How LAUSD's career pathway system are preparing students for life after high school and what it will take to reach every student
LAUSD has built one of the most comprehensive career pathway systems of any large urban district in the country, with 442 pathways across 14 industry sectors spanning nearly all of its high schools. Yet in SY24-25, just 19% of graduating students completed both a career pathway and the A-G coursework required for admission to California’s public universities. The system is broad, but the experience a student actually has depends heavily on which school they attend, which pathways that school offers, and whether the right work-based learning opportunity exists in their part of the city.
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Key Findings
- College and career preparation reinforce each other
Schools with stronger career pathway enrollment graduate more students who complete both A-G requirements and a CTE sequence. The data directly challenges the long-standing assumption that students must choose between college prep and career prep. The research backs this up. Students in high-quality Linked Learning pathways are more likely to graduate than similar peers, with effects roughly twice as large for students who enter high school academically behind. More often than not, the two strengthen each other.
- Dual readiness remains rare, and quality varies widely
While 30% of students enroll in a pathway, only 25% complete a full CTE sequence and just 19% reach dual readiness. The experience differs sharply from school to school. Certified Linked Learning pathways post a 48% completion rate, compared with 29% for standalone CTE, a gap driven by the cohort structure and student supports built into the Linked Learning model.
- Access is deeply uneven across the district
Board District 5 leads with a 26% dual readiness rate, while Board District 3 sits at 15%. Region West offers just 64 CTE pathways, fewer than half the number available in Region North (140) or Region East (128). The students who research shows benefit most from career-connected learning are often the least likely to access it.
- The biggest driver of racial gaps is academic preparation, not pathway access
Pathway enrollment is fairly consistent across racial groups, but dual readiness is not. The gap traces back to A-G completion. Eighty-three percent of Asian students meet A-G requirements, compared with 54% of Black students, a nearly 30-point gap that shapes who graduates dual-ready even when pathway enrollment is comparable. Career-connected learning alone cannot close that gap. It has to run alongside real academic support.
- The largest gaps fall on historically underserved students
English Learners, foster youth, and students with disabilities reach dual readiness at rates of just 10 to 12%, roughly half the district average. Only 19% of English Learners enroll in a pathway at all, compared with 30% districtwide. These gaps accumulate at every stage, from academic preparation through pathway completion. GPSN has been working to close these access gaps directly. Since launching its High School Internship Program in 2023, GPSN has doubled the number of participating employers and tripled completed internships in the past year alone, showing that LA employers are ready to invest in the next generation of talent.
Looking Ahead
The strongest schools, Board Districts, and pathways in LAUSD already show what dual readiness can look like. The challenge is making what works in one part of the system reach every student. That means setting an explicit districtwide dual readiness goal, ensuring career-connected learning reaches the students who need it most, expanding dual enrollment and union apprenticeship connections, and funding CTE in the options schools currently left out.
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