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The Pathways to Prosperity initiative was launched in 2012 as the result of several years of research conducted by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The Harvard Graduate School of Education's (2011) report challenged the United States' education model, pointing to some of the merits of the European education paradigm, which has adopted a traditionally more flexible perspective. In the latter, college is not necessarily the "preferred" option for all high school graduates; preparation for middle skills jobs is seen as a viable alternative to 4-year degree programs. James Rydland, superintendent of schools, and Don Ringelestein, director of technology, from School District 129 in Illinois, are 2 key leaders heading up the Illinois Pathways to Prosperity initiative. They were interviewed to gain in-depth insight into this new initiative. Discussed were its main objectives; collaboration between industry partners, government, and local educators; anticipated results of the new initiative; getting educators to consider new educational paradigms, resulting in improved high school graduation; plus, trained workers to fill middle skills jobs that remain vacant in the United States.
INTRODUCTION
Thought leadership involves establishing relationships and delivering value to respective stakeholders who are vested and committed to mutual success (Badings, 2009). As Badings noted, the action extends beyond the transactional relationship of selling a product or service, it involves establishing the organization represented as the expert in that field. West Aurora School District (SD 129) in Illinois has two such thought leaders. SD 129 was designated as a partner school district in the United States to test research published by Harvard Graduate School of Education in 201 1 entitled, "Pathways to Prosperity" (Symonds, Schwartz, & Ferguson, 2011). I interviewed James Rydland, superintendent of schools, and Don Ringelestein, director of technology for SD 129, for the purpose of better understanding the role of thought leaders in regard to instructional technology and distance education within the Pathways to Prosperity Network.
PATHWAYS TO PROSPERITY
The Pathways to Prosperity (P2P) initiative was inspired by the results of research into the multipara model used in the kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) educational systems throughout Europe. This led the authors to gain understanding of these pathways to motivate high school students to graduate at a higher frequency than currently experienced in the United...