3 The Opportunity Ahead: A Call to Action for American Skills and Jobs women to improve their foundational skills to access higher-wage occupations in construction, transportation, health care, and manufacturing. This collaboration represents partnerships with almost 8,000 employers and will provide unprecedented access to educational and training opportunities as well as supportive services necessary for women and working families to be successful. Data-Driven Approach to Helping Entry-Level Workers Progress up the Career Ladder. In support of the White House initiative to help lower-wage workers gain skills to advance to higher paying jobs, Burning Glass Technologies will support a coalition of employers in selected industries and other partners with data and analytics on how lower-wage American workers can progress from job to job, highlighting specific skills they need to take the next steps along their career pathways. These career pathway roadmaps will help prioritize the education and training content that committed employers can make available to invest in the career and wage progression of their entry level workers. Helping States Create Career Pathway Systems for Workers of all Skill Levels. The career pathway model is a tool to help states organize the myriad of education, training, and work-based career preparation options available to students, workers, and job seekers along a modular system of demand-driven post-secondary and industry-recognized credentials that build upon each other. The goal is to create a more efficient pipeline whereby an individual can navigate their education and training choices with greater clarity on the relative market value of skills before they make significant investments of their time or resources. ED will launch the Career Pathways Exchange, an online information dissemination service that will give all states and interested stakeholders access to resources and guidance to develop, expand, and strengthen their career pathways systems. ED will work with 14 states to provide intensive, customized technical assistance, tools, and coaching to make their education and training systems easier to navigate. By implementing a comprehensive assessment tool and new maturity model common to each initiative, each participating state will be able to determine its own implementation status and needs, which will be met through customized technical assistance efforts offered jointly through DOL, ED, and HHS. Additionally, ED is committing to invest in up to 10 states to further integrate career and technical education (CTE) into broader career pathways system development at the state and local level. Year of Engagement Around Foundation Skills. To inform a national response to the issue of so many Americans needing stronger math and literacy foundational skills, ED embarked on almost a full year of study and engagement with key stakeholders. ED will be releasing a plan in late summer that includes specific strategies to increase access to foundation skills. The plan, “Making Skills Everyone’s Business,” aims to expand opportunities for adults to assess, improve, and use their foundational skills and proposes to increase the number of adults that will have such opportunities by three million. Encouraging Greater Employer-Community College Engagement. As a complement to federal efforts to develop job-driven workforce development practices, Skills for America’s Future will survey state policy-makers to explore how state policies can encourage and support community college engagement of employers. SAF will develop a policy-maker’s guide to support state officials and community college leaders in working closely with employers to foster better outcomes for job seekers. SAF will also work directly with community colleges to develop tools and practices for 69