October 16, 2025
By Thomas Hartman, Ph.D., P.M.P., CWDC Sr. Consultant for Career Pathways
Colorado's economy is constantly shifting, driven by new technologies and global changes. To keep our state competitive and ensure every Coloradan has a path to a fulfilling career, the Colorado Workforce Development Council (CWDC) is excited to unveil our new Quality Career Pathways Framework (QCPF). This isn't just a document; it's a strategic blueprint designed to connect our education, training, and employment systems to create clear, high-quality, and easily accessible paths for all learners and earners.
Why a New Framework Matters Now
Our workforce is evolving, and both employers and job seekers need to adapt. Employers must understand current labor market trends and skills in demand, and job seekers must continually upskill and reskill to stay competitive. The QCPF helps to bridge the gap between what employers need and what the talent pipeline provides. It opens doors by identifying critical occupations and in-demand skills, mapping structured career progression, and fostering strong partnerships.
The Four Core Components of a Quality Career Pathway
The QCPF is built around four interconnected components that ensure pathways are relevant, high-quality, navigable, and lead to excellent outcomes.
- Employer Needs and Skills Alignment
This is the cornerstone of the framework, ensuring that all pathways are truly demand-driven. It requires robust, ongoing collaboration with employers to define current and emerging skill needs for critical occupations. The focus is on developing curricula that align directly with industry requirements and facilitating work-based learning opportunities like apprenticeships and internships.
- Education and Training Program Quality
This component guarantees that programs effectively prepare learners for their next step—whether it's further education or a Quality Job. Key strategies include maintaining relevant and up-to-date curricula, recruiting qualified instructors with industry expertise, and offering robust support services like career counseling and academic advising. Most importantly, we are working to integrate this effort with the Colorado Department of Education's 2025-2028 Strategic Plans and The Big 3 goals for secondary students: achieving an in-demand industry credential, earning college credit aligned to a clear postsecondary pathway, and completing high-quality work-based learning.
- Clear Pathways and Navigation
Career progression shouldn't be a mystery. This component emphasizes developing and presenting clear, easy-to-understand career maps. It ensures that information on education, training, costs, and potential earnings is accessible and transparent. Additionally, it commits to offering comprehensive career counseling and maintaining user-friendly online platforms and resources, like MyColoradoJourney, to help individuals stay on track.
- Quality Jobs and Positive Learner/Earner Outcomes
The final goal is to ensure individuals are equipped to obtain Quality Jobs that offer sustainable wages, opportunities for career advancement, and long-term economic security. This involves prioritizing pathways that lead to jobs with living wages and growth potential and intentionally embedding essential skills development (like problem-solving and communication) into all programs. To ensure accountability and continuous improvement, we are exploring how to measure and track placement rates, wages, and career advancement outcomes for all demographic groups.
Guiding Principles
The QCPF is governed by core principles to ensure its success and integrity:
- Employer-Driven: Training is actively aligned with the actual needs of Colorado's industries.
- Learner-Centered: Prioritizes the needs of individuals, offering robust support and personalized guidance.
- Universal Access: Pathways and resources are accessible to every individual, regardless of background or circumstance.
- Collaboration and Partnerships: Emphasizes strong, active, and ongoing partnerships among education, workforce, and industry.
- Data-Informed Decision-Making: Utilizes data to track progress and inform improvement.
- Alignment with HB15-1274: Ensures all programs align with the mandate to create industry-driven career pathways for critical occupations.
Piloting the Pathways of the Future
The CWDC Career Pathways Team is moving from framework design to action. We are currently pilot testing two critical occupations: Electricians and Project Managers. This hands-on process allows us to establish the necessary data-sharing systems and quality indicators. By exploring how to measure and track metrics like graduate placement rates, median earnings compared to target wages, and employer satisfaction with candidate skills, we are building a robust, evidence-based process that can be scaled across all critical occupations. This pilot will provide the foundation for a truly data-driven system, ensuring that every pathway we offer is proven to deliver on its promise of quality.
This new, outcomes-focused approach means a significant gain for everyone in Colorado:
- For Employers: You gain a clear approach to analyzing your talent supply chain and a guarantee that training is producing job-ready candidates with the technical and essential skills you need.
- For Educators: You get a clear roadmap for program development, ensuring your curriculum is aligned with industry-recognized credentials and leads to high-growth, high-wage careers.
- For Career Seekers (Learners/Earners): You receive an easy-to-follow, supported path to a Quality Job. You can be confident that the time and money you invest in training will result in a fulfilling, upwardly mobile career and long-term economic security.
The Quality Career Pathways Framework is our collective commitment to a stronger, more adaptable, and more equitable workforce for all of Colorado. We look forward to working with all our partners to implement this framework and drive lifelong career success.