A new SRI International report tracking Los Angeles Unified students finds that completing career and technical education pathways—especially Linked Learning options that blend academics with workplace experience—correlates with higher graduation rates and gre
When Brandon Maldonado was at Los Angeles General Medical Center and a patient needed urgent help. he knew exactly what to do—he grabbed an intercom and called a “code blue” to bring emergency staff.. The Bravo Medical Magnet High School senior said that moment didn’t come out of nowhere.. He had trained for it through Los Angeles Unified’s patient care pathway.
The report. released by research institute SRI International. follows Los Angeles Unified students who complete career and technical education pathways and finds outcomes that don’t match a long-held stereotype about who CTE is “for.” Students who finish CTE—particularly pathways that combine academics with workplace experience—were more likely to graduate and more likely to complete college preparatory curriculum and enroll in college than peers who did not.
Brandon described what that early training feels like in practice. “That experience stuck with me because it taught me how to stay calm under pressure, and I didn’t panic,” he said. “I knew what to do.”
In California. career and technical education has gained momentum in recent years. bolstered by a combined $400 million in funding each year and an additional $300 million approved for new CTE school facilities in 2025.. In Los Angeles Unified. the district’s scale is also unmistakable: as of the 2021-22 school year. more than 165. 000 high school students—about a fourth of all students—were enrolled in career and technical education programs.
Those programs span 265 traditional CTE pathways and 72 Linked Learning pathways, across 15 industry sectors.. Nearly two-thirds of students took at least one CTE course. but the report found stronger positive outcomes among about a fifth of all students who completed a full CTE or Linked Learning pathway.
SRI International’s lead author, Miya Warner, said the findings challenge a belief that CTE is mostly geared toward students who do not plan to go to college. “The findings combat some of those lingering stereotypes around CTE and who it’s for,” Warner said.
Warner also pointed to a completion gap that shows up inside the school day itself.. “The more the word can get out about the value of completion versus just a one-off course. the more that all the staff at the school can support students in meeting that goal. ” she said.. “I visited schools where counselors are putting seniors into the first year of a CTE sequence. and they can’t complete it.”
For students. the difference between starting early and arriving late can determine whether the pathway is something they experience—or something they only begin.. The report found that incoming freshmen had access to an average of nine pathways. yet many did not learn about them early enough to enroll.
It also found a more complicated scheduling reality: students with the highest and lowest academic performance took fewer CTE courses than students in the middle. The report tied this to scheduling conflicts, including issues that can come from AP classes or credit recovery.
At Bravo Medical Magnet High. Brandon said he began taking medical prerequisite courses as sophomores before choosing a pathway in sports medicine or patient care.. As he moved through the patient care pathway. Los Angeles General Medical Center partnered with the magnet school. giving him hands-on experience in the ophthalmology department. the volunteer center and the infusion clinic.
“I wanted to get real-world experience and get an overview of different departments; that way I can know which field I want to go into,” Brandon said. “’The value of getting the early exposure stage is you’re not just thrown out there. The (program) gives you the basic skill of how to respond.”
Ben Gertner, director of Linked Learning at LAUSD, said the district has pushed to make pathways easier to finish. He said LAUSD raised CTE pathway completion rates from about 18% to nearly 25% between 2022 and 2025 and increased the number of Linked Learning pathways from 43 to 100.
“We want to ensure that we focus on developing school-site capacity,” Gertner said. “We also help schools to balance competing priorities, increase graduation rate and college and career readiness.”
Warner emphasized that starting a CTE program early helps students build transferable skills, professional networks and hands-on experience.. She also described students who used that experience to find the right fit sooner: one theater pathway student interested in becoming a lawyer gained confidence in communication and collaboration skills. while another student in patient care realized a healthcare career wasn’t a fit.
“How much better to figure that out in high school than wait, going into debt in a program that turns out is not actually a good fit for you,” Warner said. “It’s better to have those experiences early.”
The report’s findings also distinguish between the pathways.. Linked Learning integrates academics. career-based instruction and real-world work experience to prepare students for both college and careers. while traditional CTE teaches technical and occupational skills for trades. jobs and careers through standalone courses.
The study found stronger outcomes for students in Linked Learning pathways—where work-based training and academic instruction are combined—than in traditional CTE pathways.. High school graduates who completed a certified Linked Learning pathway were about 16% more likely to finish college preparatory courses and 24% more likely to enroll in college than those who did not take any CTE courses.
“In the Linked Learning pathways, we saw a little bit more integration of those work-based learning experiences into the curriculum,” Warner said, adding that students are also more engaged with experiences in real workplaces.
At Bravo Medical Magnet High. Karen Benavides. a senior in the patient care pathway. recalled stepping in to help in the surgical intensive care unit during a hospital staff shortage.. “I got to help a patient, help the nurses.. I took phone calls, and it was just a very immersive experience,” Karen said.. “I didn’t stop for a second, and I really liked the rush.”
Karen said she plans to become a physician assistant and credited the program with building confidence communicating with peers. teachers and patients. including those who may be uncooperative.. “I also feel like it’s helped improve my teamwork and being able to think critically. go through situations and see what the best course of action is. ” she said.
Completion rates differed by pathway type in the report: about half of the students in certified Linked Learning pathways completed their programs. while about a quarter completed traditional CTE pathways.. Students at a “higher-need” middle school also had greater access to Linked Learning pathways but fewer traditional CTE options than students at “lower-need” schools.
Suzanne Bogue. a teacher in the patient care pathway at Bravo Medical Magnet High. said teacher collaboration is a key difference between the approaches.. “The junior year teachers and the senior year teachers. we all work together and help each other target the students that might need a little more support. ” Bogue said.
Schools can opt into Linked Learning with a 75% faculty vote in favor of onboarding at LAUSD, which has “led to more of a sense of commitment to the Linked Learning approach,” Gertner said.
Brandon said he plans to attend UC Riverside to study biology and hopes to become an anesthesiologist after shadowing one through the program.. “One of the valuable skills I’ve learned is teamwork,” Brandon said.. “It just gives you that exposure to being able to talk to people you’ve never really talked to before.”
The pattern in the findings links the timing of access. the chance to finish a sequence. and the pathway type to what students end up doing after high school: the report notes that many students do not learn about pathways early enough to enroll. completion is higher when students finish a full CTE or Linked Learning pathway (about a fifth of students. rather than one-off participation). and graduates who completed certified Linked Learning pathways show higher rates of completing college preparatory coursework and enrolling in college than those who did not take any CTE courses.
For all the scale and investment—$400 million in annual funding plus $300 million for new CTE facilities approved for 2025—the study’s central tension remains stark in the details teachers and counselors face: many students have access to multiple pathways. yet the report says scheduling conflicts and late enrollment can keep them from completing what the district is trying to expand.
Within LAUSD. the district and its educators appear to be working around those constraints by increasing pathway numbers and trying to build school-site capacity. while students like Brandon and Karen describe the day-to-day impact of structured work-based learning—experiences that. for them. turned classroom preparation into something closer to what college and adult life demand.
Los Angeles Unified LAUSD career and technical education CTE Linked Learning SRI International college readiness workforce experience Bravo Medical Magnet High School patient care pathway education policy California education funding