Kathy Booth

Overview

Kathy Booth leads projects that help translate data into action. She develops cross-agency solutions that promote systems change, such as designing state longitudinal data systems and strengthening coordination between education and workforce systems. As the director of WestEd’s Center for Economic Mobility, she supports national efforts to clarify students’ economic outcomes and delivers technical assistance on using labor market information to develop stronger pathways to living wages. 

Booth’s current projects include supporting the development of California’s Master Plan for Career Education; documenting how states are modernizing their linked data sets to strengthen equitable outcomes; measuring systems change efforts to broaden participation in STEM; and delivering technical assistance to community colleges on using labor market information to develop stronger pathways to living wages. 

Previously, she served as the process facilitator for the development of the California Cradle-to-Career Data System and supported the Guided Pathways movement. In addition, Booth served as the project manager and architect for the LaunchBoard, a suite of dashboards that make data on student progress, completion, employment, and earnings outcomes available to educators for the purpose of program improvement. She also helps to map data across systems, including crosswalking K–12 and community college offerings; tracing adult education pathways from K–12 to community colleges; documenting educational pathways to employment; and aligning data captured by educational institutions and social service agencies that support workforce development. In her previous role as executive director of the RP Group, she led research and technical assistance projects in the areas of multiple measures, skills-builder pathways, and student support

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