Pipeline AZ

Pipeline AZ will expand the number of middle-grade and high school students receiving quality career literacy information and guidance through a dynamic online platform. The platform is enhancing the implementation of a nationally recognized middle grades career exploration curriculum and a federal grant targeting high school student enrollment in computer science courses. Students access Pipeline AZ in order to inform how skills built through coursework support the construction of their educational and career pathway. 

K-12 and Community Colleges access Pipeline AZ to collaborate on alignment of educational pathways to co-construct socially just and inclusive language for courses and it provides educators with real-time labor market data to inform curriculum. 

Industry accesses Pipeline AZ to locate learning centers that build highly needed skills in their market and student enrollment in those courses, businesses are able to post career opportunities based on skills, which helps to create a feedback loop for educators. 

Student to counselor ratios in Arizona are nearly 900:1, while the American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of 250:1. This leaves many students without the support they need to navigate career choices and develop an educational plan to meet their career goals.  Individuals, especially students, need a resource that can empower them to take ownership of their educational and career paths.  

This project addresses the urgent need for increasing enrollment and persistence—particularly of high-need students—in pathways focused on preparing students for careers in STEM fields, including IT, Engineering, and Healthcare. Enrollment in STEM fields is threatened for several reasons: 

1) most young people get little advice about education pathways to careers and career possibilities; 

2) few families understand the labor market and; 

3) educators typically have little experience in contemporary high-growth industries and know little about labor market data and shifts in education and workforce. 

There is a pressing need to provide a resource for students, families, and educators that promotes high-demand STEM pathways and empowers individuals to reimagine their occupational identity.  

This project builds on an established platform to expand and better connect a framework of four components, increasing students' college and career readiness and preparing young people for STEM careers vital to our economy.

1) Pipeline AZ (PAZ): A dynamic digital platform hosting career resources. Teachers and Counselors are trained on the use of an embedded career exploration curriculum and a Career Connected Toolkit that includes access to PAZ. 

2) Near Peer Mentors: Students are supported in the 11th & 12th grades by a Community College Peer Mentors that models and guides success in dual enrollment courses and transitions to postsecondary programs and industry credentialing in IT areas.  

3) Co-Advising Framework: A team of co-advisors representing secondary/postsecondary and industry regularly connects, collaborates, and communicates in order to meet real-time needs in the pathway ecosystem and develop outreach activities for students and their families, and provide feedback to enhance the Pipeline AZ platform. 

4) Career Exploration Curriculum:   The curriculum is embedded in coursework, is project-based, and fosters young people’s future success in the workforce. Each unit specializes in a different area of expertise for students to explore career options and develop a robust skillset.  

The partnership currently represents over 40 K-12 public middle and high schools with populations greater than 50% Free-and-Reduced-Lunch and many serve a majority-minority population and four community college systems. The project will ensure students, especially high-need students, have access to—and the ability to use— the PAZ platform in order to make sound educational decisions that will propel them to and through postsecondary education and a robust employment pathway. 

A high-need student is defined as those youth at risk of educational failure or in need of special assistance or support, such as youth from low-income families, English learners, and those youth underrepresented in the STEM career pathways including women, African Americans, and Hispanics. 

PAZ is designed to incorporate critical audience considerations of high-need students/families, such as language translation and avoiding the use of education and postsecondary jargon. 

Research shows that students often have little access to data, such as job growth and average wages, about career possibilities, even though this data can have a significant impact on students’ decision-making. Through frequency and variation of activities, students are empowered to better manage and document their educational choices, meet the need for new skills as well as demonstrate skill attainment to potential employers. 

The solution proposes to address equity and inclusion by utilizing the PAZ platform in guided, classroom-based activities. Professional development for staff in middle grades with curriculum and embedded guided career exploration and 10th-grade Career Connected toolkit will model PAZ implementation for statewide adoption. The solution proposes delivery at 40 initial schools; the statewide delivery, referencing best practices and refined curriculum and toolkit models beyond year 2 are described through the previous adoption of the solution being replaced. 

Below is a table referencing the data collected through a platform previously supported by the Arizona Department of Education. The data indicating over 900 middle schools and high schools utilized the platform demonstrates the potential reach of the PAZ platform within the state of Arizona. 

PAZ as a digital platform implemented through this expanded partnership ensures that students have access to career-connected pathways that result in aligned programs of study between K-12 and post-secondary. Actively focusing on enrolling low-income students in rigorous, early college courses leading to quality jobs, particularly in STEM fields, is critical and a significant need.   

