Are you ready to equip your students with the skills needed for the jobs of tomorrow? Join the Cybersecurity Pathways: Blueprint Design Cohort, facilitated by the Center for Inclusive Innovation at Digital Promise, and become part of a nationwide initiative to prepare students for high-growth careers in cybersecurity. Over the past two years, Digital Promise’s Center for Inclusive Innovation, with support from IBM SkillsBuild, have successfully supported 10 school districts and their communities to research, design, and launch an Inclusive Cybersecurity pathway for their students, using our Inclusive Innovation R&D model. These districts span a range of rural, suburban, and urban communities nationwide.
The Center for Inclusive Innovation aims to build on this work through an acceleration model that engages up to 20 new school districts and their community partners (including students, families, postsecondary institutions, and industry) as a cohort. This 15-month initiative (June 2024-September 2025) will be a learning arc and planning phase, during which districts and their community partners will co-research and co-design their regional Cybersecurity Pathway blueprints to ensure opportunity youth have access to the pathway. These blueprints will serve as plans for the subsequent launch of their respective pathways in Fall 2025. IBM SkillsBuild will be a key component in building student knowledge, confidence, and excitement for the pathways. Districts will walk away with a Cybersecurity implementation blueprint, curriculum selection, and industry partners that are aligned to create powerful learning experiences and pathways for students.
Cyber Pathways: Blueprint Design Cohort
The Cyber Pathways: Blueprint Design Cohort will foster a dynamic and inclusive learning environment for school districts in designing their Cybersecurity pathways. In this cohort, each district will put together a Core Team that includes teachers, students, community members, and industry partners to design and implement key elements of the Cybersecurity Pathway blueprint—cybersecurity curriculum, recruitment process, post-secondary and credentialing strategy, and much more—that aligns with the unique needs and aspirations of students in the district. This community-driven model will equip districts with the tools, resources, and collaborative networks necessary to navigate the Cybersecurity field and deliver impactful and tailored learning experiences that prepare historically and systematically excluded students for success.
IBM SkillsBuild will be a key component in each district’s Cybersecurity blueprint. In the 2024–25 school year, as districts begin work on their Cyber blueprint, their students will have access to SkillsBuild, which is an online learning and credentialing platform. It offers free asynchronous training in AI, cybersecurity, information technology, and other sciences through various courses. It hosts soft skills training courses as well. Students gain asynchronous learning experiences and digital credentials to show employers what they have learned. As a part of the cohort, district teams will gain access, training, and support from IBM to implement SkillsBuild strategically in their district for secondary students to gain basic skills in a variety of technology fields and digital badges that will follow them after graduation.
Districts who participate in the cohort commit to:
Before applying, please review the project overview for more details about what the cohort offers and the descriptions of team roles and responsibilities.
To apply for the Cyber Pathways: Blueprint Design Cohort, please fill out the form below to receive the unique application link in your inbox. Please complete the application by Monday, July 15th.
Submit the short form below to receive an email with detailed information about the opportunity, how to apply, and a direct application link. If you have any questions or do not receive an email, don't hesitate to get in touch with us at league@digitalpromise.org.
League of Innovative Schools