COLLECTION • MARCH 5, 2026
Learning By Doing
Foreword: Building Blocks
A startling transformation is underway, in the economy, in the culture, and among policymakers.
The Data: An Inadequate American System
The American commitment to “College for All” has been an unmitigated disaster for the majority of young people.
Case Study: Fresno Unified School District
Across seven comprehensive high schools and seven specialty high schools, the district offers 81 different career pathways.
Case Study: Texas State Technical College
The single objective is training and placing a skilled workforce with Texas employers.
Case Study: Hadrian
A Workforce Development Program that is a core investment and a competitive advantage.
Case Study: Micron Technology
A Registered Apprenticeship pathway to train entry-level technicians for the company’s Idaho and Virginia fabs.
Case Study: electrical training ALLIANCE
A nonprofit national training organization associated with the joint apprenticeship system created by the IBEW and the NECA.
Case Study: Micron Technology & North America’s Building Trades Unions
The workforce plan includes a project-linked contractor funding contribution stream to support the Pathways to Apprenticeship pipeline and a first-source referral approach.
Learning By Doing: Policy Recommendations
Ten recommendations to advance opportunity pluralism: a diversified system of credible, work-connected pathways that meet people where they are and lead to good jobs.
A startling transformation is underway, in the economy, in the culture, and among policymakers. The ironclad, bipartisan belief in college as the “ticket to the middle class,” in former President Barack Obama’s preferred phrase, that every child should go to college, that the public education system’s primary task is to prepare everyone for college, has begun to crumble.
As America awakens to the costs of offshoring and begins the task of reindustrialization, and as the largest technology companies place their bets on an unprecedented expansion of physical infrastructure to support their plans for artificial intelligence, the private sector, too, has discovered that new paths for workforce development are critical to their own success. Unlikely bedfellows from Silicon Valley, Wall Street, school boards, and union halls are coming together in search of new approaches.
This project was supported by a grant from the BlackRock Foundation.
