College & Career Pathway Endorsements

Insights

Assessing the Utilization of the Illinois Model Program of Study Guides

How are the Illinois Model Programs of Study Guides being utilized statewide by community colleges and their high school partners? Are the guides useful in helping regions design high-quality college and career pathways? What additional information and support do regions need to better align with the guides? EdSystems and the Illinois Community College Board seek to answer those questions through our new State of Illinois Model Programs of Study Guides: Utilization Report.

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Insights

Exponential Growth: New Data and Draft Rules Released for College and Career Pathway Endorsements

The number of school districts implementing College & Career Pathway Endorsements is increasing exponentially. To support statewide scaling, the Illinois State Board of Education has drafted a set of administrative rules that will soon be open for public comment. In this post, we examine the growth of the endorsement system and share our review of the pending rules, which point to a significant level of momentum in Illinois regarding college and career pathways.

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Insights

Unlocking Potential: Empowering Young Women in Manufacturing

Manufacturing has long been a male-dominated field, but the future of this industry depends on inclusivity and fresh perspectives. We gathered insights from manufacturing experts on supporting young women in manufacturing pathways. This collaborative effort has resulted in a resource that offers practical guidance for students at any stage of their career journey.

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Insights

College and Career Readiness Budget and Legislative Highlights

Recent wins for Illinois college and career readiness efforts include legislation to improve the Illinois Articulation Initiative for education pathways, plus budget increases for the evidence-based funding formula, CTE, dual credit, student financial aid, and a teacher pipeline pilot.

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Project

Community College Pathway Equity and Currency

To help encourage learners to complete the rigorous requirements and earn a College and Career Pathways Endorsement and matriculate into postsecondary, EdSystems is supporting the development of equity-centered strategies and incentives for students.

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Project

Lake County: Support for Career Pathways

In 2023, EdSystems began supporting Waukegan CUSD 60 and its regional partners with targeted support for alignment to the Illinois College and Career Pathway Endorsement and systems for career exploration.

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Insights

New PWR Act Website Serves as Resource Hub for Four Key Strategies

The redesigned site features key resources, guidance and implementation supports, and exemplars for the PWR Act’s four aligned strategies: the Postsecondary and Career Expectations (PaCE) Framework, College and Career Pathway Endorsements, Transitional Instruction, and Competency-Based Education Pilot.

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Insights

Governor Signs HB3296/Public Act 102-0917, Advancing on PWR Act

Governor Pritzker signed Public Act 102-0917 (HB3296) into law on May 27, 2022. HB3296 builds from the 2016 Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness (PWR) Act and many years of dedicated work by communities statewide to develop and implement high-quality college and career pathways systems that ensure students are prepared for whatever comes after high school. 

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Insights

EdSystems Joins Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Accelerate ED, Launches Accelerated Model Pathways for Information Technology

EdSystems is proud to announce our participation in Accelerate ED: Seamless Pathways to Degrees and Careers, an initiative that seeks to blur the lines between high school and higher education and career learning experiences, allowing students to earn a career-aligned credential or degree by the end of one additional year after high school.

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Insights

An Initial Analysis of Scaling Education Pathways in Illinois

An analysis of the initial implementation of the Scaling Education Pathways in Illinois initiative, with input from the first cohort of collaboratives. It was undertaken to understand how the components of the education pathway were being executed in practice and to collect promising practices and lessons learned.

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Insights

Working Toward a Thriving Illinois

EdSystems applauds the adoption of the Illinois Board of Higher Education’s new 10-year strategic plan, A Thriving Illinois: Higher Education Paths to Equity, Sustainability, and Growth.

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Resource

I-WIN Resources

Explore resources to support innovative and equitable work-based learning opportunities, including a statewide resource bank of team-based challenges.

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Exterior of Ridgewood High School
Insights

Ridgewood H.S. First in IL to Award College & Career Pathway Endorsement

As students across the state return to school, many high school students are now working towards earning a College and Career Pathway Endorsement. Ridgewood High School, located in the Chicago suburbs and a leader in the pathways approach, was the first in Illinois to award the College and Career Pathway Endorsements to Class of 2020 graduates who successfully completed the Education and Manufacturing and Engineering pathways.

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CTE teacher showing students manufacturing equipment
Project

Illinois Advanced Apprenticeship Consortium

EdSystems’ role with the Illinois Advanced Apprenticeship Consortium is implementing a Manufacturing Pathway aligned to the College and Career Pathway Endorsement system for students that meets the expectations and requirements of the PWR Act.

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CTE students learning electrical wiring
Insights

Guidance and Resources for Providing High-Quality Work-Based Learning

Through collaboration with the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Education Systems Center has released a Career Development Experience Toolkit aligned to the frameworks established in the Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness (PWR) Act and embedded within Illinois’ broader strategies around scaling high-quality career pathways and work-based learning.

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smiling college students
Project

College and Career Pathway Endorsements

Education Systems Center worked with public and private stakeholders to define key competencies for the College and Career Pathway Endorsements and is now working with community networks to support implementation of endorsement systems in line with the PWR Act.

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Project

Career Pathways Dictionary

To help transform outcomes for youth and adults across Illinois, the Illinois Career Pathways Dictionary defines key terms for career pathway programs and system elements, while also offering resources and implementation guidance to support statewide alignment.

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