Opportunity Advising is the foundation of purpose.
Let's co-design a movement.
78% of Gen Z students say they should leave high school knowing their career plans. Only 13% feel prepared. TNTP, Willow Education, and the Gates Foundation are co-designing the district operating model that closes that gap. High-quality advising. Accelerated coursework. Career-connected learning. A launchpad for every student, not a finish line.
Apply to join us to co-build the model.
What Opportunity Advising is.
A purpose and curriculum-led approach to advisory. Treated with the same intentionality as a core academic class: sequenced, high-quality content, consistent routines, protected time, measured outcomes. A coherent connection to the rest of the student's school experience.
Grounded in TNTP's Paths of Opportunity and Opportunity Makers research, and built to deliver the Commission on Purposeful Pathways' vision at the classroom level: high-quality advising, accelerated coursework, and career-connected learning. Delivered through an AI-enabled platform that unlocks the human relationship rather than replacing it.
The Commission on Purposeful Pathways calls these the cultivation of agency.
They are the prerequisites for learning and mobility. Without them, nothing else compounds. Advisory is where they get built by design, not by luck.
Career-Connected Learning requires coherence.
Advisory becomes the spine of your CCL strategy. Aligned HQIM, instructional routines, and portrait of a graduate prepares students to take advantage of CTE, dual enrollment & WBL.
AI fluency is career readiness.
Students build with AI. Advisors use AI to prepare, prioritize, and personalize.
We're building human-in-the-loop navigation that deepens human relationships.
Outcomes matter. Especially for students furthest from opportunity.
Every student explores postsecondary options and credentials of value informed by completion rates, labor-market data, and ROI.
Advisory is the cornerstone of a school that builds mobility.
Done well, it builds social capital and durable skills, and shifts the experience of ALL students and every educator.
Aligned with the Commission on Purposeful Pathways.
In March 2026, the Commission on Purposeful Pathways, supported by the Gates Foundation and led by Education First, published a new vision for American high schools with four recommendations. Opportunity Advising is how we deliver them at the district level.
Provide all students with purposeful pathways.
Opportunity Advising: Advisory is treated as a core academic class for every student, not an elective and not an intervention.
Hardwire purpose, belonging, and social capital into every pathway.
Opportunity Advising: A sequenced curriculum and AI-enabled tools surface every student's emerging purpose and expand their network on a schedule.
Move the goalposts beyond the high school diploma to economic mobility.
Opportunity Advising: Every postsecondary conversation includes completion rates, labor-market data, and ROI.
Make student transitions a shared responsibility.
Opportunity Advising: Data loops connect K-12, postsecondary, and workforce partners around shared outcomes.
“I know who I am. I know where I'm going. I know who can help me get there.”
The outcome every graduate should be able to name. Commission on Purposeful Pathways, 2026.
I'm seeing students engage in a different way than they ever have before.— VINNY · KIPP FORWARD DIRECTOR, KIPP COLORADO
Co-Build the Opportunity Advising model with us.
We have a framework, readiness assessment, curriculum, platform, and research. Help us finish building and testing it under real conditions in school systems at scale. Selected districts get a seat at the design table, subgrant funding, and 18 months of deep support.
Two 2-day in-person convenings
One in fall (mid to late September 2026) to launch the co-design. One in spring 2027 to design, synthesize, and plan scale. Bring a team of two or three district leaders to each.
Monthly virtual workshops
Between convenings, cohort districts meet monthly to solve real problems, refine routines, and share artifacts. Workshops are working sessions, not webinars.
1:1 coaching
Work with the TNTP and Willow teams to support high-quality instructional and implementation moves and regular learning cycles.
Pilot with students
Districts run Opportunity Advising in pilot schools and grade levels during the 2026–27 school year. Live classrooms, real data, honest reflection.
Four research questions.
- Q1Human-in-the-loop, AI-enabled advising. How can AI-enabled tools increase the "ROI" of human advising by automating administrative tasks and surfacing real-time student needs?
- Q2Belonging & identity. Does a structured, relationship-focused advisory curriculum lead to a greater sense of student belonging and clearer career identity?
