By 2031, nearly three-quarters of jobs in the United States will require more than a high school diploma. At the same time, employers across industries continue to report skills shortages—even as too many young people struggle to find clear, supported pathways into high-wage, high-demand careers.

Career pathways have emerged as one of the most promising responses to this challenge. But as many state and district leaders know firsthand, launching programs is not the same as scaling impact.

See the System: Reflections on Career Pathways Implementation in the United States and How We Can Do Better draws on our work supporting more than 100 career pathways efforts across the country and distills key lessons for leaders working to expand high-quality pathways.

As states double down on postsecondary education and career readiness—and as artificial intelligence reshapes the labor market—the insights from this publication are more relevant than ever.

Career Pathways Are Not a Program—They’re a System

Career pathways are often described as programs that combine career-connected learning, opportunities to earn postsecondary credit or industry certifications, and advising to help students navigate key decisions and transitions. These pathways typically lead to high-demand fields such as engineering, STEM, and technology, and are often led by district career and technical education (CTE) leaders. Research from the CTE Research Network shows that these approaches improve not only high school outcomes, but also postsecondary and employment outcomes.

Our experience working with state governments, intermediaries, school districts, education institutions, and employers points to a deeper truth:

Career pathways are not a single initiative to implement. They represent a shift in how K–12, postsecondary, employers, and policymakers must work together as a coherent system.

When implementation struggles, it is often not because the program model is weak, but because the system around it is misaligned.

Practical Lessons for Scaling a Career Pathway System with Impact

In See the System, we outline practical lessons for education and workforce leaders and illustrate them in practice through real-world examples from across the country. With federal roles being restructured, three lessons stand out as especially urgent for U.S. policymakers and system leaders today:

1. To scale pathways with impact, you have to “see the system.”‍

Scaling does not happen by accident. It requires clarity about:

• Who owns which parts of the work
• How policy and funding flow
• Where accountability sits
• How data and feedback move across actors

We use a practical tool called the “delivery chain” to help leaders map the chain of actors—from students all the way up to state leadership—and identify risks, bottlenecks, capacity gaps, and information and feedback flows.

Explore how Learn to Earn Dayton, in Ohio, used this tool to scale its Pathways for Accelerated College and Career Experiences (PACCE) program from a pilot site in one medium-sized suburban district to seven new districts.

When leaders can visualize the whole system, they are better positioned to align partners, anticipate friction, and organize for scale.

2. Define what success looks like—at scale.

Many intermediaries and districts can articulate short-term enrollment or participation targets. Far fewer feel empowered to define what meaningful, system-level success looks like five or ten years out. Yet without a long-term ambition that is measurable, moveable, and meaningful, pathways efforts risk staying small.

State leaders have a critical role to play here. When states set clear goals for the scale and impact of career pathways programs tied to economic needs, regional and local partners can more easily align their efforts behind a shared vision.

The Massachusetts Alliance for Early College (MA4EC) Early College Promise program offers a compelling example of how setting a clear five-year goal can lead to meaningful results including measurable gains in students attaining associate degrees across the state.

3. Bottom-up innovation and top-down policy must move together.

We often hear two frustrations: Promising pilots never reach the scale needed to drive impact at a system level and policy reforms fail to translate into impact on the ground.

The lesson is clear: you cannot separate bottom-up innovation from top-down policy.

Pilots must chart a path to sustainability from the beginning. And policy design must be informed by a practical understanding of what implementation actually requires—capacity, coordination, employer engagement, and realistic timelines.

When these two forces are aligned, pathways efforts gain momentum. When they are disconnected, resources go unused and reforms stall. The report explores what happens when this alignment breaks down and how state leaders can get it right.

Data, Employers, and Capacity Matter More Than Ever

The report also highlights three additional areas that deserve attention from education leaders:

• ‍Intentional data use. Programs often collect large volumes of data for reporting, but lack clarity and alignment on what matters most, limiting their ability to focus on outcomes.‍
• Employer co-ownership. Employer engagement must move beyond collaboration toward shared strategic value. Businesses engage most deeply when pathways align with real hiring and retention needs.‍
• Intermediary capacity to deliver. Organizations leading career pathways work benefit from structured reflection on their readiness to deliver and scale.

Finally, the report explores how emerging AI tools could help leaders coordinate complex ecosystems, synthesize labor market insights, and reduce friction across partners, freeing up time for the relational work that matters most.

The Path Forward

Career pathways are not a temporary reform. They reflect a fundamental shift in expectations about how education and workforce systems collaborate.

If we want pathways to fulfill their promise—improving equity, increasing credential attainment, and meeting the evolving needs of the U.S. economy—we must move beyond isolated programs and learn to see, align, and strengthen the system as a whole.

For education leaders working at the state, regional, or district level, this publication offers practical tools, real-world examples, and implementation-focused insights drawn from work across the country.

Download the full report to explore seven lessons and practical strategies for scaling impact.

Interested in Learning More?

If you’d like to learn more about how to strengthen career pathways, reach out to our team at info@deliveryassociates.com.

Acknowledgments

A special thank you to Colin Taylor and Katie Cour for their contributions to this story and for their ongoing work in strengthening career pathways.

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