Building Intersegmental Partnerships

California’s education system is highly fragmented. K–12 schools, community colleges, and the two university systems, California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC), operate under entirely separate governance structures, and rely on distinct sources of funding. As a result these different "segments" of the education system generally operate independently of one another, developing policies and practices to serve their own students with little or no effort to consult with other segments. In fact, however, addressing many of the educational issues that face our state successfully will require action by more than one segment. Intersegmental partnerships can provide the institutional framework for the multiple segments in California’s education system to work together to tackle these large problems. In this brief PACE provides insight into how local partnerships between and among segments can work to strengthen alignment in standards and expectations between K–12 and post-secondary education, and accelerate students’ progress through the system.