- Q3Instructional coherence. How can districts effectively align advisory with broader "Portrait of a Graduate" goals and career-connected learning to create an impactful, unified student experience?
- Q4Economic mobility. To what extent does early purpose-setting and AI-supported navigation lead to higher enrollment and persistence in positive-ROI postsecondary pathways?
A $50K subgrant and embedded support across 18 months.
- →$50,000 subgrant. Backfill teacher time, fund planning days, cover travel to convenings.
- →Curriculum & platform. The AI-enabled Willow Education platform and curriculum at no cost during the cohort.
- →Implementation strategy and guidance. Readiness assessments, data-driven improvement cycles, and professional learning from TNTP.
- →1:1 coaching. Dedicated time with TNTP and Willow coaches to plan, test, and refine your Opportunity Advising implementation.
- →Peer cohort. Ten to twelve other leading districts and charter networks working on the same problem together.
- →Research contribution and spotlight. Your district's data and learnings feed TNTP's Mobility Research Lab. Join us on webinars, panels, and conferences to spread Opportunity Advising.
- →Scale plan. A strong change-management and implementation plan to reach all middle and high school students in year two.
Eighteen months, four phases.
Applications open.
Districts apply. Selection panel reviews. Target mix: urban, suburban, rural, large, small, charter, traditional.
Deadline · July 31, 2026Selection and onboarding.
Selected districts announced in August. Readiness assessment. Pathmaking teams* form.
Cohort named · Aug 2026Co-design and pilot.
First in-person convening (mid to late September 2026). Monthly virtual workshops. Active pilots launched by second semester. Second convening in spring 2027.
First convening · Sept 2026Scale and insights.
Districts execute plans to bring Opportunity Advising to all middle and high school students by year two. TNTP publishes an insights brief and implementation roadmap. The partnership opens a regional and state cohort model so the next wave of districts can access what cohort one built.
All students · Year 2What we ask of cohort districts.
Every cohort district commits to these five commitments. They come from research, learning science, and our experience about what leads to quality implementation. If any of these are missing, you have a rebranded homeroom, not Opportunity Advising.
Leading the field.
Three leading organizations are partnering to co-lead the Opportunity Advising Co-Design Cohort. Together, we have the research, expertise, talent, and capital to do this at a national scale.
Thirty years rebuilding teaching and learning systems. Published Paths of Opportunity and Opportunity Makers. The Mobility Research Lab anchors the evidence agenda. TNTP is the leading organization supporting more than 6,000 school districts to improve coherence, student outcomes, and career readiness.
Built the AI-enabled platform and curriculum for Opportunity Advising. Human-first hybrid advising, with AI in support of the advisor. Founded by James Cryan, Senior Advisor to Harvard's Next Level Lab and former founder and CEO of one of the country's strongest charter school networks.
Funding partner for the co-design, and convener of the Commission on Purposeful Pathways, whose March 2026 vision this cohort operationalizes. Focused on human-in-the-loop AI, quality data, and mobility outcomes for students furthest from opportunity.
Incorporating the Postsecondary Value Commission's research and data into Opportunity Advising.
Our entire Pathsmith durable skills framework is embedded into the model, curriculum, and platform.— TIM TAYLOR · PRESIDENT, AMERICA SUCCEEDS
Start with the research.
Download the Opportunity Transformation Model and the research that shaped it. You'll get the framework, the learning-science foundation, and a diagnostic your leadership team can use before you decide.
- PDFThe Opportunity Advising Transformation Model — draft diagnostic framework.
- RPTPaths of Opportunity — TNTP's five-factor research on economic and social mobility.
- RPTOpportunity Makers — TNTP's research on trajectory-changing schools.
- RPTA Launchpad for Life — the Commission on Purposeful Pathways' March 2026 vision for K-12, higher ed, and workforce systems. Gates Foundation. Education First.
Tell us about your district.
The application is short by design. We want to understand your district's readiness, your starting point, and why this work matters where you sit.
Before you apply.
Transform advisory.
Transform opportunity.
Ten to twelve districts. Eighteen months. If your district is hungry for a coherent approach to purpose-led career readiness, we want to hear from you.