Catalyze Insights: The Critical Role of K-12 Partnerships in Career-Connected Learning

In part two of our insights series, we highlighted the value of employer partnerships in career-connected learning. In part three of this series, we dive into the importance of K-12 partnerships. Among Catalyze’s Round One and Round Two grantees, representing 40 organizations, 72.5% partnered with both schools and employers. These partnerships are pivotal in creating access to transformative career-connected learning opportunities, emphasizing the growing importance of K-12 collaborations alongside employer engagement in driving the movement’s success.

Since 2021, Catalyze has awarded more than $14 million to more than 60 organizations through national and regional challenges. Its growing community of practice, composed of Catalyze grantee practitioners, is actively impacting over 65,000 students through career-connected learning innovations. Over the past four years, the Catalyze community has grown through the Catalyze Challenge, which surfaces solutions from across the United States that plan, pilot, and scale career-connected learning opportunities for learners aged 11-22.

In our Catalyze insights series, we explore findings from our Spring 2024 comprehensive analysis of Catalyze’s first two rounds of grantees and over 850 applications received in Round Three. This review highlights the importance of strong K-12 partnerships for successful career-connected learning programs, exploring both successful models and opportunities to leverage K-12 partnerships to expand career-connected learning opportunities for learners.

Alignment & dedicated personnel are essential to successful K-12 partnerships. 

Building effective partnerships can come with challenges, especially within complex school environments. Our analysis revealed that overburdened school staff and a lack of awareness of the value of career-connected learning are significant obstacles to successful K-12 partnerships. Grantees point to the need to align with school-based outcomes such as attendance, graduation rates, and academic achievement in order to overcome these obstacles.

Our analysis also indicated that grantees with successful K-12 partnerships have enhanced capacity with their own dedicated personnel to establish and maintain collaborations. For instance, Catalyze grantee nXu significantly increased the number of students served through effective school partnerships, sustaining the relationships via educator onboarding, continuous curriculum support, and site visits. 

Dedicated resources can help develop strong relationships with school districts and align programming with specific school needs and priorities — fostering authentic buy-in and engagement from school leaders, educators, and students.

Leverage existing K-12 partnerships in middle school. 

Our analysis showed 32.5% of Round One and Round Two grantees serve middle school students. Notably, all of these middle-school-serving Catalyze initiatives have also established high school career-connected learning programs. This finding suggests that leveraging existing K-12 partnerships and extending current high school programs to middle school students could be an approach to expanding early career exploration opportunities for young learners.

For example, Catalyze grantee MindSpark offers geospatial intelligence apprenticeships at the high school level in Colorado. Part of their Catalyze-funded initiative included vertical planning to draft a viable student pathway from middle school to high school. This effort was made possible through supportive school partnerships, dedicated personnel, and collaborative co-designing.

Out of over 850 applications considered for Round Three of the Catalyze Challenge, just 37.5% of the innovations served middle school youth. There is a need for more career-connected learning that targets younger learners. Leveraging K-12 partnerships to expand current high school initiatives to include middle school students could foster early interest and boost engagement.

Need and opportunity in rural K-12 career-connected learning. 

Of Round One and Round Two grantees, 25% of programs serve rural learners, while just 1.2% of Round Three applications came from rural-serving organizations — reflecting a larger trend.  Where rural districts typically offer fewer career-connected learning opportunities, only 68% provide internships, on-the-job training, or clinical experiences, compared to 95% of urban districts.

Nonetheless, Catalyze grantees are making strides in rural areas. For example, Crowder College and Codefi offer a robust model for rural career-connected learning programming through their initiative “Digital Pathways in the Rural Heartland” to deliver software development courses in partnership with K-12 educators to middle and high school students in rural Missouri. Also, Collegiate Edu-Nation cultivates deep partnerships with school districts in Texas to improve rural student outcomes. 

Another insight from our analysis came from Catalyze grantee Rural Community Alliance, which provides remote work opportunities for rural Arkansas students. Their Catalyze-funded research project found that rural learners begin thinking about careers and earning money at a young age — around eight to ten years old. This suggests there may be potential for engaging rural students even before middle school years at an early age.

Investing within rural communities is one approach to developing and delivering tailored career-connected learning programming, leading to greater access and impact for learners of all ages.

The path forward for broader impact.

The landscape of career-connected learning is evolving, with increasing awareness of the need to engage younger learners and underserved communities. K-12 partnerships are the cornerstone of effective programming, and successful initiatives are built on strong, school-aligned relationships. 

By continuing to cultivate K-12 partnerships, adapting existing programs for younger students, and directing resources to underserved areas, career-connected learning can be accessible for students of all backgrounds and empower them with the skills and opportunities to succeed in their career journeys.