Intentional design and meaningful career connections are hallmarks of the pathways at Hawthorne High School in Centinela Valley Union High School District in the Los Angeles South Bay region. The pathways and strong partnerships supporting them are the result of years of collaboration from a broad regional network — schools and K-12 districts, colleges, employers and workforce partners, community-based organizations, intermediaries, and philanthropic partners.
Their story was highlighted in a blog post by Allan Golston, President, U.S. Program, Gates Foundation. Golston recently visited Hawthorne High and got to talk with students in the pathways along with staff from the district, school, college, and other partners.
Students at Hawthorne can explore three different pathways: Manufacturing and Engineering, Technical Arts and Design, and Wood Technology. Dual enrollment, offered through a partnership with El Camino College, is integrated into the pathways, so students earn dual credit toward high school graduation and postsecondary credentials. And they gain work experience through internships with local employers via connections facilitated and supported by the South Bay Workforce Investment Board.
The South Bay story is one example that we’re seeking to learn from in a new statewide initiative, California Pathways Proof Points. The recently launched initiative is focused on helping young people successfully transition from high school to postsecondary education and fulfilling careers through integrated pathways — with embedded dual enrollment, counseling/advising, and career connected learning — that foster student belonging and development of social capital. (You can read more about this vision in a recent report from the Commission on Purposeful Pathways.)
California Pathways Proof Points includes select sites in four regions: Los Angeles, San Diego, the San Joaquin Valley, and the Inland Empire. School and college leaders, intermediaries, workforce organizations and community partners from the regions will be learning from each other and working to strengthen, sustain and expand purposeful pathways like the ones at Hawthorne High.
The initiative will build on the already promising work underway in these key regions, as well as California’s investments in the Golden State Pathways Program and dual enrollment grants, the work of the K-16 collaboratives, and other regional pathway initiatives.
CLP serves as the statewide intermediary for the multi-year initiative, which is funded by the Gates Foundation. We’ll be facilitating the statewide community of practice, coordinating overall technical assistance, and providing direct capacity-building support to regions and sites. We’ll also be working at the statewide level to bring lessons and promising practices emerging from the initiative to support the field and inform policy change.