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A career pathway is intended to cover a very broad scope of occupations; having too many pathways can make the school structure very complex. Pathways should be broad enough to enable students to learn about math, science, and communication skills in broad fields rather than just specific applications in narrowly defined clusters such as restaurants or mining.

Additional careers may be important to a particular community, which could then identify a series career clusters (sub-categories of a pathway) to reflect its specific needs. Some districts might also choose to combine pathways to further reduce the complexity - a school District, for example, may be organized around only two pathways: technical occupations and human service occupations.

Research into pathways used in other states shows that there are six commonly-used pathways which may be suitable for Alaska. These are :
ARTS & COMMUNICATION - Programs related to humanities and performance/visual/literary/media arts
BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY - Programs related to the business environment, including entrepreneurship, sales, marketing, hospitality and tourism, computer/information systems, finance, accounting, personnel, economics, and management
HEALTH SERVICES - Programs related to promotion of health and treatment of injuries and disease, including medicine, dentistry, nursing, therapy, rehabilitation, nutrition, fitness, and hygiene
HUMAN SERVICES - Programs related to economic, political, and social systems, including education, law, public administration, religion, social services, and public safety
NATURAL RESOURCES - Programs related to the environment and natural resources, including agricultural, earth science, environmental science, fisheries, forestry, horticulture, and wildlife
INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY - Programs related to technology necessary to design, develop, install, and maintain physical systems, including engineering, mechanics and repair, manufacturing technology, precision production, electronics, and construction