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Certification of Pathway Quality

Hundreds of schools in California are implementing pathways to improve outcomes for students. Yet, without a common standard as a guide for pathway implementation and quality, school sites may have difficulty determining whether the pathways they are implementing are likely to improve student achievement. ConnectEd and its partners, the Career Academy Support Network (CASN), the National Academy Foundation (NAF), and the National Career Academy Coalition (NCAC), have developed certification criteria and a process to address this need.

Certification Criteria
The Certification Criteria for Linked Learning Pathways (April 2010) outline elements that should be included in a quality pathway. The elements are based on the National Standards of Practice for Career Academies that were jointly developed by the National Career Academy Coalition, the National Academy Foundation, the Career Academy Support Network, the Southern Regional Education Board and others. These standards have been used, tested, and validated over a 5-year period. Other guiding documents that contributed to the development of these Criteria include ConnectEd's Linked Learning Pathway Assessment Rubric that pathway teams have used to self-assess their stage of development and other documents from NAF, CASN, and the Stanford Redesign Network.

Objectives

The certification criteria were developed with several objectives in mind:

  • QUALITY: To set the bar for high-quality pathways;
  • FIDELITY: To ensure that pathway certification is precisely aligned with the four guiding principles and four core components of Linked Learning in California;
  • FLEXIBILITY: To establish criteria that are flexible enough for use with diverse delivery models, recognizing that pathways may be delivered through California Partnership Academies, NAF academies, other career academies, themed small learning communities, small themed high schools, and more individualized pathway approaches, such as Big Picture Schools, High Tech High and New Tech High schools;
  • COORDINATION: To align with and build on previously developed pathway quality indicators, such as the National Standards of Practice, with the hope that pathways in California may receive joint certification;
  • EXPANDING UNDERSTANDING: To help inform educational leaders, policymakers, and community members by clearly describing the elements of high quality pathways.

Certification Process

To become a certified pathway, sites will participate in a pathway quality review process, which is currently being piloted by ConnectEd and its partners.

During the pilot phase, ConnectEd and its partners expect to:

  • Certify approximately 25 pathways in districts participating in the California Linked Learning District Initiative as well as volunteer pathways from the ConnectEd Network;
  • Refine the certification tools and process based on what we learn;
  • Broaden support for certification by securing endorsements for it from partner organizations; and
  • Validate the tools and process.

At the end of the pilot phase, we expect that the pathway review process (resulting in certification) will become available more broadly to pathways throughout the state. By that time, we expect that an independent agency will be handling the pathway certification process.

Log in to submit a Request for Pathway Quality Review.

For more information on pathway certification, email certification@connectedcalifornia.org.