For students, the platform complements their classroom experiences and provides tools and resources to help identify careers that match interests and determine which educational pathways best fit individual needs.

The four components described above are all currently being implemented as stand-alone programs. The purpose of this project is to bring those components together to work in tandem to positively impact student career awareness through exploration. Each component on its own is in a growth stage and therefore, we believe the project as a whole is as well.  

The proposed solution is designed to improve all aspects of the workforce ecosystem aligning students/job seekers with career resources and future employment options.

The solution is leveraging a 5-year $4.1 million grant from the USDOE and a 7-year $1 million Arizona GEAR UP grant partnership. The grant activities are addressing the problem of weak or non-existent college and career advising structures and strategies in K-12 schools. The grant partners are implementing aspects of the project including: 

1) A Career Connected Toolkit designed to effectively inform and guide students and families in making educational decisions with an emphasis on career pathways in Computer Science/Cybersecurity (CS/CY) 

2) A Co-Advising Framework, to include a Near Peer Mentoring model designed to provide high school students in CS/CY pathways with additional support for successful achievement and persistence. 

3) Middle Grades Career Literacy Curriculum Project, as part of expanding the number of middle-grades students receiving quality career literacy information and guidance through the implementation of a nationally recognized curriculum.  

The team identified a gap in accessible career and educational pathways information. This solution allows the PAZ platform to be adopted by K-12 and part of systemic change to career exploration and college and career advising. The solution proposed is pivotal to ensuring students, educators, and families have access to quality labor market data and a means to identify self-interests and the pathways that lead to careers aligned to those interests. 

Today, PAZ has 16,525 total registrations(15,104 students and job seekers, including 4750 community college students) and 815 companies are currently registered on the platform. 

To date, 871 students have been directly impacted by the activities associated with the USDOE EIR grant. Through the same grant, educator active participation in the grant activities includes co-advising work sessions, annual convening, recruitment meetings, and near-peer mentor program development. A total of 138 Educators from four community colleges, and 15 high schools have participated in these activities. 

The middle grades career exploration curriculum is directly impacting over 40 educators and 2,400 students across 20+ middle schools through the Possible Futures Middle grades career exploration curriculum project tied to the healthcare, IT, and advanced manufacturing/engineering sectors. 

The team is committed to implementing a robust evaluation process that effectively assesses the project. Evaluation activities include focus groups and interviews with education partners, employers, and stakeholder groups including parents, teachers, community partners, economic development partners, and technical assistance providers, to ensure that all voices are heard and a part of program implementation and evaluation. Through establishing and monitoring benchmarks with stakeholders, we understand what factors improve and impede implementation, and we make changes to ensure continuous quality improvement.  

Additionally, we collect program outcome data to identify the number of students who were:   

Successfully enrolled and retained in postsecondary education  

Earned dual credit aligned with their field of interest  

Earned credentials/degrees  

Received effective career pathways advice and tools  

Engaged in internships, apprenticeships, and other work-based learning experiences  

Reported that career advising tools enabled better educational pathways and workforce decision-making  

We also collect outcome data to identify the number of parents and families who report having a better knowledge of and access to career advising tools. All student, parent/family, educator, and other key stakeholder program evaluation data is routinely aggregated and analyzed by the team members to ensure the program continues to effectively sustain and expand students’ college and career pathways and lead to readiness STEM career fields. 

PAZ staff supporting this solution: 5

PAZ contractors staffed to support this solution: 7

CFA staff supporting this solution: 4

With a solid track record for moving innovation to implementation and policy to practice, CFA is uniquely positioned to co-lead this work and provide strategic direction, oversight, and project management. For 19 years, CFA has worked with state agencies, hundreds of schools, and other partners to drive innovation and improvement across the education industry. As a result, CFA has deep expertise, credibility, and relationships in college and career pathways and workforce development.  

PEI provides deep expertise and leadership in aligning workforce demand to connect job-seekers to career pathways and high-wage, high-demand STEM jobs. PEI has been leading the development and implementation of PAZ for the past 4 years. PEI will provide thought leadership, design input, and technical assistance throughout the project. 

The solution team has extensive experience as K-12 teachers and administrators in organizations serving high-needs students. The team also has experience in post-secondary systems, particularly at community colleges. In addition, several members of the team have a deep understanding of the workforce development system through direct work experience. 

CFA promotes equal opportunity in employment and its’ programs through affirmative action. Discrimination is prohibited on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, citizenship, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, pregnancy, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic prohibited by law. CFA has been working with Community Wealth Partners to advance collective cultural competence, more equitable practices, and develop an equity statement. 

