smiling college students
Status
Current
Location

Statewide

TEAM
Portrait of Juan Jose Gonzalez

Juan Jose Gonzalez

Managing Director of Pathways & Operations

Meagan Mitchell, PhD

Pathways Manager
Portrait of Heather Penczak

Heather Penczak

Director of Innovation and Implementation

College and Career Pathway Endorsements

Illinois’ College and Career Pathway Endorsements (CCPE) system is a cornerstone strategy of the Postsecondary & Workforce Readiness (PWR) Act to increase the number of Illinois high school graduates prepared for postsecondary education and future careers. To earn an Endorsement on a high school diploma and transcript, a student must complete an individualized learning plan, engage in a career-focused instructional sequence (including early college credit), participate in work-based learning, and demonstrate readiness for college-level reading and math. Students earning the Endorsement will develop technical and essential employability competencies, earn in-demand credentials, and be prepared to launch rewarding careers.

The CCPE has been incorporated into the State’s Every Student Succeeds Act Plan, the Perkins V Plan, and the Model Partnership Agreement for dual credit under the Dual Credit Quality Act.

Our Role

Over the past several years, EdSystems and a national nonprofit, JFF, have worked with State agencies, employers, and other public and private stakeholders to identify essential employability and technical competencies for College and Career Pathway Endorsement areas.

Since 2017, EdSystems has sought out districts willing to implement the State’s College and Career Pathway Endorsement (CCPE). As a result of our work, 48 school districts are now fully authorized to offer the CCPE. For the Class of 2022, 36 districts awarded the endorsement to 596 graduates – nearly 13 times as many as the 47 endorsements awarded in the Class of 2021. Due to HB3296, which passed in 2022, more school districts are expected to implement CCPE in the coming years. EdSystems offers supports to school districts looking to partner with their local career centers, colleges, and employers for successful scaling of the CCPE.

EdSystems partnered with Southern Illinois University’s Center for Workforce Development to develop a web-based tool that communities are using to submit information on their local systems to ISBE per the PWR Act’s requirements. This tool requires communities to consider and document each aspect of their Endorsement system, and also provides an important inventory of pathways implementation across the State.

For more detail on the College and Career Pathway Endorsements, go to the PWR Act website or ISBE’s webpage.

The Latest

Resource

PaCE, CCPE, and CCRI Crosswalk

Examining the key areas of alignment between the Postsecondary and Career Expectations (PaCE), College and Career Pathway Endorsement (CCPE), and College and Career Readiness Indicator (CCRI) frameworks.

Read More »