Kathy Booth

Overview

Kathy Booth is Senior Director for Economic Mobility and Educational Data Systems at WestEd and manages WestEd’s Center for Economic Mobility, where she leads projects that help translate data into practical solutions.  

Her work focuses on connecting education and workforce systems, which involves such projects as designing statewide longitudinal data systems and improving coordination between agencies. For example, she led the design process for California’s and New York’s data systems and has documented strategies for making data more available and useful. In California, she led statewide community engagement efforts for the Career Education Master Plan and is supporting the creation of the Career Passport—the state’s skills-first hiring tool.  

She also supports national efforts to clarify students’ economic outcomes and delivers technical assistance on using labor market information to develop stronger pathways to living wages.  She has conducted research on the economic benefits of short-term programs, including programs that help change state policies to recognize the value of upskilling in performance funding models. In addition to leading statewide efforts in areas such as Guided Pathways and developmental education reform, she has worked closely with educators on aligning skills across K–12, adult education, community colleges, and 4-year institutions.   

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in women’s studies, Wesleyan University 

Select Publications

Bahr, P. R., Bailey, T., Booth, K., Carnevale, A., Gianneschi, M., Hanson, A., & Kelly, P. (2015). From college to jobs: Making sense of labor market returns to higher education. The Aspen Institute. 

Bahr, P., & Booth, K. (2012). What’s completion got to do with it? Using course-taking behavior to understand community college success. LearningWorks. 

Booth, K. (2015). Moving the needle: Data, success, and accountability for workforce programs. WestEd. 

Booth, K., & Bahr, P. R. (2013). The missing piece: Quantifying non-completion pathways to success. WestEd and LearningWorks. 

Booth, K., Bayha, J., Bracco, K. R., Broek, M., Cerna, R., Jaeger, L., et al. (2015). Anchor tenants: An analysis of College Futures Foundation grantee efforts to embed financial aid and college readiness efforts into K–12 institutions. WestEd. 

Booth, K., Chaplot, P., Bracco, K. R., & Lagunoff, R. (2014). Threading the needle: Environmental scan report to the Common Assessment Initiative Steering Committee. WestEd. 

Booth, K., Fuller, R., & Van Ommeren, A. (2015). What gets to count? Constructing a skills-builder success metric. WestEd. 

Booth, K., Willis, J., & Krausen, K. (2017). The strong workforce program incentive funding model. WestEd. 

Burdman, P., Booth, K., Bahr, P. R., McNaughtan, J., Jackson, G., & Thorn, C. (2018). Multiple paths forward: Diversifying mathematics as a strategy for college success. WestEd and Opportunity Agenda. 

Honors, Awards, and Affiliations

Stanford Center on Longevity Futures Fellow

Paul D. Hood Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Field

Recent Media Appearances

Career education is redundant and convoluted. Gavin Newsom says he’ll fix it, CalMatters, September 20, 2024

Student Success & Equity with Kathy Booth, Student Success Podcast, July 28, 2023