PAZ is participating in the Greater Phoenix Workforce Leadership Academy, a 10-month fellowship developed through a partnership between CFA and the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program is designed to strengthen the local network of non-profit, government, academic, and business leaders through a series of retreats and workshops that enable collaboration on solutions to common challenges. 

The team is very interested in connecting with peers to support our evaluation and development plan to scale our project. We look forward to receiving feedback and technical assistance related to students' voices from underrepresented populations. Additionally, we believe the mentorship, coaching, and strategic advice from the Solve and MIT networks will be critical in helping the team develop a plan to scale our solution and reach more students from diverse backgrounds. 

PAZ recently marked three milestone events: MCCCD contract, ADE contract, and the first deep industry content hub in partnership with the AZ Technology Council for career exploration and resources in IT and Cyber fields. In addition, PAZ seeks partnerships in industry convenings and existing sector associations to communicate the statewide need for enhanced, guided career exploration and industry and employer participation.  

Partnering with the following organizations needs to occur to fully develop career pathways, especially to meet the talent management needs of employers in the short term, online, and intermediate programs. 

Other Partners 

Include the Arizona Department of Education (ADE), Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD), and the Arizona Tech Council (AZTC), additional main employers in healthcare, manufacturing, construction, and others. ADE represents all the public schools K-12 and adult education. MCCCD has over 190,000 students at ten colleges. The Arizona Technology Council is a technology trade association representing 800 IT employers in Arizona.   

As examples in an advisory capacity, employers could include the two largest utility companies in Arizona are APS and SRP. Other employers include Intel, Honeywell Aerospace, USAA, Banner Health, ON Semiconductor, Microchip Technology, Honor Health, Sundt Construction, Boeing, General Dynamics, etc. 

Arizona State University and the Opportunities for Youth initiative estimate that youth ages 16-24 who were not working or in school during  2018 within Arizona at 13.2% or 115,300 youth statewide; the statewide estimates of 2020 opportunity youth vary widely, from 25% or 1 in 4 youth in Phoenix metro area and 58.5% within the Hopi Nation, 12,808 youth. Targeted engagement with partners working to connect opportunity youth with careers and pathway awareness offers an important opportunity to expand partnering schools through investment in engagement with community partners and employers. 

At the center of our work is to help more young people know themselves, know their options, and make informed decisions about their education and career goals. The digital solution we are implementing is embedded directly as part of the core curriculum, with students utilizing the platform in math, science, or other academic courses. A significant part of our implementation plan includes professional development for educators. We firmly believe that it is not enough to provide quality resources to educators. Those resources must be matched with professional development and support, and our solution includes both. Our solution is targeting schools that serve a diverse student population including racial and ethnic backgrounds and household income. We are committed to working with students from diverse backgrounds in order to ensure more equitable access to education and career planning tools. 

PAZ as a digital platform implemented through this expanded partnership ensures that students have access to career-connected pathways that result in aligned programs of study between K-12 and post-secondary. In order to advance inclusion of all youth, this partnership will focus on traditionally underrepresented communities. Part of the solution is an online platform that promotes the digital literacy skills needed to navigate the future labor market in order to understand career opportunities and the educational pathways to careers that provide economic opportunity.

Pipeline AZ (PAZ) is designed to support Skills latticing -  Skills latticing uses multidimensional matching that standardizes skills terminology across multiple professional domains to dramatically increase the efficiency of the search match function and minimize self- and institutional-induced exclusions. The process takes vocabulary from one professional domain and converts it to relevant vocabulary in other domains to facilitate the horizontal job movement of job seekers. The matching algorithm considers how a job seeker’s skills footprint aligns with the job post skills footprint established by the employer. A score is registered which considers and weights  the skills, % of skills matched, the years of experience with that skill, past job titles that match, industry certifications, job title alias matching, and other elimination points like zip code and state. Each candidate and each profile is mapped and matched with every job in Arizona, refreshed every night.  The AI for Humanity Prize would enable PAZ to increase the standard occupation database with skill and certification inputs. 

Through our previous work implementing aspects of this solution in the communities we work in, the critical need to support quality career exploration for all young people has motivated our approach. This solution is focused on helping youth navigate to high-demand STEM careers that offer family sustaining wages and with the goal of alleviating poverty. The nature of our work is to engage with and work along side communities to better understand local context and co-develop solutions. The PAZ platform is an innovative technology solution developed in partnership with local communities to help address their most pressing needs related to career exploration and workforce development.