Linked Learning Alliance and California Communities Partner to Accelerate ED

We are thrilled to announce that the Linked Learning Alliance (the Alliance) has been selected to be part of the Accelerate ED: Seamless Pathways to Degrees and Careers initiative—a distinct privilege that enables us to build on the extraordinary progress of this field to date and catapult it into a new era of growth. Accelerate ED, a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation initiative, seeks to bring coherence to high school and higher education and career learning experiences, allowing students to earn a career-aligned credential or degree in their thirteenth year of education.

The Alliance has worked to smooth transitions between high school and higher education and bring real, relevant postsecondary learning opportunities onto high school campuses for over a decade. Partnering with education systems, industry leaders, and community partners, the Alliance engages youth, strengthens workforce readiness, and advances equity through the Linked Learning approach. By integrating rigorous academics, industry-aligned career-technical education, high-quality work-based learning, and comprehensive student supports, Linked Learning pathways close the gap between high school and credential opportunities for thousands upon thousands of young people in California and beyond.

Through Accelerate ED, the Alliance will deepen our longstanding partnerships with the California communities of Long Beach, Antelope Valley, and Oakland in service of a common goal: to design equitable and effective college acceleration strategies that propel young people towards postsecondary completion. Through Linked Learning, each of these communities has worked tirelessly to ensure young people are inspired to graduate from high school with the coursework and skills they need to thrive in postsecondary education and the workforce. The Alliance will learn from their successes, identify common themes or experiences between communities, and create a playbook that builds on existing community-based efforts to ensure more young people are poised for postsecondary success.

“California has an incredibly rich history of bringing K-12, postsecondary, and industry together to create a smoother journey for students as they make the shift from high school to postsecondary,” said Anne Stanton, president, and CEO of the Linked Learning Alliance. “Accelerate ED will allow us to build new muscles and write new playbooks to achieve our shared educational attainment and workforce goals while investing deeply in our young people—a talent pipeline that we cannot afford to lose.”