In this approach, some students choose a pathway and enter self contained subschools within the larger high school around an occupational theme. Students stay with the same teachers for 3-4 years. In this approach, all students choose a pathway. Some courses include students from all pathways, and the curriculum covers broad employability skills, though students are strongly encouraged to conduct projects that directly relate to their individual pathway. There are also pathway-specific courses that constitute the core curriculum for the pathway, are limited to pathway students only, and incorporate the pathway s technical content and career information.
Students also participate in work-based learning experiences based on the career pathway.
Some schools adopt a pathway structure but keep conventional departments and traditional classes with teachers gearing assignments to pathway interests of students. Other schools replace conventional departments with pathways, and students take specific course sequence through pathway. Students also participate in work-based learning experiences based on the career pathway. This requires intense teacher collaboration, integration of academic and vocational content, and learning organized around projects and internships. Regardless of the structure chosen, developing pathways often requires significant changes in schedules to accommodate new forms of learning and opportunities to connect with employers and other community members through work-based learning and classroom experiences.