Picture a high school senior in rural Florida watching career videos, perusing job boards, and scrolling through college websites, trying to answer a deceptively simple question: What should I do after I graduate high school?
This student may find clues scattered across state dashboards, workforce reports, and college catalogs. But connecting those dots to find a clear path to a good career will probably feel like solving a puzzle with pieces from different boxes.
Florida has spent years building an impressive education and workforce infrastructure. The state tracks labor market data, certifies industry credentials, audits career and technical education programs, and is on track toward meeting an ambitious goal set in 2019 that aims for 60% of working-age Floridians to hold a postsecondary degree or credential by 2030.
But as revealed in the Florida College Access Network’s recent webinar, “Building High-Value Pathways: What the Research Shows and How Your Region Can Get Started,” the state has an opportunity to better connect these resources so students can navigate from education to rewarding careers.
Florida Leads Nationally, But Gaps Remain
Adriana Harrington from ExcelinEd presented findings showing Florida ranks among the nation’s leaders in career pathways policy. Using the newly launched tool PathwaysMatter.org, which evaluates states on 45 policies spanning governance, return on investment analysis, quality definitions, and credentials of value, Florida earned 23 green ratings, 13 yellow, and 8 red among 20 states analyzed. The state’s industry certification tiered list received recognition as a national exemplar.
Yet even high performers have room to grow. Harrington pointed to cross-sector governance as an area where Florida, like most states, earned yellow ratings. The challenge involves aligning state agencies, priorities, and resources so students hear consistent messages whether they’re in K-12, exploring postsecondary options, or seeking workforce training. This fragmentation became a central theme throughout the webinar.
Two policy opportunities could help Florida build on its strengths.
Direct Admissions programs offer guaranteed admission to high school students across public postsecondary institutions before they apply, based on criteria such as GPA, course completion, work-based learning, community service and leadership, automatically notifying eligible students of their college acceptances, removing application barriers and fees. Florida could expand beyond its existing Talented Twenty program, which guarantees admission to a state university for students in the top 20% of their high school class. GEORGIA MATCH offers one compelling model: in its first year, 132,000 high school seniors received automatic college matches based on academic records. Technical college applications rose 26% and enrollment increased 9%, with similar gains at four-year institutions.
Return on Investment Analysis already happens in Florida through CTE audits that track graduate outcomes. The 2024 audit assessed 1,792 secondary programs, measuring whether completers continued their education, entered the workforce, or enlisted in the military. But Harrington emphasized that collecting data differs from making it useful.
“If someone cracks that nut of getting information into the hands of students, I think that would be really transformational,” she said.
Virginia demonstrates one approach through its College and Career Outcomes Explorer dashboard, which pulls LinkedIn data alongside unemployment insurance wage information to show where graduates from specific programs actually end up working. The visual allows prospective students to see not just what specific majors earn initially, but which occupations they could potentially move into after one, four, and eight years.
This transparency matters more than ever. In January 2026, the federal government announced new accountability measures requiring degree programs to demonstrate graduates earn more than high school diploma holders. Programs with negative earnings premiums in two out of three years will lose eligibility for most Title IV federal aid, though Pell Grants remain protected.
What Makes a Career Pathway “High-Value”?
Dr. Carrie Henderson from TSG Advisors translated state policy to on-the-ground reality, painting a picture of how career pathways actually function in local communities. Her presentation drew from FCAN’s recently published Career Pathways Baseline Assessment, which examines what’s working and where gaps exist.
Henderson described career pathways as having multiple entry points, not just the traditional high school-to-college route. Adults might enter through workforce programs while receiving TANF benefits. Veterans might transition through military programs. Workers already employed might seek additional credentials. The “no wrong door” concept embedded in Florida’s REACH Act (House Bill 1507, passed in 2021) recognizes these varied entry points and aims to connect individuals to appropriate services, whether they first show up at the Department of Children and Families, a CareerSource Florida workforce board, or a community college.
“The idea behind Career Pathways is we’re focusing in on the learners and the participants,” Henderson said.
High-value pathways align with three criteria:
- High-demand occupations (jobs that actually exist in the region)
- High-wage positions (that provide family-sustaining income)
- High-skill requirements (that can’t easily be automated or outsourced)
Henderson broke down five elements essential to building these pathways.
Workforce Alignment means programs respond to actual labor market needs rather than what institutions have always offered. Florida’s technical colleges and state college system both provide strong infrastructure, but Henderson emphasized the need for continuous evolution. “Programs are built around labor market data and employer input, not institutional convenience,” she said. With AI rapidly changing occupations, this adaptability becomes even more critical.
