Columbus, OH, March 04, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, the Commission on Purposeful Pathways released A Launchpad for Life: A Vision for Purposeful Pathways for All Students, its long-awaited blueprint for transforming how high school prepares young people for what comes next. Developed by 21 leading education and workforce experts alongside three young adult commissioners, the report challenges how our education systems are currently built—treating high school as a finish line rather than a launchpad—and charts a path toward purposeful pathways that launch students into fulfilling careers and economic mobility. 

"Within five years, 8 in 10 good jobs will require postsecondary education or industry-recognized credentials," said Melissa Connelly, Commission co-chair and OneGoal CEO. "High-quality advising, challenging coursework, and real-world learning are strategies that work; what’s missing is a connected system that ensures every student can navigate them." 

The need is urgent. While 78% of Generation Z students believe it's important to determine career plans before high school graduation, only 13% feel fully prepared to do so. Meanwhile, the broader challenge is evident: 15 million young adults are unemployed, underemployed, or working in roles beneath their educational attainment. 

“For too long, we’ve swung between old-school vocational tracks and a ‘college for all’ message,” said Paul Herdman, Commission co-chair and President and CEO of the Rodel Foundation of Delaware. “This report is about taking the best of both—real skills and real credentials—and making coherent pathways the norm for all students. That will take more than technical fixes or a few more dual enrollment courses; it requires very human, adaptive work to build student agency and cultivate real relationships across sectors so we can support economic mobility at scale. No state or community has this fully figured out yet, and that’s okay—there’s an entry point here for all of us.”  

A Launchpad for Life: A Vision for Purposeful Pathways for All Students [REPORT LINK] is an actionable framework where every student has access to high-quality advising, accelerated coursework, and career-connected learning that cultivates purpose, belonging, and social capital. This vision requires cross-sector collaboration and a focus on the following four recommendations: 

• • All students must be provided with a purposeful pathway which includes high-quality advising, accelerated coursework, and career-connected learning.  
  • Purpose, belonging, and social capital must be hardwired into every pathway to build student agency and resilience.
  • Move the goalposts beyond the high school diploma to economic mobility. For young people to move successfully across K-12, higher education, and into the workforce, these systems need to collaborate to bridge differences in vision, governance, data, policy, and funding.
  • Make student transitions a shared responsibility. Too many students lose credits, repeat steps, and navigate disconnected systems between high school, college, and work.

However, the report makes clear that no single sector can solve this alone. Making purposeful pathways possible for all students requires K-12 systems, higher education institutions, and employers to take shared responsibility. The report calls for the creation of strong regional teams that can formalize relationships across sectors, reduce friction, and build trust among partners—allowing data, dollars, and design to follow students more seamlessly from classroom to career. Central to these regional teams must be strong pathways intermediaries—which can be independent nonprofits, colleges, schools or chambers of commerce—who knit together K-12, postsecondary, and workforce systems. 

“What makes this Commission’s work so powerful is the range of perspectives at the table—leaders from across education and workforce systems who came together around a shared goal: that by the time they graduate, every student can say with confidence, ‘I know who I am, I know where I’m going, and I know who can help me get there,’” said John Garcia III, Commission co-chair and Executive Director of the Pathways Impact Fund at StriveTogether. “This vision is not theoretical; it is grounded in the work of partners who conduct research and provide direct support to students, families, and educators, and in evidence about which experiences and supports most effectively open doors for young people to be equipped not just for a job, but for a fulfilling life, meaningful career, and lifelong economic mobility.” 

The full report and companion resources are available at [REPORT LINK] 

About the Commission on Purposeful Pathways 
The Commission on Purposeful Pathways is a time-bound national, cross-sector body that brings together youth representatives and leaders from K-12 education, higher education, and the workforce to define and connect the key experiences that help students see, understand, get and stay on high-quality pathways. The Commission was led by Education First, a national education policy and strategy consulting firm, and made possible by support from the Gates Foundation.  

Frances Bresnahan
GMMB
frances.bresnahan@gmmb.com