Launching Colorado’s Homegrown Talent Coalition: A New Model for State Collaboration

Report outlines roadmap to advance K-12 pathways to college and career

For nearly two decades, Colorado has been a leader in innovating educational pathways and career-connected learning. After several years of significant state funding and partnership, Colorado is on the precipice of policy evolution that will shift career-connected learning from siloed efforts to coherent systems, where K-12 pathways to college and career increasingly define the high school experience for every student in Colorado. Still, the work is not complete.

The Homegrown Talent Coalition represents a bold vision: ensuring every Colorado student has access to college credit, in-demand industry credentials, and high-quality work-based learning experiences aligned with their individual and informed pursuit of passion, purpose, and economic mobility. These opportunities should not be limited to select districts or regions — they should be guaranteed for every learner. Achieving this requires intentional collaboration, streamlined policy implementation, and a shared commitment from education, industry, and government leaders to remove barriers and create coherent, scalable systems.

Colorado Education Initiative and Colorado Succeeds developed the following report with the support and contributions of a coalition of 17 Colorado policy, advocacy, and implementation organizations to outline a roadmap to make this vision a reality. The report reflects both a shared commitment of state organizations to work collaboratively to lead this change and a call to action for Colorado leaders and partners to join this movement.

Read more here about the shared promise for Colorado students and school districts — the Umbrella Framework to guide this work; the state collaboration model and first priorities for sustained work; and what this means for Colorado leaders. 

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