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In 2014, The Atlantic Philanthropies awarded two grants totaling $21 million to agencies charged with working together to support and expand health career pathways for high school students in Oakland. Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency (ACHCSA) received a grant of $11 million, and the Alameda Health System (AHS) received a grant of $10 million. To guide their work together early in the initiative, the partners developed a logic model that identified three intermediate-term goals: (1) Partnership; (2) Work-Based Learning; and (3) Health Pathways. This final evaluation report presents findings from the Oakland Health Pathways Project (OHPP), a joint initiative of Oakland Unified School District, Alameda Health System, and Alameda County Health Care Services Agency. The initiative is designed to improve educational and long-term employment outcomes for youth of color in Oakland (Alameda County), California, while expanding and diversifying the local health care workforce. It applies Linked Learning, an approach to college and career preparation that combines classroom learning with real-world work experiences.

Since 2006, The James Irvine Foundation has invested more than $100 million in Linked Learning, a promising approach to transforming education in California. In 2009, the Foundation launched the California Linked Learning District Initiative ("the initiative") to demonstrate this approach in nine school districts. The multiyear evaluation of this large initiative has a twofold purpose: to document the work and distill lessons from districts that are applying Linked Learning systemically and to measure the effect of this comprehensive implementation on student outcomes. SRI's seventh annual evaluation report on the progress of the California Linked Learning District Initiative differs from previous evaluation reports in that it is designed to be comprehensive and summative, rather than focusing on new developments in the initiative or policy context. With 2013-14 marking the final year of Foundation funding for the initiative, this report provides updated findings on student engagement and achievement outcomes, including initial enrollment and persistence in postsecondary education. In addition, this report provides final lessons learned from the experiences of the initiative districts; their successes and challenges with Linked Learning systems implementation over the past 7 years; and their plans for expanding and sustaining Linked Learning while maintaining pathway quality and fidelity to the Linked Learning approach.

Since 2006, The James Irvine Foundation has invested more than $100 million in Linked Learning, a promising approach to transforming education in California. In 2009, the Foundation launched the California Linked Learning District Initiative ("the initiative") to demonstrate this approach in nine school districts. The multiyear evaluation of this large initiative has a twofold purpose: to document the work and distill lessons from districts that are applying Linked Learning systemically and to measure the effect of this comprehensive implementation on student outcomes. SRI International has conducted a rigorous, multimethod evaluation of the initiative in each year of its implementation, conducting interviews with district administrators, partners, stakeholders, pathway teachers, and students; administering surveys to students both in high school and 1 year after graduation; and collecting administrative data on students' high school academic outcomes and initial postsecondary enrollment. We have followed three cohorts of students: the class of 2013 in four districts and the classes of 2014 and 2015 in all nine districts. SRI's seventh annual evaluation report on the progress of the California Linked Learning District Initiative differs from previous evaluation reports in that it is designed to be comprehensive and summative, rather than focusing on new developments in the initiative or policy context. With 2013-14 marking the final year of Foundation funding for the initiative, this report provides updated findings on student engagement and achievement outcomes, including initial enrollment and persistence in postsecondary education. In addition, this report provides final lessons learned from the experiences of the initiative districts; their successes and challenges with Linked Learning systems implementation over the past 7 years; and their plans for expanding and sustaining Linked Learning while maintaining pathway quality and fidelity to the Linked Learning approach. [This report was produced by the Center for Education Policy at SRI International.]