Events

$700 million in funding for Golden State Pathways and Dual Enrollment is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to strengthen California's young people's experience from K–12 through postsecondary education and career. But ensuring these dollars deliver on the programs' goals for equity and economic prosperity will require new conversations, connections, and greater coherence across our systems. It will take a deliberate, integrated, systematic effort across segments and sectors.

To meet this moment and opportunity, the Linked Learning Alliance, Career Ladders Project, and The Education Trust–West are launching Fast Forward California. This new coalition of K–12, postsecondary, equity and workforce leaders will work together to ensure that our education systems are acting with intention in the interests of each young person, racial justice, and the future of our workforce.

As communities work to recover from the pandemic and accelerate students to both college and career success, the new state investments in Golden State Pathways and Dual Enrollment offer the opportunity to create educational experiences that are more aligned, connected, and supportive than ever.

Interested in learning more and getting started? Join the Catalyzing Conversations for Coherence webinar on Wednesday, April 26 from 2-3:30 PT.

Through this webinar, you will have the opportunity to:

• Deepen your understanding of the state and federal funding streams that can be leveraged in concert with one another to launch relevant and rigorous pathways in your community.
• Learn about new tools and resources that can be used to further your understanding of creating coherence in the high school and postsecondary experience.
• Inform upcoming learning opportunities hosted by Fast Forward California to ensure local communities have the knowledge and support to effectively access and apply these resources.

Recommended Participants

This work requires collaboration and coordination. To that end, we recommend bringing your colleagues to the discussion! All are welcome, and K–12 school and district leaders, secondary and postsecondary college and career pathway leads, as well as those leading and implementing dual enrollment strategies will benefit most from the discussion.

With increasing interest, new resources, fresh perspectives, and decades of proven practice, we have before us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to catalyze greater coherence across district, state, and federal systems to create more seamless and transformative educational experiences for young people aged 14-24.

Our Golden Opportunity: Creating Coherence in College and Career Readiness is a four-day event bringing together educators, industry partners, and community leaders from across our field for the first major Linked Learning event to return in person.

Through this event, we hope to bring together public will-building, policy, and practice strategies to ignite a broader and more strongly aligned field-wide vision for college and career preparation.

Master schedules represent the culture, priorities and values of a school and community. They structure time, space and resources within a school and district. However, master schedules are often a stumbling block when it comes to creating sustainable, equitable college and career pathways. Pathways may struggle to cohort students successfully, provide access to English Learners and special education students, and address competing priorities within the master schedule. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Join the Linked Learning Alliance and IlluminatED Collective for a 3-part workshop series where school and district leaders can learn a process and strategies for how to use the master schedule and Linked Learning to advance equity and expand opportunities for students and adults.

The series will be delivered in person, with the option to participate in a virtual consultancy opportunity after the third workshop.

Workshop Series Schedule:

• Workshop 1: November 1, 2022 (Los Angeles, CA) - Planning Within the Numbers
• Workshop 2: January 19, 2023 (Long Beach, CA) - Planning for Staffing and Students
• Workshop 3: February 14, 2023 (San Diego, CA) - Building the Master Schedule
• Optional Consultancy: March - April 2023 - Optional Consultancy via Zoom

Join the Linked Learning Alliance and the Los Angeles Unified School District on a 2-day experiential site visit and workshop series at STEM Academy of Boyle Heights and Roosevelt High School. We invite you to join us in Los Angeles, CA on Wednesday, November 2nd and Thursday November 3rd, 10:00am to 4:00pm to learn how to leverage Linked Learning in your local context.

What is an experiential site visit?

An experiential site visit will allow you to envision a new future for your students, school site, or district as you learn firsthand how the Linked Learning model has positively transformed education for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Hear from site and district administrators, teachers, counselors, students, and industry partners within a district-wide system of college and career pathway implementation, as they discuss essential academy structures, student supports, work-based learning experiences, industry connections, rigorous curriculum, team integration, real-world projects, and student-run enterprises.

Teams and individuals in attendance will be given the opportunity to:

• Observe Linked Learning components in action
• Network with students, educators, and administrators from LAUSD and other school sites
• Create a College and Career Roadmap for developing a high-quality Linked Learning system of your own

Students, educators, and communities are finding that we need to provide real, relevant, and engaging learning experiences for young people. So, how do we achieve this and ensure equitable outcomes for all? The Linked Learning approach integrates rigorous academics with real-world learning and strong support services to prepare students for success in college and career. This webinar provides information on what Linked Learning is, how to get started, and find out what it looks like in practice at the school, district, and community levels.