Collaboration requires bringing together K-12 systems, postsecondary institutions, workforce boards, employers, government agencies, and community service providers. All these entities operate in the same ecosystem, but often in parallel rather than in concert. A student might receive career advice from their school that doesn’t account for local workforce needs identified by their local CareerSource. A community college might offer programs without clear articulation to four-year institutions. Henderson’s visual showed the learner at the center of a wheel, with all these systems radiating outward, but the challenge involves making those spokes actually connect.
Use of Data: The state maintains the Florida Insight Dashboard, CareerSource Florida’s CLIFF tool, MyFloridaFuture from the university system, and local targeted occupation lists. “Organizations can really struggle to understand and make sense of it,” Henderson noted. Having so many dashboards means educators, counselors, and students must know where to look and how to interpret what they find. Likewise, FCAN’s baseline assessment found that many organizations rely on anecdotal input or legacy programs rather than systematically using workforce data.
Stackable Credentials allow learners to earn credentials that build on each other, and Henderson distinguished three types: vertical stacking (certificate to associate to bachelor’s degree, like CNA to LPN to RN to BSN), horizontal stacking (combining multiple certifications for a single occupation, like CompTIA plus Cisco plus Microsoft for IT roles), and value-added stacking (adding specialized credentials to existing degrees, like earning education certification after completing a biology degree). Florida’s curriculum frameworks already support stacking, but the pathways aren’t always transparent to students.
Work-Based Learning connects classroom training to actual work environments. Florida’s Work-Based Learning Manual provides statewide guidance, and school district partnerships with Xello create a network where employers can connect with students and offer experiences ranging from career awareness activities in middle school to internships, apprenticeships, and clinicals. Employers benefit from those talent pipelines, while students gain skills that make them job-ready.
Why Don’t the Pieces Connect?
The discussion surfaced specific challenges.
- The longstanding emphasis on college access may unintentionally signal that four-year degrees matter more than technical training or certifications. Employers focused on welding, healthcare technology, or cybersecurity certifications may not see themselves as part of college access conversations, even though these pathways offer high-value careers and must be part of the postsecondary education ecosystem.
- “Career pathways” mean different things to different people. For some, they describe a specific nursing program at a local college. For others, they signal a comprehensive system connecting middle school career exploration through workforce entry. This inconsistency makes coordination difficult and measurement nearly impossible.
- Data exists but is not fully deployed. Are high school counselors accessing CareerSource Florida’s labor market projections? Do technical college advisors know which two- and four-year programs accept its certifications and degrees? Do employers understand how the state’s tiered certification list relates to their hiring practices?
These aren’t criticisms of any particular entity but the natural result of a complex system that grew organically rather than by design. Henderson emphasized that Florida has “significant infrastructure to support career pathways, with extraordinary leadership at state and local levels getting Florida in the right direction.” The opportunity before us is better coordination.
Connecting National and State Research to Local Action
FCAN’s new Talent Strong Florida High-Value Pathways Initiative, supported by Lumina Foundation, directly addresses the gaps the baseline assessment identified. The initiative will award up to six grants of up to $50,000 each to select Local College Access Networks over 18 months, launching this spring 2026.
Selected LCANs will design strategies to inform and guide students and families about high-value pathways, strengthen regional partnerships across education and workforce systems, and increase enrollment in high-value credentials aligned with local labor market needs. The initiative prioritizes students attending schools with more than 50% economically disadvantaged enrollment, students in rural communities, and students who are first in their families to pursue an education beyond high school.
Requirements reflect lessons from the baseline assessment. Applications must demonstrate cross-sector partnerships including K-12, postsecondary, workforce, and employers. Grantees will participate in a Community of Practice, recognizing that peer learning helps networks tackle shared challenges. Technical assistance will support data interpretation and application, addressing the finding that organizations struggle to make sense of available information.
Dr. Kimberly Krupa, FCAN’s Director of Network Engagement and Communications, framed the opportunity: creating “a system where you can identify talent wherever it exists, provide students with the skills and credentials employers need, and then connect them to careers that offer that economic security and that upward mobility.”
Applications are due March 27, 2026. An information session on February 18 will explain requirements and open the application portal, with Q&A sessions on February 25 and March 4. Award notifications will go out in early April, with the cohort kicking off at the Talent Strong Florida Summit in Tampa on May 6.
Show Notes
This webinar was presented by the Florida College Access Network on January 29, 2026, featuring Adriana Harrington (ExcelinEd), Dr. Carrie Henderson (TSG Advisors), Dr. Kimberly Krupa (FCAN), and moderated by Dave Sobush (FCAN).