Beyond Compliance: Measuring What Matters in Career Navigation

Presenter: Lisa Richardson, Common Group

Learn how organizations are measuring career navigation success through meaningful student outcomes rather than compliance metrics.

Bridging the Gap: A High School–College Partnership Model to Increase Matriculation and Retention

Presenters: Sarah Cyr, Atlas Schools, Krista Wallace, Pikes Peak State College

See how cross-sector partnerships are impoving college enrollment, persistence, and student transitions.

Building and scaling the CUNY ASAP Model Across Colorado

Presenters: Crystal Annan, Alison Grendhal, Colorado Department of Higher Education, Brandy Baze-Ballard, Colorado Mountain College

Learn lessons from Colorado's effort to expand a proven student success model through coordinated supports and innovative funding strategies. 

Building Climate Career Pathways from Schools to Community Ecosystems

Presenters: Samantha Agoos, Colorado Department of Education; Hayley Reynolds, Climate Democracy Initiative

Explore strategies for connecting classroom learning, community priorities, and youth leadership to build locally relevant climate career pathways.

Building Green Pathways: A Toolkit for Embedding Sustainability and Durable Skills into Career-Connected Learning

Presenters: Elizabeth Harbaugh, Lyra Colorado; Kelly Mitchell, Inclusive Design Group

Learn how to integrate in-demand green and durable skills into existing career-connected learning pathways using a ready-to-use educator toolkit.

Career Pathways: Take students from interest to valuable skill building

Presenters: Sami Mooney, Dr. Thomas Hartman, Colorado Workforce Development Council

Discover how Colorado's new Quality Career Pathway framework helps organizations identify strengths, address gaps, and align with workforce needs.

From Enrollment to Employment: How Pikes Peak State College and AdvanceEDU have partnered to impact student success outcomes

Presenters: Jarrod Lacy, Kira Maples, Lacey Meyerhoff, Nnena West, AdvanceEDU

A foundational session that demystifies what "evidence-based" actually means and equips attendees to move from program design and implementation monitoring to beyond tracking outputs toward measuring program outcomes and impact.

From Policy to Practice: Colorado’s Post-Secondary and Workforce Readiness Landscape

Presenters: Anne Laesecke, Danielle Ongart, Michelle Romero, Colorado Department of Education

Explore key updates to Colorado's postsecondary and workforce readiness policies and their implications for local practice.

From Research to practice: creating a coherent college & Career Advising Strategy centering student agency

Presenters: Kevin McNulty, Denver Scholarship Foundation & Dr. Ryan Burton, DSST Public Schools

See how integrated college and career advising helps students make more informed postsecondary decisions.

Helping Students Design Their Way into Colorado’s Health Workforce

Presenters: Dr. Annajanette Alejano-Steele, Stefy Calero Ayala, Dr. Emily Matuszewicz, Mariana Pascual-Miranda, MSU Denver

Explore how Life Design principles can be integrated into career pathway programs to help learners build purpose, agency, and meaningful healthcare careers.

Leveraging CTE Centers to Build CE Credential Pathways

Presenters: Tara Bell, Cherry Creek School District, Shari Culver, Arapahoe Community College, Dana Levesque, Littleton Public Schools

Explore how Career and Technical Education centers are expanding access to college credentials while creating stronger pathways into high-demand careers.

Make It Work! Launching ISPs and SBEs Where Industry Partnerships Are Limited

Presenters: Katie Kraft, Kate Wagner, Colorado Education Initiative

Hear how Colorado districts are using Industry Sponsored Projects and School-Based Enterprises to create high-quality career-connected learning experiences with limited employer access.

Making the Big Three Work: Why Essential Skills Are the Missing Link for an AI-driven Workplace

Presenter: Christy Biedron, Junior Achievement - Rocky Mountain

Discover practical strategies for embedding and measuring durable skills as a core component of postsecondary and workforce readiness. 

Preparing Young People to Flourish in an AI-Shaped Labor Market

Presenters: James Cryan, Willow Education, Amanda Kanekuni, OneGoal, Scott Laband, Colorado Succeeds, Zach Rahn, Aurora Public Schools, Natalie Rubio, Rocky Mountain Prep

Explore how education and workforce leaders are preparing young people to succeed in an AI-driven economy.

Scaling Career-Connected Learning: Integrating Career Readiness into Curriculum and Student Employment

Presenters: Alexi Ginther, Sarah Trzeciak, and Danny Young, University of Colorado Denver

Learn how career readiness is being embedded into curriculum and student employment to strengthen workforce outcomes.

Supporting Districts Through Implementation of Colorado’s Big Three

Presenters: Sara Butler, Empower Schools; Michelle Camacho Liu, The Attainment Network; Katherine Novinski, The Colorado Education Initiative

Discover how data, change management, and cross-sector collaboration can strengthen Big Three implementation and impact.

The Continuity Challenge: Tracing Durable Skills from PreK to Onboarding

Presenter: Tim Taylor, America Succeeds

Learn how to map durable skill development from early learning through workforce entry and identify practical changes that strengthen career readiness.

The Two-Way Street of Modern Matching: Inside the New Connecting Colorado

Presenters: Stefanie Mufic, Julie Palacios, Colorado Department of Labor and Employment

Explore how Colorado's modernized Connecting Colorado platform is helping learners and job seekers translate skills into career opportunities through smarter matching and career pathway tools.

VALUE OF HIGH SCHOOL INTERNSHIPS

Presenter: Abbie Kohlman, Pikes Peak Business & Education Alliance

See how employers, educators, and intermediaries are working together to create high-quality internship experiences that benefit both students and industry.

What Young Adults Actually Need to Thrive: A New Framework for Program Design That Boosts Confidence & Readiness

Presenters: Richard Maez, Elijah Huff, Ednium: The Alumni Collective

Discover a research-based framework for building confidence, agency, and readiness among young adults.

Work Based Learning: How to Accelerate a Learner's Pathway to Employment

Sponsored by  Colorado Workforce Development Council

Presenters: Thomas Hartman, Sami Mooney, Colorado Workforce Development Council

See how Colorado's workforce and education partners are leveraging work-based learning to strengthen talent pipelines in key industries.