What we do

Career Ladders Project promotes equity-minded community college redesign.

We collaborate with colleges and their partners to discover, develop, and disseminate effective practices. Our policy work, research, and direct efforts with colleges lead to system change—and enable more students to attain certificates, degrees, transfers, and career advancement.

HOW WE WORK 

How we collaborate and build capacity for equity-minded redesign:

  • Providing strategic advising and customized on-campus support 
  • Facilitating Guided Pathways and inclusive redesign processes  
  • Coordinating regional and statewide workshops and online learning events

How we research, demonstrate, and elevate promising practices:

  • Working alongside colleges to support efforts at the leading edge of redesign 
  • Convening college practitioners to share their approaches and engage their colleagues in planning to improve student outcomes 
  • Providing online information and guides to support inquiry and redesign 
  • Providing videos and online tools for specific processes such as mapping meta-majors or creating a dual enrollment partnership 
  • Highlighting promising redesign initiatives through college profiles and GP Stories 

How we help advance student-centered reform through policy work:

IMPACTS OF OUR WORK 

For students: improved college experience; faster progress; higher rates of completion of certificates, degrees, transfers, and career advancement 

For educators: customized support; capacity-building; networks; higher profiles. 

For the community college system: exchange of innovative approaches to increase equity and student success 

For policy-makers: clarification of barriers to progress and of opportunities for change 

 

OUR KEY ISSUES

Guided Pathways redesign: supporting colleges in their inquiry, design, and implementation of equity-minded reforms 

Transitions to college: dual enrollment; bridge experiences; counseling and support services; alignment of career pathways across educational systems

Supports for accelerated progress: contextualized teaching and learning; integrated and proactive student services; improved placement processes 

Career advancement: counseling and career services; development of equity-minded pathways to certificates, degrees, transfer, and employment. 

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Career Ladders Project was founded by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors in 2002. It operates under the fiscal sponsorship of the Foundation for California Community Colleges, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.