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.
A growing number of institutions are offering incentives to students who have earned a CCPE, to help attract high school students into the secondary to postsecondary pathways and increase college completion rates for these students.
STATEWIDE
Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois is automatically advancing any applicants who have earned or are on track to earn the CCPE.
Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarships are now available to any CCPE graduates as early as freshman year for up to $7,500 per year.
The Illinois Manufacturing Association, in partnership with EdSystems through the Scaling Transformative Advanced Manufacturing Pathways initiative, is offering scholarships for CCPE earners in METT and access to employer partners.
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Community College Pathway Equity & Currency: In 2022, EdSystems launched a network of community colleges that are offering unique and specific currency for CCPE earners in various industry fields outside of education, including:
Tuition Stipends and Scholarships
- Illinois Valley Community College will provide tuition waivers for one three-credit-hour course to up to 20 students who earn the CCPE on their transcript in either HST or METT, a financial value of approximately $400.
- Students at Kaskaskia Community College who are CCPE earners in an agriculture pathway will receive a one-credit tuition waiver upon enrollment, a financial savings of $136.
Job Placement
- Parkland College has partnered with an employer that will offer job placement for apprenticeship students who have earned the CCPE.
Program Application and/or Admissions Advancement
- CCPE students who attend Parkland and earn an industry-recognized credential as a certified nurse assistant, emergency medical technician, or sterile processing technician while in high school will have the opportunity to receive guaranteed placement in the Nursing or Allied Health Pathway, which has a selective admissions process.
- High school students who earn the CCPE and take BIO 108 in high school at Sauk Valley Community College will receive additional application points toward admission into the LPN program, which also has a selective admissions process.
- At Shawnee Community College, CCPE completers will receive 10 points toward admission into the Nursing program.
REGIONAL
- Thanks to the support of a local philanthropist, Grayslake 127 students who complete the CCPE will receive $1,000 each via the “I Believe In You” scholarship.
- CCPE Framework
- Recommended Technical and Essential Employability Competencies
- Model Program of Study Guides
- HB3296/Public Act 102-0917 Brief
- An Orientation to College and Career Pathway Endorsements
- Career Development Experience Toolkit
- ISBE CCPE Resource Page and Application
- PWR Act Website
- Illinois Work-Based Learning Innovation Network (I-WIN) Resource Hub
- Systems Sessions: Scaling Educations Pathways in Illinois
- Systems Sessions: Illinois 60 by 25 Network
