Linked Learning: Using Learning Time Creatively to Prepare Students for College and Career

American public education is in a constant state of experimentation, with new waves of reforms and education initiatives unveiled routinely--many recycled and some reinvented. Yet few are truly innovative. The newest and most promising reform thus far are the Common Core State Standards, which are rigorous standards in English language arts and mathematics implemented in elementary through high school. These standards require new approaches to teaching and learning that ensure all students are adequately prepared for postsecondary education and careers without the need for remediation. New standards certainly offer new challenges; but they also provide new opportunities to fundamentally change the American public education system. A California-led initiative called Linked Learning offers a promising systemic approach to reform that is designed to address the challenges and has been touted as a suitable complement to implementing the Common Core State Standards. This report highlights the efforts of high schools implementing multiple Linked Learning pathways in the Los Angeles Unified School District, Oakland Unified School District, Porterville Unified School District, and Sacramento Unified School District. Each of these pathways has reconfigured the use of time in order to provide students with a more effective learning experience. Building on the lessons learned from these districts, as well as their collective expertise in high school reform and high-quality increased learning time, the Center for American Progress and the Alliance for Excellent Education provide a number of recommendations including: (1) Districts should give schools the flexibility to redesign their master schedules so that teachers and students have the necessary time to implement effective approaches to high school reform such as Linked Learning; (2) Learning from the California experience, states should enact high school reform policy to provide effective college and career pathways for students; and (3) Congress should increase funding and flexibility for 21st Century Community Learning Centers. An appendix provides supplemental tables.