Pathways Resource Library

Pathways Matter to Families offers insights and actionable resources for students and families. The two complementary resources linked are informed by original research investigating what parents and young adults think and want to know about education-to-workforce pathways and experiences.

Pathways that respond to the unique needs of—and opportunities in—rural communities are a critical strategy to support youth and advance economic development. This framework outlines key considerations and promising strategies for pathways leaders who seek to achieve equitable outcomes for youth while strengthening rural communities.

Gallup and Lumina Foundation conducted a report studying the most pressing issues facing higher education. Insights cover U.S. adults' interest in pursuing higher education, what's keeping them from enrolling and what's causing currently enrolled students to consider stopping out.

The 2023 American Opportunity Index evaluated nearly 400 large U.S. firms to produce key findings on how firms maximize their internal talent to drive corporate performance and the growth of their employees. It also raised significant disparities in promotion and retention among companies and underscores the business choice in talent management practices. Among their key findings are that large companies that excel in employee retention save up to $400 million annually on turnover costs, primarily by offering promotion opportunities and competitive wages. Additionally, top companies are 2.5 times more likely to promote employees and pay 68% more for the same roles, benefiting corporate performance and worker growth.

This resource includes a set of skills-based hiring toolkits that include a skills-based job-posting, interview questions, and onboarding plans. Each Skills-Based Hiring Toolkit is packed with valuable resources that will help you transform your hiring strategy.

The Success Index represents a private opinion survey of the American people’s personal definitions of success and the American Dream. It uses tools and methodologies that minimize distortions found in traditional public opinion polls to reveal not only what Americans prioritize most — and least — in a successful life, but also what they believe about other people’s priorities.

Faced with unprecedented change in the postsecondary landscape, America's families are wrestling with questions of college, careers, skills development and meaningful work. This study aimed to understand American parents' aspirations for their children after high school, as well as the barriers they face to following a preferred postsecondary path.

This resource provides tangible data points on employer attitudes toward Career Technical Education (CTE) and the positive return on investment CTE experiences provide for business and economic growth. Based on a national survey of more than 300 professionals actively involved in hiring decisions in in-demand fields, these new findings demonstrate that employers strongly support and see direct value in CTE. The findings also indicate that employer recognition and support for skills-focused hiring is growing and that employers back a greater public investment in CTE programs.

The Catalyze Challenge set out to answer two core research questions: was it successful in catalyzing new innovation and, if so, what type? It employs a three-stage review process involving a collective effort to identify unique, groundbreaking career-connected models that are heavily invested in the communities they serve. The key takeaways that are explored in depth throughout this report.