The Connecticut Employment & Training Commission released a report describing the most prominent State strategies for building and promoting career pathways. These strategies were pulled from a review of literature on career advancement strategies for low-skilled workers over the last decade.

This paper provides a review of formal research reports and published literature on implementation analysis. It defines implementation analysis, summarizing methodological issues and topics addressed by this type of analysis, and describes systems change analysis and its relationship to implementation analysis. The paper concludes with a summary of implications for the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) National Implementation Evaluation design. The paper was developed as part of the HPOG Implementation, Systems and Outcome Project, which is being led by Abt Associates in partnership with the Urban Institute. (author abstract)

A substantial skills gap exists between the education and training of the labor force and the needs of employers in many high growth industries, including healthcare and manufacturing. This gap results in unemployment while good paying jobs go unfilled. At the same time, many low-skilled adults persist in low wage work with little opportunity for advancement.

Career pathways programs, like the Pima Community College (PCC) Pathways to Healthcare HPOG programs, are an approach to fill a vital need for skilled workers in the economy and offer low-wage workers the opportunity to obtain occupational and other skills and advance into the middle class.

This brief was produced by Abt Associates as part of the Innovative Strategies to Increase Self-Sufficiency (ISIS) project, a random assignment evaluation of nine promising career pathways programs that aim to improve employment and self-sufficiency outcomes for low-income, low-skilled individuals. (author abstract) 

Workforce One developed the Workforce System Strategies' Community Colleges and Workforce Partnership resource page. This page provides research sources related to education and training for unemployed and underemployed adults, with topics and target populations ranging from Community Colleges, Career Pathways, Limited Skills, and Online Trainings.

This paper was developed by the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) to inform those working with career pathways programs of a common language and standards for programs. Through a review of existing literature, feedback from the ongoing Alliance for Quality Career Pathways project, and communication from field researchers, CLASP has designed a conceptual framework for identifying and designing high quality career pathways programs. The framework contains four components which are discussed.

In 2008, Virginia set out to design and implement a statewide career pathways initiative to better meet the needs of regional employers. This report is a case study of Virginia's experience and highlights lessons learned through the process. Virginia's system has garnered attention because it was developed with very little additional funding, a reality for many States in the current economy.

In April 2012, the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Labor released a letter endorsing the concept of "Career Pathways" as a promising approach to address the country's challenge of how to prepare workers of all skill levels to participate fully in the country's economic future. The Departments defined Career Pathways as a series of connected education and training strategies and support services that enable individuals to secure industry relevant certification and obtain employment within an occupational area and to advance to higher levels of future education and employment in that area and encouraged the constituency of each Department to work together to create seamless systems that would result in workers gaining industry-recognized credentials and jobs with family-sustaining wages.

These standards were developed by the Workforce Solutions Collaborative for the City of Philadelphia, which has a high rate of unskilled workers compared to available unskilled jobs. The standards are separated into seven content areas and reflect best practices for high-quality basic skills programs aimed at increasing employment outcomes for individuals. In addition to the standards, a self-assessment tool is included which can be used to determine an agency's capacity to provide services and as a road map to create development plans for future use.

This toolkit provides self-assessment tools for programs seeking to enhance their bridge programs and other transitional services to adult learners. It provides three documents -- the first is the Team Survey, which measures program service usage as perceived by program staff. Next, a Service Usage Evaluation is included, which is designed to give an accurate picture of how services are actually being used. Finally, toolkit users complete a Service Improvement Plan to help prioritize any needed improvements to existing services.

This report was developed for workforce development professionals in the United Kingdom; however, it highlights career pathways and cluster programs in several States. From the profiles of the different programs, lessons learned and policy implications are drawn which are helpful to those in the U.S. wishing to replicate a career pathway model.