PEOPLE-POWERED PATHWAYS - Lessons in how to build students’ social capital through career-connected learning - Field report

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Rhys

Report examines how schools can explicitly build students’ social capital through career-connected learning to improve access to promising, fulfilling careers, especially for students furthest from opportunity. It draws on an 18-month pilot supporting 20 K–12 career pathways sites via three intermediary organizations, using relationship outcomes and equitable implementation practices. The document presents 10 field-tested lessons covering relationship-focused goal setting, auditing existing practices, employer engagement, immersive activities, systems embedding, and benchmarking collective progress to expand know-how and know-who.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages58

Reading Time2 h 26 min

AccessFree to download

Executive Summary

Introduction

Part 1. Social capital proof points: Small scale, big promise

Part 2. Social capital pilot study: Our approach and methodology

Part 3. Social capital in action: Sample activities from pilot sites

Part 4. Social capital implementation: 10 lessons learned across sites

Conclusion

Appendix A: Student demographic information

Appendix B: Personal timeline

Appendix C: Relationship mapping

Appendix D: Social capital 101 presentations

PEOPLE-POWERED PATHWAYS: Lessons in how to build students’ social capital through career-connected learning BY ROBERT MARK LE, PHD, ANNA ARSENAULT, AND JULIA FREELAND FISHER JULY 2023 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 Part 1. Social capital proof points: Small scale, big promise 6 Part 2. Social capital pilot study: Our approach and methodology 8 Part 3. Social capital in action: Sample activities from pilot sites 11 Part 4. Social capital implementation: 10 lessons learned across sites 18 Conclusion 35 Appendix A: Student demographic information 36 Appendix B: Personal timeline 42 Appendix C: Relationship mapping 45 Appendix D: Social capital 101 presentations 51 Acknowledgments 54 Notes 55 About the Institute, About the authors 57 C HR IST E NS E N I NST IT UT E : P EO P L E-P OW E R E D PAT HWAYS 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY What will it take to ensure that all students, especially those furthest from opportunity, are on a path to promising and fulfilling careers? Schools are increasingly engaging in career-connected learning to increase career exposure and skill development. But focusing on skills alone will fall short, particularly if schools hope to address long-standing opportunity gaps. Awareness of possible careers and access to jobs depends not only on learning and achievement, but on personal and professional relationships that serve as gateways to career opportunities. Opportunity sits at the intersection of students’ human capital—what they know and can do—and their social capital—who they know and can depend on for support and access. To launch a career, students need more than skills—they also need people willing to take a bet on their potential. With the aim of helping leaders implement effective, equitable strategies for building students’ social capital, this report offers field-tested considerations for piloting social capital building within existing career pathways initiatives. Our observations draw from an 18-month pilot during which we leveraged our social capital playbook to provide direct support to a group of three intermediary organizations—Education Strategy Group, Generation Schools Network, and Hawai‘i P-20—collectively supporting 20 sites in the K–12 career pathways space. In the course of the pilot, we sought to understand how schools and nonprofits can make social capital building an explicit, effective, and equitable component of existing careerconnected learning models. Schools and programs that are interested in expanding students’ networks can consider 10 lessons learned from the pilot: 1. Stick with relationship outcomes: Use relationship data to develop goals and measure progress. 2. Audit your current practices: Look for untapped opportunities to strengthen students’ social capital within existing career-connected activities. 3. Prepare to build, not just buy: Given scarce off-the-shelf curricula, allocate time and resources for social capital training and curriculum development. 4. Honor relational norms and values: Adapt your approaches to both culture and context. 5. Incorporate immersive experiences: Pair social capital concepts with practice and opportunities to build real-world relationships. 6. Skills and access both matter: To seed positive interactions, develop communication skills alongside access to relationships. 7. Prime employers to share their social capital: Shifting employee volunteers’ mindsets can orient them to build relationships and share resources. 8. Source social capital across your enterprise: Individual social capital is a critical, but limited, lever for scale. 9. Embed social capital into systems: Enthusiastic practitioners foster change, but infrastructure maintains it. 10.Benchmark collective progress: Communities of practice build practitioner confidence. Equipped with these lessons, educators can build models that embed both career know-how and know-who into stud

FAQs

What is the central challenge this report addresses for students and schools?

It addresses how to ensure all students, particularly those furthest from opportunity, are on a path to promising and fulfilling careers, beyond skills alone.

How does the report define social capital in this context?

Social capital is access to, and ability to mobilize, relationships that help further individuals’ potential and goals and connect them to career opportunities.

What are the 10 lessons learned from the pilot?

The report highlights lessons such as using relationship data to set goals, auditing current practices, preparing to build rather than just buy curricula, incorporating immersive experiences, and embedding social capital into systems with benchmarked progress.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Rhys