, during, and after the experience.
• Collect disaggregated data on participation and outcomes to ensure equity in access and impact across all learner groups.
• Establish structured feedback loops between employers and schools, enabling the documentation of learner skills and competencies, and allowing programs to improve over time.
• Design accommodations and flexible entry points for learners with disabilities or transportation challenges.

Pillar 4: Industry-Recognized Credentials

What It Is:
Industry-recognized credentials (IRCs) are certifications or licenses that validate a learner’s skills and knowledge in a specific field, recognized by employers as proof of readiness for work. These may include credentials in areas such as healthcare, information technology, construction, manufacturing, or business. With over a million “credentials” available today, high-quality IRCs are stackable, portable, and aligned with and recognized by in-demand careers. (It’s important to note that the vast majority of “credentials” are a waste of both time and money.) IRCs should not be offered in isolation, but intentionally embedded within broader pathways that integrate academic learning, technical training, and work-based experiences. Earning credentials while still in high school provides learners with tangible advantages: increased employability, enhanced confidence, and a head start on postsecondary success. Industry-recognized credentials should be designed to stack into additional opportunities, whether toward higher-level certifications, associate degrees, or further education. Avoiding “credential clutter” and ensuring alignment with workforce demand ensures learners invest their time in credentials that offer long-term value; those with low demand and low wage returns should be deprioritized or dissolved.

Why It Matters:
Industry-recognized credentials (IRCs) offer learners a competitive advantage in both postsecondary education and the labor market, and are a powerful tool for social mobility. These certifications demonstrate mastery of technical skills and signal to employers that a learner is ready to make a significant contribution from day one. When embedded into high school pathways, credentials can reduce the time and cost of future training, allowing learners to access higher-wage jobs earlier in life.

Yet not all credentials carry the same value. There are currently more than 967,000 unique credentials in the United States alone, and the total annual expenditure across institutions, employers, governments, and the military exceeds $1.9 trillion. In this crowded ecosystem, only those credentials aligned with high-demand fields and employer needs deliver meaningful outcomes. In fact, some credential fields with lower college enrollment rates produce stronger workforce outcomes, making them critical equity levers for learners who may not follow traditional four-year college pathways.

However, not all credentials carry equal weight. Research shows that the overwhelming majority of industry-recognized credentials currently earned by students offer limited value in the labor market. An analysis of credential data from 30 states conducted by ExcelinEd and The Burning Glass Institute found that fewer than 20 percent of credentials earned by high school students aligned with those that were in demand by employers. Of the ten most frequently earned credentials, only three appeared among the top ten most in-demand. Many of the commonly earned credentials had little relevance to actual workforce needs. Given these findings, it is essential to prioritize high-quality industry-recognized credentials that are both rigorous and aligned with real labor market demand. Incentivizing the acquisition of credentials simply for their presence on paper is insufficient.

System-Level Strategies for District Implementation
To implement this pillar at school, districts must:

• Establish a framework to classify credentials based on demand and wage value, ensuring alignment with emerging industry needs.
• Align credential offerings with postsecondary pathways, considering labor market demand, while using data to ensure learners are earning credentials of value.
• Validate credentials in partnership with employers, workforce boards, and postsecondary institutions to ensure they are meaningful, recognized, and portable.
• Embed credential attainment into course sequences and pathways, rather than offering them as disconnected, stand-alone options.
• Provide access and support to all learners, including those outside traditional CTE programs, with guidance, exam preparation, and funding as needed.
• Monitor credential attainment data disaggregated by learner group to monitor equity and inform continuous improvement.
• Prioritize credentials that have portability across state lines and employer sectors to ensure long-term value.
• Guard against “credential clutter” by eliminating low-value, non-transferable certifications from academic programs.
• Include employer-aligned rubrics or validation tools to periodically reassess credential value in the regional labor market.

Bringing It All Together

The intentional inclusion of career-connected exploration at the elementary and middle levels and the four design pillars at the high school level reflect a growing national consensus: that systems must align across K–12, postsecondary, and workforce sectors to ensure every learner can graduate with more than a diploma, equipped with the skills, experiences, and credentials to thrive in a changing world. The four Future Ready Pathway Design Pillars, College and Career Advising and Navigation, Dual Enrollment, Work-Based Learning, and Industry-Recognized Credentials, are more than a collection of best practices. Together, they form the foundation of a cohesive, equitable, and future ready system that supports each learner from early exploration through graduation and beyond. When school districts intentionally build Future Ready Pathways, learners gain more than just exposure; they gain opportunity. When implemented intentionally and supported by strong leadership, aligned policy, and meaningful partnerships, these pillars ensure that learners graduate not just with a diploma but with purpose, real-world experience, transferable skills, and momentum toward their goals. When these partnerships are woven into the fabric of pathway design, from early career exploration in elementary school to industry credentials in high school, they open up new possibilities for learners and ensure that every learner has the support and experiences needed to thrive. They connect what learners are learning in school to who they are becoming and where they want to go. This is not a program to be layered onto existing structures; it’s a systems-level redesign that requires cross-sector collaboration, long-term planning, and a commitment to ensuring that all learners, regardless of background or zip code, are prepared to thrive in an increasingly complex and dynamic world.

Future Ready Pathways are most powerful when they are coherent, inclusive, and transparent, not just to learners and educators, but also to families, employers, and postsecondary partners. By centering equity, building support infrastructure, and holding ourselves accountable to high-quality outcomes, we can ensure that these pillars aren’t just present in handbooks; they’re felt in the learner experience.