Policy and system change

Career Ladders Project works with the California community college system, the state Legislature, individual colleges and districts, and other partners to lead and support policy changes that increase equity, access to college, and student success.

We are dedicated to identifying ways to institutionalize and sustain systems change beyond single initiatives or sets of actors. We contribute to movements and new policies by:

  • Engaging statewide in thought partnerships with college leaders, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, philanthropic organizations, and partner such as the California EDGE coalition and the Linked Learning Alliance
  • Co-designing and implementing interventions and initiatives with those groups, with businesses and reform leaders, and with colleges
  • Informing state policy makers in hearings and less formal convenings
  • Distributing information about promising, evidence-based practices through conferences, briefs, tools, and networks

Working with partners to move policy reform, we are helping to scale effective practices for equity — practices that increase student success across segments, systems, and sectors. 

Here are some of our key partners:

Key content areas CLP is currently working on:

  • Accelerating student progress and completion through improved placement, more equitable math policies and contextualized teaching and learning
  • Promoting early college and dual enrollment as a strategy for equity, and disseminating information and recommendations for best practices
  • Supporting Guided Pathways inquiry and redesign across California
  • Improving transitions to and through college for all students (including formerly incarcerated adults, former foster youth, high school graduates, adult ed students, and others)