In Introduction to the Linked Learning Approach, a free 90 minute virtual session, we explored the following questions:

• What is Linked Learning, and why should districts leverage this approach to college and career preparation?
• What does Linked Learning look like in practice at the school, district, and community levels?
• How do I get started with Linked Learning?
• What is the Linked Learning Alliance, and how can I get involved?

We’ve got exciting news - we are relaunching our alumni network this fall with a virtual event and alumni panel. All current Linked Learning students and alumni are welcome to join the network. The Network will nurture a space where current Linked Learning students and alumni can build connections, create community, and gain career and professional skills! Participation in the Network is free.

Master schedules represent the culture, priorities and values of a school and community. They structure time, space and resources within a school and district. However, master schedules are often a stumbling block when it comes to creating sustainable, equitable college and career pathways. Pathways may struggle to cohort students successfully, provide access to English Learners and special education students, and address competing priorities within the master schedule. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Join the Linked Learning Alliance and IlluminatED Collective for From Obstacle to Equitable: Transforming Your Pathway Master Schedule Into a Tool for Equity, a virtual four-hour workshop on Thursday May 12th where school and district leaders can learn a process and strategies for how to use the master schedule and Linked Learning to advance equity and expand opportunities for students and adults.

Attend From Obstacle to Equitable: Transforming Your Pathway Master Schedule Into a Tool for Equity for $125/person. Teams of 3 or more participants can use code LLATEAMS for 25% off your total registration. For any questions, please contact Hernán Gallo, Linked Learning Alliance Manager of External Relations.

In recent times, the United States has looked to the apprenticeship structure to solve workforce development challenges our communities face, especially those exacerbated by COVID-19. Knowing what a pre-apprenticeship is and how it can be applied to your Linked Learning context can open up doors for students to earn while they learn. Work-based learning, including pre-apprenticeships, provides students with exposure to real-world workplaces and careers they can pursue after high school. Pre-apprenticeships offer students industry-standard training, mentorship, wraparound services, direct placement with Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAP), and support with career advancement.

But where do I start? Are pre-apprenticeships only for high school? Where do I find industry partners to offer these opportunities? Is there funding to support the development of pre-apprenticeships?

Join us for a roundtable discussion with leading voices on apprenticeships. Hosted by Linked Learning Fellow and Coordinator of College and Career at Hemet Unified School District Laura Gallardo, experts in the apprenticeship field will chat about their journeys and how they offer opportunities to students in their setting. This discussion is a great fit for teams who manage work-based learning opportunities, but all are welcome to attend.

Students, educators, and communities are finding that our current approach to academic and career technical education is not meaningful, relevant, or preparing young people for the full range of college and career opportunities they deserve. How do we prepare students for success and provide them the tools to thrive? As communities begin to recover from the economic and educational impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, there's never been a better time to reimagine college and career preparation.

We invite you to join us on Wednesday April 13, 12:30-2:00pm PT/ 3:30-5:00pm ET to learn how to leverage Linked Learning and adapt it for your local context and priorities.

In Introduction to the Linked Learning Approach, a free 90 minute virtual session, we will explore the following questions:

• What is Linked Learning, and why should districts leverage this approach to college and career preparation?
• What does Linked Learning look like in practice at the school, district, and community levels?
• How do I get started with Linked Learning?
• What is the Linked Learning Alliance, and how can I get involved?

With Governor Gavin Newsom's proposed $1.5 billion investment in college and career pathways, it is essential now more than ever that local industry serves as an active partner in schools to shape the developing workforce in their region. By joining pathway advisory boards, employers work directly with classroom teachers and pathway coordinators to develop the pathway experience, contributing to work-based learning and engaging with students through internships, job shadows, and other experiences during young people's decade of difference, a formative period of development between 14 and 24 when young people establish their identities, dispositions, and lifelong aspirations. But how can pathways engage, energize, and sustain employer partners to establish an advisory board that meaningfully impacts youth?

Join the Linked Learning Alliance for Taking Advisory Boards to the Next Level: An Industry Perspective on Tuesday February 15th, 3:30-4:30pm PT to hear from employers about what it takes to keep them engaged. Panelists from across different regions and industries will share their own experiences serving on a Linked Learning advisory board and provide valuable insights into how pathways can successfully engage employers and build advisory boards that best serve the pathway, industry, and community.

The panel will include:

• Alejandra Güitrón, Senior Port Communications Specialist, Port of Long Beach
• Matt Seals, CEO, Seal Construction
• Bill Tynan, President, Garner Holt Education through Imagination
• Carol L. Young, Transfusion Service Supervisor, Kaweah Delta Medical Center
• and more!