Welcome to ConnectEd's Toolkit, designed to direct you to resources about connecting academic and career-technical (CTE) education through a career-focused, multiple pathways model. This model strives to prepare all of California's students for success in both postsecondary education and careers.

The James Irvine Foundation established ConnectEd as a hub for innovative practice, policy, and research in order to expand the number of education pathways that prepare students for college and career. ConnectEd is advancing the role that academically rigorous CTE can play in reforming California high schools. We are dedicated to identifying, supporting, and expanding multiple pathways that prepare students for both college and career, not one or the other. By pioneering groundbreaking school programs and partnering with innovative educators and decisionmakers, ConnectEd will provide the next generation of young adults with the knowledge and skills they need to compete successfully in California’s growing and dynamic economy.

ConnectEd supports the development of high school curricula that are at once academically rigorous and inclusive of the range of aspirations and learning styles of California’s diverse student population. Courses in a multiple pathways curriculum stress mastery of core academic and technical knowledge. They are closely linked to state academic and CTE standards and the competencies needed for students to succeed in postsecondary education. These demanding programs will satisfy California’s “a to g” requirements for entry into four-year public universities, while introducing students to the real world of professional work in today’s thriving industries and challenging career sectors.

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