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The National Center for College and Career Transitions (NC3T) can help you equip teams of local education leaders and their community partners with the knowledge, skills, structure, and resources they need to successfully lead a local Pathways System planning effort. Through NC3T’s state-wide Pathways System Institute (PSI), these local teams will receive a valuable learning experience that will translate into specific action in their home communities.
The PSI is designed to minimize time away from the home community, and to use virtual meeting technologies and on-line learning modules to maximize just-in-time and peer-based learning.
TEAM STRUCTURE
Each participating community will be invited to designate a team of six members to directly participate in the PSI. These team members will then be responsible for leading the work at the local level, with the endorsement and support of their school superintendent and other participating organizations.
The program is designed for up to 16 teams that include: an assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, a director of counseling, a director of career & technical education, a high school principal, a representative of an employer-led organization, and one additional local leader. Participants in this institute must have positional authority to lead and influence change in their home environment.
PEER LEARNING AND FACILITATION
During the course of the 12-month PSI, each team will be assigned facilitator designated by the state education office to assist them as they move through the Pathways System Development Process from general exploration (EXPLORE) through the beginning of early implementation (ACT). The product of this work will be the Pathways System Plan.
PSI LEARNING SERVICES & RESOURCES
The PSI offers the following experiences and resources to support teams in their capacity to lead local pathways system planning and implementation.
IN-PERSON WORKSHOPS FOR LEADERSHIP TEAM TRAINING
Each community will designate a special leadership team of six individuals to participate in the project.
These team members will attend the in-person workshops and will also commit to participating in the Professional Learning Community virtual meetings. We are utilizing a “Train-the-Leader” model – meaning these are the leaders who will organize and lead the pathways system work in their community. They will be responsible for recruiting and organizing other local participants and passing along what they have learned to others.
VIRTUAL PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY MEETING
To facilitate peer learning and motivation, each team will be designated to a Professional Learning Community, or PLC, which will include 3 other teams for a total of 4 teams per PLC. These PLCs will meet in a virtual setting 7 times throughout the project cycle.
During the on-site workshops and PLC team calls, teams will identify key issues and questions, and the state facilitator will point them toward additional support and resources that are available.
PATHWAYS PLANNING TOOLKIT FOR LOCAL TEAMS
NC3T has developed a comprehensive toolkit with detailed step-by-step guidance on how to develop the local pathways system, with templates for planning and sample communications tools. Six copies of the toolkit will be provided to each participating team. Additional copies will be available to local teams for purchase directly from NC3T on a discounted rate structure.
ONLINE RESOURCES
NC3T will offer access to a web-based library which includes information and resources only available to designated project participants. PSI teams will gain free access to NC3T’s previously-produced templates, how-to-guides, research summaries, and webcasts. NC3T will retain intellectual property rights over its materials but will allow each team to adapt and modify materials for local use.
ONLINE LEARNING SUPPORTS
Each team will have access to a series of 5-7 online self-paced leaning modules designed for members of local teams, explaining all the key concepts of pathways and career connected learning, and supplementing the resources provided through the Pathways Toolkit. The online learning will be aimed at local school leaders, counselors, teachers and community partners who are not directly participating in the PSI, but who will be involved with local implementation of pathways and related system components. Each local team will be allocated 100 course authorizations that they can allocate among school and community partners to be used during the project cycle.
TRANSPARENCY AND FLEXIBILITY:
PATHWAYS SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION CHECK-LIST & TIMELINE
Each team will work at its own pace to carry out the steps of the pathways system implementation process. To allow for transparency and accountability with the state education office, each team will maintain an online version of its pathways system implementation check-list. This check-list will note the action steps and progress the team is making along the way and will be visible to the state project managers and to the NC3T team members (but not to the other local teams).
Contact NC3T to discuss the ways in which our team will support your career pathway initiative efforts. Together, we will see that every learner has a dream and a plan, and every community has a capable, ready workforce.