Resource Library

As a hub for the Linked Learning movement, the Alliance offers research, stories, and tools that help people understand the impact of Linked Learning and implement this approach at high levels of quality.

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September 2020

Check in on your pathway development progress using our Linked Learning Pathway Self-Study Tool. Your answers will help you visualize what you've accomplished, note areas you're making strides, and create an action plan to continue strengthening your program. This tool is intended to help you understand how you’re doing in relation to several important Linked Learning concepts. It is not a formal evaluation of your program’s certification progress.

Curriculum & Instruction, Pathway Improvement, Career-Technical Education, Certification, College & Career Readiness, Equity, Outcomes, Rigorous Academics, Student Supports, Work-Based Learning, Getting Started, Steps to Silver, Going for Gold, Continuous Improvement

June 2020

Slide deck from the June 24th Bringing Linked Learning to Life Through Integrated Project Design webinar

Webinars, Career-Technical Education, College & Career Readiness, Rigorous Academics, Work-Based Learning

May 2020

Remarks from Arroyo Valley High School Business and Logistics Academy student Beautifull Shields on her experience in this Gold Certified pathway from the May 28, 2020 Virtual Gold Celebration.

Stories, Webinars, Certification, General, Outcomes, Rigorous Academics, Student Supports

Developing a Performance Assessment System From the Ground Up

Lessons Learned From Three Linked Learning Pathways

As the country shifts to higher standards of learning for students, the ways in which we measure learning are shifting too. Rather than relying on traditional high-stakes one-shot tests, new assessment approaches foster continuous learning, improvement, and subject mastery. A new study offers insights into how teachers can use these practices in their classrooms and schools using examples from several schools implementing the performance assessment approaches effectively.

Research, Lessons Learned, Rigorous Academics

October 2011 | CCASN, UC Berkeley

This report highlights positive results at California Partnership Academies (CPAs). Many of these CPAs are also part of Linked Learning.

This report on the California Partnership Academies (CPAs) reveals very promising results for student performance across a range of important outcomes: most notably graduation rates for seniors, and completion of the “A-G” courses required for admission to the University of California and California State University. It is significant to note that these results have been achieved despite the fact that 50 percent of CPA students enter the program as “at-risk students” based on strict criteria. The new findings confirm the pattern found in a similar report on the CPAs using data from 2004-05, but with substantially larger numbers of academies and students.

Research, Career-Technical Education, Outcomes, Rigorous Academics

A Model for Success

CART’s Linked Learning Program Increases College Enrollment

When rigorous academics are combined with demanding career-based learning in real-world professional workplaces, students are better prepared to succeed in college, career and life. Embracing the Linked Learning model, the Center for Advanced Research and Technology—a high school in Clovis, California—released data that demonstrates how combining rigorous academics and real-world learning opportunities can lead to a higher percentage of enrollments in both community college and four-year universities. In particular, the study finds that attendance in a Linked Learning pathway more than doubled the rate of college entrance for minority students.

Research, Outcomes, Rigorous Academics, Work-Based Learning

Career Academies

Long-Term Impacts on Labor Market Outcomes, Educational Attainment, and Transitions to Adulthood
June 2008 | MDRC

Rigorous academics integrated with career-based learning can lead to higher wages after high school. This study examines the outcomes of 1,700 students enrolled in career academies that offered the Linked Learning approach to predominantly minority students. The study showed that four years after graduation from high school, career academy graduates were earning more than their traditionally educated counterparts. While this was true for both men and women, the result was statistically significant for men in a Linked Learning pathway, who earned 18 percent ($10,000) more over the four-year period after high school.

The findings demonstrate the feasibility of improving labor market preparation and successful school-to-work transitions without compromising academic goals and preparation for college. Investments in career-related experiences during high school can produce substantial and sustained improvements in the labor market prospects and transitions to adulthood of youth. In fact, Career Academies are one of the few youth-focused interventions that have been found to improve the labor market prospects of young men. At the same time, Career Academies have proven to be challenging to implement on a large scale with high levels of fidelity, and the evidence from this evaluation may not apply to programs that are partially implemented or that use only selected features of the Academy approach. Further research should be conducted to determine the effects of key Academy components.

Research, Career-Technical Education, Outcomes, Rigorous Academics

This study describes three key pieces of evidence supporting adoption of the Linked Learning approach. Those attending California Partnership Academies had better California High School Exit Exam pass rates, completed more rigorous courses, and had better high school graduation rates. Operating in more than 300 high schools, California Partnership Academies are one model of Linked Learning pathways.

Research, Career-Technical Education, Outcomes, Rigorous Academics

This report shows that schools utilizing a Linked Learning approach have achieved higher graduation rates and exit exam passing rates, with a greater percentage of students eligible for California State University (CSU) or the University of California (UC). Researchers found that 50 percent of students in California Partnership Academies completed the “A–G” requirements needed to be eligible for admission to California’s public universities – compared with only 39 percent of graduates statewide. More than 70 percent of the academies’ African-American students passed the math portion of the California High School Exit Exam, compared with 55 percent of African-American high school students in the state. Furthermore, 96 percent of academy seniors graduated, compared with 87 percent statewide.

Research, Career-Technical Education, Outcomes, Rigorous Academics

Building Academic Skills in Context

Testing the Value of Enhanced Math Learning in CTE

This study offers strong evidence that rigorous academics integrated with technical curriculum leads to higher test scores if successfully implemented. In this research, career and technical education (CTE) teachers were paired with math teachers who identified the mathematical content embedded in the CTE teachers’ subjects and developed lesson plans to teach the math within the occupational context. The 57 CTE teachers who helped develop the math–enhanced lessons were randomly assigned to classrooms and delivered the curriculum for about 10 percent of class time over the course of one year; 74 CTE teachers not participating in such development taught other classrooms with traditional instruction. The almost 3,000 enrolled students were given math pre-tests and were tested again a year later. Those taught the integrated curriculum significantly outscored the control group on two tests of math ability.

Research, Career-Technical Education, Outcomes, Rigorous Academics