Designing career-based ecosystems across 80 CTE pathways
Learn how Portland Public Schools builds career-connected ecosystems with YouScience
Aptitude-driven pathway design aligns student strengths, industry partnerships, and postsecondary opportunities at scale.
Segment: K–12 Public Education / California
Products: Aptitude & Career Discovery
Challenge
In many districts, career pathways develop organically rather than intentionally. Programs are added based on funding, employer interest, or labor market demand, resulting in disconnected experiences rather than a cohesive system.
Without visibility into student strengths, pathway planning becomes reactive. Students may be guided by assumptions or their limited early career exposure, and partnerships often lack alignment to actual talent within the district.
Portland Public Schools needed a way to move beyond isolated programs and design a coordinated system that connects student ability to real opportunities.
Solution
Portland Public Schools led a districtwide shift toward building career-connected ecosystems using YouScience Aptitude and Career Discovery data as the foundation.
Two key system shifts enabled this transformation:
- Using aggregated aptitude data to identify emerging talent patterns across student cohorts and guide pathway and partnership decisions
- Designing partnerships intentionally by aligning student strengths with industry, postsecondary, and community opportunities
This approach allows the district to evolve pathways based on evidence, aligning engineering, healthcare, technology, and other sectors to demonstrate student aptitudes rather than assumptions.
Results
- More intentional pathway and partnership alignment: Career pathways are designed around demonstrated student aptitudes rather than reactive program development
- Stronger industry and postsecondary collaboration: Partners engage as co-designers, aligning opportunities to both workforce demand and student capability
- Expanded access and equity in career pathways: Students gain visibility into strengths often missed by traditional metrics, increasing access to high-demand fields
- Scaled ecosystem impact: More than 80 career pathways aligned across a district serving 44,000+ students
“At Portland Public Schools, we began to see YouScience not simply as a career exploration tool, but as strategic infrastructure for ecosystem design.”
—Chris Brida, Director of Career and Technical Education, Portland Public Schools (Oregon)