College and Career Pathways Research Symposium Series - #3 - Leadership and Capacity Building

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob

College and career pathways are presented as a national education reform supported by federal, state, and philanthropic funding, combining career and technical education with rigorous academics, work-based learning, and student supports to reduce opportunity gaps. The third symposium in a four-event series examines leadership and capacity-building, identifying problems of practice facing pathway administrators, teachers, counselors, and support specialists. The program outlines goals to develop research capacity, support research-practice partnerships, and connect educator-preparation stakeholders with communities of practice.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages39

Reading Time1 h 38 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Symposium Overview

Symposium Goals and Structure

Leadership and Capacity-Building Focus

College & Career Pathway Research Symposium Series: \#3 College and Career Pathways Research Symposia Series 1 College & Career Pathway Research Symposium Series: \#3 Leadership and Capacity Building in College and Career Pathways November 13, 2018, Cal State LA Golden Eagle Ballroom, Los Angeles, CA Introduction College and career pathways represent a significant national educational reform movement supported by federal, state, and philanthropic funding. High school pathways combine career and technical education with rigorous academics, work-based learning, and student supports to provide equitable access to postsecondary opportunities. Strong research evidence supports this specific combination of interventions as a means to address the opportunity gap and the underlying causes of disparate highschool outcomes1 . Four symposia—described below—were designed to identify the available research related to equitable implementation of college and career pathways with the aims of prioritizing a research agenda that could impact policy and practice, and promoting collaboration among researchers. Virtual researcher communities of practice (CoPs) are being encouraged to share definitions, leverage each other’s data, and collaborate on specific research proposals to strengthen the pathway evidence base. Such collaboration is also expected to stimulate interest among policy makers and funders as well as providing guidance to the field. This symposium was the third in a series of four symposia focused on four aspects of pathways research. • The first was The Secondary Student Experience, held October 17, 2017, examining how to measure student success in college and career pathways. Researchers looked at measurement and research approaches addressing enrollment through engagement and achievement, concluding that an equity lens is critical to any investigation. • The second symposium, Equity Issues in College and Career Pathways Teaching and Learning Practices, held April 26, 2018, examined instructional practices, student supports, and structural and cultural factors facilitating successful, equitable implementation of pathways, and the implications for teacher preparation. • This third symposium, Leadership and Capacity Building in College and Career Pathways, held on November 13, 2018, focused on leadership and capacity-building and the research questions required to address problems of practice faced by pathway administrators, teachers, counselors, and other student support specialists. • The fourth and final symposium will be April 26, 2019, on Aligning College and Career Pathway Systems for Equity, planned to identify the high priority problems of system alignment affecting equitable pathway development, and the specific research questions that need to be answered in order to guide policy and practice. In addition to individual reports from each of the symposia, a summary review of the literature and conclusions from this series, with an analysis of the implications for a college and career pathway research agenda, will be produced. 1 We use the term “pathways” throughout the document to refer to “college and career pathways,” defined as including the components described. College and Career Pathways Research Symposia Series 2 College & Career Pathway Research Symposium Series: \#3 The College and Career Pathway Research Symposium series is a joint effort by multiple research-based organizations active in policy development led by UC Berkeley’s College and Career Academy Support Network (CCASN). The Planning Committee includes: Career Ladders Project; the California State University (CSU) Collaborative for the Advancement of Linked Learning (CALL); Jobs for the Future; the Learning Policy Institute; the Linked Learning Alliance; PACCCRAS (Promoting Authentic College, Career, and Civic Readiness Assessment Systems) Working Group; MDRC; SRI International; and WestEd. This work has been generously suppor

FAQs

What is the purpose of the four-symposium series on college and career pathways research?

The series aims to identify and prioritize a research agenda for equitable implementation, and to promote collaboration among researchers to strengthen the evidence base for policy and practice.

What did the third symposium focus on?

The third symposium focused on leadership and capacity-building, addressing research questions needed to tackle problems of practice faced by pathway administrators, teachers, counselors, and other student support specialists.

How does the symposium intend to build capacity and encourage collaboration?

It was designed to develop capacity among researchers, faculty, and scholar-practitioners, support Research Practice Partnerships aligned to priority research questions, and connect pathway-educator preparation stakeholders with researcher communities of practice.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob