Career pathways initiatives have become a popular approach to increase credential attainment and prepare individuals to enter or advance within specific occupations or groups of occupations. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act defines career pathways and encourages states and local workforce development boards to adopt this strategy. Career pathways include a wide range of education and workforce development program models and depend on partnerships that involve higher education institutions, non-profit organizations, workforce agencies, and employers.

This set of reports includes: 1) a Research and Evaluation Synthesis that summarizes findings from 52 studies of career pathways initiatives for adults; 2) an Implementation Synthesis that describes the key characteristics of 128 career pathways initiatives; 3) a report on Career Pathways in Early Care and Education that examines the potential for and barriers to program development in this sector; and 4) an Evaluation Design Options Report that presents an array of research questions, methods, and approaches that could form the basis for career pathways research in the future.