BENTONVILLE, Ark. (July 8, 2026) – A new study, “NWA K-12 CTE Pathway Analysis,” analyzed Northwest Arkansas’ K-12 career and technical education (CTE) pathways and found meaningful progress in aligning student pathways with regional workforce priorities, while also identifying significant opportunities to strengthen access, quality and connections between education and career opportunities.

The analysis, commissioned by the Walton Family Foundation and conducted from 2023 to 2025 by Insightful Education Solutions, found that the composition of pathway participation has notably shifted since a similar regional analysis was conducted from 2019 to 2022. While the new analysis is not directly comparable to the prior version, the composition of student activity has meaningfully changed.

Among the key findings:

• Seven of the region’s top-10 pathways are now aligned with regional priority sectors, compared with only three in the earlier analysis.
• Agriculture remains the region’s largest enrolled sector. Of students who complete at least two CTE courses — also known as “concentrators” — 25.4% are enrolled in this pathway, even though it is not identified as a regional priority sector.
• Healthcare accounts for 19.7% of concentrators and has some of the strongest quality indicators among priority sectors.
• Advanced Manufacturing, Information Technology, Transportation, Distribution and Logistics, and Building and Construction pathways remain underdeveloped relative to regional labor market demand.
• Several pathways, including Construction Technology and Pre-Engineering, emerged as multi-metric standouts with strong completion rates and early postsecondary credit participation.
• Work-based learning reporting remains inconsistent statewide, likely undercounting existing employer engagement and hands-on learning opportunities.

The findings reflect a region continuing to strengthen education-to-career pathways as Northwest Arkansas grows and employers across industries seek skilled talent.

Healthcare pathways showed particularly strong alignment with regional workforce demand. Medical Skills and Services emerged as one of the region’s strongest-performing pathways, demonstrating solid credential attainment, early postsecondary credit participation and postsecondary enrollment outcomes.

The analysis also identified continued gaps in some of the region’s highest-opportunity sectors. Building and Construction and Transportation, Distribution and Logistics offer some of the region’s strongest labor market opportunities, but together account for less than 6% of concentrators across Northwest Arkansas districts.

“This report reinforces the importance of building clear, coordinated pathways that help students move from education into long-term careers close to home,” said Terra Wallin, senior program officer for the Home Region Program at the Walton Family Foundation. “When educators, employers and community partners work together, students gain stronger access to hands-on learning, industry-recognized credentials and opportunities that support long-term economic mobility and regional vitality.”

The report also highlights uneven access to priority-sector pathways across districts, particularly in smaller communities. Building and Construction pathways, for example, are not meaningfully accessible to students in the region’s 10 smaller districts, and Advanced Manufacturing is barely present. That indicates that Northwest Arkansas should explore shared regional programs that increase access and support programming that a single district could not sustain alone.

In addition to examining pathway alignment, the analysis identified opportunities to strengthen pathway quality and reporting practices related to work-based learning and industry credential attainment.

The Northwest Arkansas Regional Workforce Intermediary (NARWI) is working alongside regional employers, educators and community partners to strengthen collaboration around workforce development and education-to-career alignment. The initiative is being incubated by the Northwest Arkansas Council.

“Northwest Arkansas has a tremendous opportunity to build a stronger, more connected talent pipeline that reflects both the needs of employers and the aspirations of students,” said David Giesige, the founding executive director of NARWI. “This analysis provides valuable insight that can help regional partners align efforts, expand access to high-quality pathways and ensure more students can see a future for themselves in Northwest Arkansas.”

The "NWA K-12 CTE Pathway Analysis” examined 49 active pathways across 16 Northwest Arkansas school districts. It evaluated whether pathway enrollment aligns with the region’s priority sectors and if students are achieving quality metrics associated with high-quality pathways, including industry-recognized credentials, early postsecondary credit, work-based learning participation and postsecondary enrollment.

The analysis is intended to support continued collaboration among school districts, postsecondary institutions, employers and regional organizations working to strengthen workforce pathways across Northwest Arkansas.

Read the full report.

About the Walton Family Foundation

The Walton Family Foundation is, at its core, a family-led foundation. Three generations of the descendants of our founders, Sam and Helen Walton, and their spouses work together to lead the foundation and create access to opportunity for people and communities. We work in three areas: improving education, protecting rivers and oceans and the communities they support and investing in our home region of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta. To learn more, visit waltonfamilyfoundation.org and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X.