The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA) established career pathways as an integral piece of the workforce development strategy. A career pathway is a combination of education, training, and social services that align with the skill needs of industries to enable low-income, low-skilled adults to achieve post-secondary credentials and higher paying employment. Through a partnership with community colleges, primary and secondary schools, workforce and economic development agencies, employers, labor groups, and social service providers, career pathways enable individuals to develop academic and “employability” skills that help them place into high opportunity jobs.
Career pathway programs include adult basic education such as literacy, numeracy, and high school equivalency instruction. Participants may enter a pathway at any of these levels, as well as at the post-secondary level. Each step on a career pathway is designed to prepare students to progress to the next level of employment or education. For adults, career pathways may also be a web or link between differing jobs. They may develop a set of skills at the beginning of one job family and find that those skills are also applicable in another sector. This allows individuals to enter a new career pathway without starting over.
Career Pathways Resources
- Nuts and Bolts of Adult Career Pathways Webinar
- Nuts and Bolts of Adult Career Pathways Webinar Power Point Slides
- The PA Adult Education Resources web page was developed by the Workforce Development Liaison Project to support Title II adult education providers’ career pathways programs. This resources serves as a resource for adult education and family literacy teachers, tutors, administrators as well as workforce development partners with little or no modification needed.
- Career Pathways Funding Toolkit | CLASP
- Creating Career Pathways in Colorado | Collaborative Economics and the Woolsey Group, LLC
- Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, Public Law No. 113-128
