Riverside Unified School District

When California created its 10-year CTE Continuum Mandate, Riverside Unified didn't just want to meet it — they wanted to do better. They chose Pathful to make sure every K–12 student district-wide had access to career exploration, skill development, and job preparation, with real context for what they were learning in school.

We made the conscious decision to ensure Pathful was available to all students in the district. We've really tried to make sure our teachers understand that Pathful can connect students to their careers.

— Ron Weston, CTE Coordinator, Riverside Unified School District

Their goal with Pathful

Riverside Unified identified three priorities in responding to California's 10-year CTE Continuum Mandate: expansion to younger grades, resources for all students — not only those in CTE — and context within the curriculum. In Pathful they found a partner that could meet all three, while ensuring the district fulfilled the mandate's career-guidance requirements through grades 13 and 14.

Impact

With Pathful's support, RUSD built and implemented a 15-year CTE continuum around the 'Three E's': Explore, Engage, and Experience. Today 42,000 students across 59 schools benefit from Pathful's career resources, so every student can explore, engage, and experience their full potential — and stay engaged not just in school, but well into their future careers.

How they use Pathful

To build career awareness, RUSD sends its high-school CTE educators into middle schools to showcase opportunities tied to CTE pathways, using Pathful to establish real-life context during start-of-semester introductions. The district's Career Support Specialist has also fully integrated Pathful Junior across all thirty elementary schools — a district-wide approach that prepares every student for future success.

How we found success

RUSD took a cross-curricular approach, weaving Pathful career lessons into history, science, and other subjects so students understand how what they learn connects to the careers waiting for them after graduation. Pathful's all-in-one career-planning tools then help students align their majors with their desired careers — fulfilling both the state mandate and the district's promise of support.