Career Pathways Toolkit: Six Key Elements for Success

The Career Pathways Toolkit: Six Key Elements for Success was developed as part of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration’s Career Pathways Initiative to help guide state and local leaders in building and sustaining career pathway systems. This Toolkit offers a clear and user-friendly road map for administrators, service providers, practitioners, and policy makers seeking to develop career pathway systems at local, regional, and/or state levels. It details the Six Key Elements Framework, highlights promising practices, and provides tools designed to support visioning and strategic planning.

The toolkit outlines the Six Key Elements of Career Pathways, which were developed with project partners (federal agencies representatives and subject matter experts from national research and technical assistance organizations) and the eleven grantees involved in the Career Pathways Initiative (2009-2010) to help to guide local and state teams through the key steps necessary for developing a comprehensive career pathways system. The Six Key Elements are:

1. Build cross-agency partnerships and clarify roles;
2. Identify sector or industry and engage employers;
3. Design education and training programs;
4. Identify funding needs and sources;
5. Align policies and programs; and
6. Measure system change and performance.

Case studies shared throughout provide specific examples of implementing each element.

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2011
• Author(s): Larsen, Chandra; Kozumplik, Richalene; Nyborg, Annie; Garcia, Daphne, et al.
• Organizational Author(s): Social Policy Research Associates
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: India Johnson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies