High School
Work-based Learning:
Best Practices Designed to
Improve Career Readiness
Outcomes for Today’s Youth
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Introduction
CHAPTER 1
Ensure Broad Eligibility and
Widespread Equitable Access
Deep Dive: New Mexico
CHAPTER 2
Support Access for
Underserved Students
Deep Dive: Rhode Island
CHAPTER 3
Address Common Barriers
Deep Dive: South Carolina
CHAPTER 4
Provide Financial
Incentives to Encourage
Employer Participation
Deep Dive: Delaware
CHAPTER 5
Dedicate Federal
and State Funding
Deep Dive: Massachusetts
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CHAPTER 6
Strengthen Statewide
Infrastructure and
Communications
Deep Dive: North Carolina
CHAPTER 7
Set Clear Quality and
Accountability Expectations
Deep Dive: Pennsylvania
CHAPTER 8
Use Data to Drive
Equity and Quality
Deep Dive: Tennessee
CHAPTER 9
Deep Dive –
Washington: Applying
Multiple Best Practices
Looking Ahead
Notes
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 1
INTRODUCTION
Why Work-based Learning
for Younger Students?
HERE IN THE US, formal work-based learning
opportunities, such as apprenticeships,
internships, cooperative education,
entrepreneurial experiences, practicums, service
learning and project-based learning, have
traditionally been reserved for college students
and are rarely associated with the high school
student. A recent study by our organization,
American Student Assistance (ASA), found that
while 79% of high school students would be
interested in a work-based learning experience,
only 34% were aware of any opportunities for
students their age
1
—
and just 2% of students had
completed an internship during high school.
Research suggests that opening work-based
learning to younger students brings tremendous
benefit not only to the students, but also to
employers, communities and society at large.
Work-based learning while in high school
helps students connect classroom learning
to the real world and has positive impacts
on student engagement and retention, giving
students the chance to earn industry credentials
before graduation, build the technical and
interpersonal skills needed to succeed in the
workplace, and carve a pathway into the labor
market. Students gain invaluable opportunity
to explore and experiment with potential
careers before investing thousands of dollars
or hours in education and training, so they can
better craft a deliberate postsecondary plan
based on passions and ultimate career goals.
Businesses and organizations, meanwhile,
benefit by cultivating a pipeline of talent with
new perspectives, while the local community
can realize reduced unemployment and attract
new business and industry. Indeed, many other
industrialized nations regularly use youth work-
based learning to develop future workforces and
embed employability skills in teenagers.
Lack of high school work-based learning
participation is not due to low interest on the
part of students, however. While it’s true that
some high schoolers view these experiences
as only a college-level pursuit, most say they
don’t participate simply because they never
hear about any opportunities. Still others report
barriers like lack of transportation to get to a
job site, schedule conflicts with their schooling
or familial responsibilities, or the inability to
participate in an unpaid work-based learning
experience when they must also take on part-
time work due to economic need.
If educators, employers and policymakers
work together to increase the amount of
available work-based learning opportunities,
boost student awareness, and put the
proper supports in place to help students
overcome common barriers, it is possible to
dramatically raise high school work-based
learning participation rates and give students
a valuable learning experience to help them be
career ready.
INTRODUCTION
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 2
The Guide
IN 2021, ASA, in conjunction with Bellwether
Education Partners, released Working to
Learn and Learning to Work: A State-by-
State Analysis of High School Work-based
Learning Policies. The audit revealed that
states have taken a wide range of approaches
to implementing work-based learning for
high school-aged youth. Federal legislation,
including the Every Student Succeeds
Act (ESSA), the Strengthening Career and
Technical Education for the 21st Century Act
(Perkins V), and the Workforce Innovation
and Opportunity Act (WIOA), encourages
and incentivizes states to implement work-
based learning policies and programs at
the secondary level, but still allows for
considerable discretion in states’ work-based
learning programs. As a result, program access
and quality vary greatly from state to state.
This guide aims to take a deeper dive on
Working to Learn’s recommendations, compiling
best practices and interviews with state leaders
pioneering new strategies in youth work-based
learning. We hope it provides state education
leaders, educators, employers, community-
based organizations and other stakeholders with
the information and insight they need to expand
program access and enhance program quality in
their own regions.
About ASA
AMERICAN STUDENT ASSISTANCE
®
(ASA) is a
national non-profit with a mission of helping
students know themselves, know their options,
and make informed career and postsecondary
education decisions. We advocate for expanding
experiential opportunities for kids to gain
career experience, workplace skills and an
understanding of the education necessary to
follow a career path prior to leaving high school.
Working together with educators, employers,
youth-serving organizations, state and federal
policymakers and more, our goal is to increase
the number of states committed to ensuring all
youth younger than 18 have equitable access
to robust, high-quality work-based learning
programs, with policies in place to support
program funding, infrastructure, quality and
accountability.
INTRODUCTION
We hope this guide provides
state education leaders,
educators, employers,
community-based organizations
and other stakeholders with the
information and insight they
need to expand program access
and enhance program quality
in their own regions.
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 3
ENSURE BROAD ELIGIBILITY
AND WIDESPREAD EQUITABLE ACCESS
CHAPTER 1
1
WHILE MOST STATES do not impose strict
restrictions on which students can participate
in work-based learning opportunities, some do
set eligibility requirements that limit the number
and type of students who can participate. A
handful of states impose no restrictions from
the state level, but allow local districts to define
eligibility, creating dierences in opportunity
across districts and potentially confusing
variability from district to district. Some states
set age (typically 16+) or grade (typically 11th or
12th) requirements to ensure compliance with
state labor laws. Other states have changed
labor or insurance regulations at the state
level to make work-based learning for younger
students more possible, and to reduce barriers
to employer participation.
Ohio’s minor labor laws, for example, loosen
the labor requirements and explicitly exempt
students participating in a career-technical
or STEM program approved by the Ohio
Department of Education, or in any eligible
classes through the college credit plus program
(Ohio’s dual enrollment program) that include a
state-recognized pre-apprenticeship program.
Similarly, Connecticut created a waiver from
state regulations that place age restrictions
on participation in work-based learning
opportunities in certain industries. These policy
changes aim to make work-based learning more
accessible for students and remove barriers to
employer participation.
A more common way for states to restrict
eligibility is by embedding work-based
learning exclusively in career and technical
education (CTE) programming, or to make
work-based learning opportunities available
only in advanced level CTE courses that
require students to have taken one or more
prerequisite course. Two states, Delaware and
New Mexico, have two dierent approaches to
this problem – ensure all students are eligible for
CTE and thus work-based learning, or remove
CTE requirements from work-based learning.
Delaware requires all students to take at least
three CTE courses in a pathway to graduate and
all Delaware students are eligible to participate
in CTE. As a result, all students are eligible to
participate in a work-based learning program.
New Mexico, meanwhile, deliberately prioritizes
building work-based learning programs for all
students, and not just CTE concentrators, due to
the low percentage of students concentrating in
CTE statewide.
Most states — 38 — have broad eligibility for
which students can participate in work-based
learning. However, just because a majority
of students in a state could theoretically be
eligible for a work-based learning experience,
it does not mean the state has committed
to ensuring there are enough of these
opportunities to go around. Very few states
commit to ensuring that every student can
access a variety of work-based-learning
experiences. In other words, broad eligibility
is just the first step. States must also provide
enough opportunities to meet student demand
and provide widespread access.
BEST PRACTICE:
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 4
While work-based learning should ideally
be oered in settings beyond CTE, as outlined
above, national data on CTE program oerings
can help illustrate whether work-based learning
is widely available. For example, three-fourths
of CTE programs oer on-the-job training,
internships, practicums, clinical experiences,
or cooperative education, while just 31%
oer apprenticeships or pre-apprenticeship
programs. These data suggest that access
to work-based learning is not universal. No
state ensures that there are enough work-
based learning opportunities available to meet
the needs of every student— the demand
for programming far outpaces the supply of
opportunities.
ELAINE PEREA, PhD, Director of College and Career Readiness at the
New Mexico Public Education Department, believes the right thing for
kids is work-based learning for everybody. “At least in my state, CTE
concentrators are only about 12% of my student population,” she explains.
“If I build all my programs for students who are in CTE, I’m missing 88% of
my student population. And that means at a policy level pulling it out of
CTE and making sure that the structures are there.”
One of the ways New Mexico quickly expanded work-based learning
opportunities for all students, not just CTE concentrators, during the
pandemic was by directing funds from the Elementary and Secondary
School Emergency Relief Fund, authorized under the
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, to
individual counties to pay youth in summer jobs. “What
we found is that the counties are actually a really good
partner, because they know who the community players
are at the state level. In many of our counties they went
directly to the Council of Governments or the local
chambers of commerce and they were able to ramp up
super quickly.”
Over her more than seven years at New Mexico’s
Public Education Department, Perea has seen
accelerated interest in work-based learning at the high school level,
particularly since the state allowed local education agencies to choose
from a multitude of options, including work-based learning or certificates,
to fulfill federal requirements. Perkins V, the 2018 reauthorization of the
Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, allows states to pick
DEEP DIVE
New Mexico
CHAPTER 1
Perea has seen accelerated
interest in work-based
learning at the high school
level, particularly since
the state allowed local
education agencies to
choose from a multitude of
options, including work-based
learning or certificates.
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 5
one of three high school CTE program quality indicators for measuring
success: the percentage of CTE concentrators graduating from high school
who have (1) attained a recognized postsecondary credential; (2) earned
postsecondary credits through a dual or concurrent enrollment program;
and/or (3) participated in work-based learning.
Perea says that these requirements have pushed the state and
individual districts to think about what kinds of experiences their district
may be able to accommodate. “We’re a very, very rural state and what one
district can oer is sometimes impossible to do in another district. I gave
districts the opportunity to figure out what works best for them and that
has generated some really interesting conversations about work-based
learning. Instead of schools or districts just saying, “I can’t do it,” they may
say, “Well, if my choices are certificates, dual credit or work-based learning,
we actually could do some school based enterprising. That would be a
good opportunity for our students and out of those three that’s actually the
easiest for us.”
New Mexico prioritizes work-based learning as a solution for their
students because of its potential to address broader social issues. “Work-
based learning is sometimes overlooked as a solution to help address
deep-seated societal structural problems like multi-generational poverty,”
says Perea. “Only about 40% of eligible adults in New Mexico between the
ages of 25 and 55 are engaged in work. We have generations that have
never worked inside the legitimate economy. I see work-based learning
as an opportunity to change that intergenerational dynamic, to give young
people the simple experience of joy to work. Young people who have
never experienced that joy of work are more likely to follow their families’
path. But if you can give them the experience of contributing and being
paid for that contribution, it can change your societal direction.”
CHAPTER 1
Work-based
learning is
sometimes
overlooked as
a solution to
help address
deep-seated
societal structural
problems
like multi-
generational
poverty.”
ELAINE PEREA, PhD.
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 6
SUPPORT ACCESS FOR
UNDERSERVED STUDENTS
CHAPTER 2
2
CREATING BROAD ELIGIBILITY and ensuring
universal access to work-based learning
opportunities is critical. However, states must
also develop structures to target high-need
students and ensure their success in a work-
based learning experience. Very few states have
developed explicit policies or programs to ensure
access and success for underserved students.
All states include nondiscrimination language
in their work-based learning policies and,
as required by federal legislation, identify
opportunities for schools to use federal funds
to support high-need groups of students.
Some states also oer programming to specific
groups of students that may include a work-
based learning component. For example, states
oer pre-employment transition services for
students with disabilities through their vocational
rehabilitation services and include supports such
as job exploration and counseling, workplace
readiness training, and instruction in self-
advocacy. Under WIOA, these services may
also include work-based learning opportunities
such as internships. Other programs, such as
Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG), a nonprofit
organization that supports at-risk youth to
graduate from high school and transition into
postsecondary or career opportunities, may
also connect students with work-based learning
opportunities.
But less than half of US states – just 19 -
have developed policies or programs above
and beyond the minimum federal requirements
that are designed with the specific goal of
ensuring high-need student groups can
access and succeed in work-based learning
opportunities. Those states that do take a variety
of approaches to supporting underserved
student groups, ranging from creating separate
work-based learning programs for certain
student groups (e.g., students with disabilities),
to requiring that districts include in their
applications to operate a work-based learning
program details about the program’s plan to
support underserved students, to providing
additional funding to ensure students have the
materials they need to be successful in work-
based learning.
Georgia’s Great Promise Partnership, for
example, is a public-private partnership that
supports at-risk students to stay in and complete
high school while simultaneously developing
real-world job skills and experiences through
work-based learning opportunities. In Illinois,
state law requires the Department of Children
and Family Services to provide eligible youth
an apprenticeship stipend to cover the costs
associated with entering an apprenticeship,
including costs such as tuition for classes, work
clothes, or occupation-specific tools. Also in
Illinois, the Youth Apprenticeship program
provides students with wraparound supports,
like case management and counseling, and
holistic upskilling in technical and soft skills.
The Chicago Jobs Council and Young
Invincibles also produced a report on integrating
diversity across the state apprenticeship system.
Within it are practices that high schools and
school districts can implement to diversify their
student pipeline. Other states provide paid
BEST PRACTICE:
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 7
internship opportunities, which can help ensure
that students who may otherwise need an after-
school job to earn money are able to participate
in work-based learning that will allow them to
learn through work. Rhode Island, for example,
is experimenting with year-round paid internship
opportunities.
Additionally, the Minnesota Department of
Education’s WBL reference guide provides for
six types of work experience programs, four of
which are explicitly tailored to disadvantaged
and handicapped students. New York’s Work
Experience and Career Exploration Program is
designed for at-risk students ages 14 to 15; its
community-based work-based learning programs
are particularly suited for students with disabilities
and include explicit guidance and considerations;
and its Summer Youth Employment Program
(SYEP) allocates funds to each district to
provide summer employment for youth ages
14 to 20 who are Family Assistance or Safety
Net Assistance recipients, or eligible under the
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families 200%
of federal poverty guidelines. Texas, meanwhile,
uses dedicated funding to ensure lack of access
to transportation is not a barrier to student
participation in work-based learning.
States can take the lead in developing explicit
programming or supports to ensure high-need
student groups have equitable access to career
connected learning. Policymakers should take
into consideration how all students — rural
versus urban communities, students with
disabilities, students from all socioeconomic
backgrounds, etc. — can take advantage of
work-based learning opportunities.
DEEP DIVE
Rhode Island
LESS THAN 45 PERCENT of Rhode Island residents currently have a post-
secondary degree or industry-recognized certificate, yet 70 percent of jobs
now require those credentials. To help fill this crucial need, then Rhode
Island Governor Gina Raimondo, who is now US Secretary of Commerce,
launched the statewide initiative Prepare Rhode Island (PrepareRI). The
PrepareRI Internship program, designed, developed and implemented by
the statewide career readiness intermediary Skills for Rhode Island’s Future
(SkillsRI) and supported by the nonprofit American Student Assistance and
the Rhode Island Governor’s Workforce Board, places high school students
into high-quality internships with top local employers during the summer
between junior and senior years. It represents a strategic collaboration
between the Rhode Island government, private industry leaders, the public
education system, universities, and nonprofits across the state.
CHAPTER 2
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 8
At least 50% of students participating in the Prepare RI Internship
program are opportunity youth coming from lower-income households and
under-resourced schools. Many lack access to reliable broadband internet
or devices. To help mitigate this issue and keep kids engaged, program
administrators established career enhancement services to prepare them
for what the world of work will look like. “Classes in Excel and Power BI
are being provided in English and Spanish to make sure students have
the knowledge of the programs they will use to do their work,” explains
Nina Pande, SkillsRI Executive Director. SkillsRI also has begun bilingual
focus groups at three of the state’s priority schools to better understand
students’ needs, challenges and interests.
Another innovation Rhode Island is piloting to better support
underserved students is year-round work-based learning opportunities.
As Pande explains, “Many employers think students can only participate
in a program part of the year, but year-round programming is an especially
critical element of learning for opportunity youth. As we run focus groups
in many of Rhode Island’s urban core schools, we’re hearing that many
students, especially in the wake of COVID, aren’t showing up during school
traditional hours because they need to work to support their families. If
we can build year-round work-based learning opportunities, connecting
students virtually to local employers while they’re physically at school, we
can help them move towards economic mobility while still learning in their
areas of interest. There’s no better victory to strengthen our education
system, meet families where they are, and make sure students are earning
and learning – not working instead of learning.”
SkillsRI is currently piloting virtual work-based learning during the
next academic year at three high schools. These opportunities are being
provided in an after-school format or as a supplement to advisory periods.
CHAPTER 2
There’s no
better victory to
strengthen our
education system,
meet families
where they are,
and make sure
students are
earning and
learning.”
NINA PANDE
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 9
ADDRESS
COMMON BARRIERS
CHAPTER 3
MORE THAN HALF of states provide stakeholders
with a centralized work-based learning resource
or manual that contains information and
guidance about relevant laws and policies.
Fewer states have taken active steps to address
known barriers, such as safety, liability, child
labor laws, or workers’ compensation.
Often, states fail to identify barriers because
they are not collecting enough data on their
work-based learning programs. This can make it
dicult to identify trends in work-based learning
participation and understand how those trends
might be driven by existing laws and policies
that act as barriers to certain communities,
districts, student groups, or employers.
But some states are actively working to
identify obstacles and provide solutions. For
example, one of the major barriers to work-
based learning in New Jersey was ensuring
students are participating in a safe working
environment. In response, the state launched
the New Jersey Safe Schools Project, a
collaboration between the New Jersey
Department of Education and Rutgers University,
to mitigate liability concerns for schools and
employers as well as improve the workplace
conditions of students participating in work-
based learning. This project has resulted
in training sessions for educators and an
alliance among the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration, New Jersey Division
of Wage and Hour Compliance, New Jersey
Department of Labor, US Department of Labor,
New Jersey Department of Education, and
Rutgers, which meet four to six times per year to
focus on student safety in work-based learning
placements.
In South Carolina, a review of work-based
learning enrollment data pointed to several
barriers facing districts that were leading to
a decline in work-based learning enrollment,
including COVID restrictions due to social
mitigation strategies; bell scheduling conflicts
between high schools and local career and
technology centers; new privacy laws and
age restrictions with business/industry liability
insurance coverage that impact the work-
based learning opportunities that are available
for high school students; and expensive
transportation costs for districts. To combat
this decline, the South Carolina Department of
Education partnered with the state’s Regional
Career Specialist Team, CTE administrators, and
school counseling/career guidance personnel
to develop and implement solutions to those
challenges.
3
BEST PRACTICE:
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 10
I’m finally
seeing building
supervisors and
superintendents
... say … if I make
this change in the
bell schedule or
master schedule,
how’s it going to
aect our CTE
students doing
internships or
clinicals?”
KAMA STATON
DEEP DIVE
South Carolina
IN SOUTH CAROLINA, eorts to overcome many of the common barriers
to high school work-based learning have been years in the making – and
are starting to see results. For example, a typical barrier is scheduling
dierences between schools. In South Carolina, students can study CTE
courses at their comprehensive high schools, but some also receive
supplemental CTE programs at separate Career and Technology Centers.
These centers either operate as part of a larger school district or are
independent, multi-district centers that provide CTE programs to students
from districts that do not have their own career centers. Students who split
time between a traditional high school and a career center often faced
diculties because the high school followed a bell or period schedule
while the career center adhered to a block schedule, which reorganizes
the school day into longer periods for in-depth learning.
“We started tackling scheduling dierences 10 years ago and we are
still tackling it today,” explains Kama Staton, Education Associate over
work-based learning within the Division of College and Career Readiness
at the Oce of Career & Technical Education and Student Transition
Services in the South Carolina Department of Education. “I can tell you this,
though…10 years later, I am finally seeing some traction. I’m finally seeing
building supervisors and superintendents who come into that role, say, … if
I make this change in the bell schedule or master schedule, how’s it going
to aect our CTE students doing internships or clinicals?”
Another common barrier to work-based learning at the high school
level is a lack of course credit for the experience. Says Staton, “When
you’re the school counselor and career specialist — conducting the
Individual Graduation Plan (IGP) with the student and parents, reviewing
career program pathways and course oerings — and you share ‘we want
Johnny to go do this internship at the hospital’ — how do you sell that to
the student and parent if they’re not going to get credit that will positively
impact their GPA?”
So, South Carolina has started to expand assistance in eorts to help
districts build a course for non-CTE pathway students, centered around
work-based learning such as internship and apprenticeship, where
the student can get course credit. South Carolina has had a CTE work-
based learning state-approved credit bearing course for each cluster
of students in place for years. However, with work-based learning tied
CHAPTER 3
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 11
to the state’s accountability system and the state’s Seal of Distinction
initiative, it was time to provide the same opportunities to all students
participating in an apprenticeship, internship or co-op. South Carolina has
assisted many districts in writing course standards for a locally designed
course and building in an employability soft skills credential (Microburst
EmployABILITY Certification) to meet the demands of workforce needs,
while also bringing business and industry representatives to sit on state
standards committees, local advisory councils, and regular meetings with
state and local stakeholders.
Additionally, South Carolina’s general assembly and legislators added
work-based learning completion as a career ready qualifier to the state
accountability system that aects high school report card ratings. “When
you include work-based learning in the state’s accountability system with a
positive impact on a high school’s report card rating, with legislative support
and recognition, you automatically get school administrators’ buy-in,” says
Staton. “When businesses think about coming to South Carolina, they say,
‘show me your skilled workforce, show me what you have in the pipeline,’
and you can hand them a school’s report card rating with a career ready
data breakdown to provide evidence to support their workforce in need.”
As in many other states, transportation to work-based learning job
sites can be an especially dicult obstacle for students in South Carolina.
“South Carolina is a smaller state, but we have some districts and schools
that are so spread out from business, it might take 15-20 miles to get to a
business that’s able to support work-based learning eorts for local school
districts,” explains Staton. “Thus, we continue to allow transportation as an
allowable expenditure into our Perkins V federal funds and State Education
Improvement Act funds. It doesn’t cover students’ gas, but it does cover
a district-provided bus. In addition, we do have some businesses in parts
of our state that have their ‘business bus or shuttle’ pick up the students
at the Career Center and get them back and forth. It’s not going to solve
everything, but at least helps a lot of students who would not have a way
to get to the job site.”
Another thorny issue surrounding youth work-based learning is liability.
“Before you place a student, you have to make sure your legal team looks
at liability on all issues,” says Staton. “I encourage our school counselors,
our career specialists and our work-based learning coordinators, when
they are working directly with business and industry, to make sure that the
sponsoring worksite’s HR folks are sitting down with the school district’s
legal team – to make sure that the parent/legal guardian, the student, the
supervisor, and the principal all agree that all areas are covered.”
CHAPTER 3
When you
include work-
based learning
in the state’s
accountability
system with a
positive impact
on a high
school’s report
card rating,
with legislative
support and
recognition, you
automatically
get school
administrators’
buy-in.”
KAMA STATON
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 12
When businesses consider liability too big of a barrier to their
participation, it can be an opportunity to engage them in dierent flexible
options for work-based learning participation, such as job shadowing,
structured field studies or industry tours of a worksite. “Everybody gets so
hung up on internships,” says Staton. “But in South Carolina, we have 10
state-approved work-based learning experiences and internships are only
one of those.” Each business looks dierent, and each can bring value to
work-based learning in various methods of exposure. South
Carolina recognizes service learning, mentors, school-
based enterprises, virtual job shadowing, and others as
work-based learning opportunities with flexibility to meet
the business/industry needs.
A lack of professional development for teachers
can also hamper work-based learning eorts. Many
educators and school administrators may be hesitant to
start a program if they don’t know where to start. South
Carolina has developed the South Carolina Work-Based
Learning Implementation Guide that provides steps and best practices
in implementing a robust program. States interested in building a similar
manual should reach out to Kama Staton at [email protected] for a
template. “I encourage every state to develop structure with guidelines
in place and sell it to your state level and your state superintendent,” she
states. “Take one step at a time.”
Another common barrier can be a lack of funding, but South Carolina
is fortunate to have dedicated funding in the state budget. State funds go
to support salaries of regional career specialists, whose primary role is to
build business and industry connections with the schools, assist with work-
based learning implementation, and serve as a liaison with chambers of
commerce and pivotal stakeholders.
Ultimately, South Carolina has been successful in overcoming many
common barriers just by raising awareness they exist. Changing student
and parent perceptions and biases are also key. To that end, the state
invested by creating CTE videos focusing on work-based learning success
highlighting student interns. “Each Wednesday is ‘Work-Based Learning
Wednesday,’ a day set aside to highlight, via social media, email blasts,
websites, etc., the awesome work we are doing in South Carolina to meet
the needs of business/industry,” says Staton.
CHAPTER 3
Ultimately, South Carolina
has been successful in
overcoming many common
barriers just by raising
awareness they exist.
Changing student and
parent perceptions and
biases are also key.
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 13
PROVIDE FINANCIAL INCENTIVES
TO ENCOURAGE EMPLOYER PARTICIPATION
4
CHAPTER 4
JUST OVER HALF of all states oer financial
incentives like tax credits to oset high school
work-based learning costs on the employer
side and encourage businesses to partner
with schools to oer work-based learning
opportunities. However, these programs are
often limited to employers oering certain
types of work-based learning (most commonly
apprenticeships), rather than being available
to employers participating in all types of work-
based learning.
A few states have programs that include a
broader set of work-based learning experiences.
Delaware’s Learning for Careers Initiative
provides grant funding to engage Delaware’s
business community in a planning process that
results in the creation or expansion of paid
work experiences for youth and adult learners
in the state. New Jersey’s Career Accelerator
Internship Program provides participating
employers with up to 50% of wages paid to new
interns, up to $3,000 per student.
The Vermont Training Program provides
performance-based workforce grants for pre-
employment training, training for new hires,
and training for incumbent workers. Grants may
cover up to 50% of training costs. The program
includes employers that partner with a school
or education program to employ and train high
school students participating in work-based
learning experiences. In addition, the Vermont
Department of Labor’s Vermont Internship
Program provides grants to organizations that
support or connect Vermont employers with
student interns from regional technical centers
or postsecondary educational institutions.
DEEP DIVE
Delaware
BACK IN 2011, the Harvard Graduate School of Education released the
report “Pathways to Prosperity” that made the case for refocusing high
school education on preparing students for both college and career. In
2012, Jobs for the Future joined with HGSE and states and regions around
the country to create the Pathways to Prosperity Network, a national
initiative to foster partnerships between education and business that
result in better pathways for young people to learn employability skills and
prepare for career success. In 2017, the book Learning for Careers: The
Pathways to Prosperity reported on the initial activities of the Pathways to
BEST PRACTICE:
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 14
Prosperity Network and inspired the Delaware Departments of Labor and
Education to join forces to create the Learning for Careers Initiative, a
series of state-funded grants designed to increase employer participation
in student education, training, and employment programs. “The strategy
is to essentially put systems around summer youth employment, K12, and
higher education to scale work-based learning eorts,” explains Luke
Rhine, Director, Career & Technical Education and STEM Initiatives for the
Delaware Department of Education.
LEARNING FOR CAREERS SEEKS TO BOOST THE NUMBER OF:
1. Youth served through summer youth employment or other
Department of Labor funded programs
2. Secondary school students participating in work-based learning and/
or co-operative education programs
3. Postsecondary students participating in work-based learning and/or
clinical/experiential learning programs
4. Employer-led eorts to recruit youth (ages 16-24) into the workforce
and/or to expand the capacity of employers to oer clinical,
internship, apprenticeship, or other types of cooperative education
programs
Learning for Careers grants are awarded to employer associations,
employer chambers, employer groups, a state agency acting on behalf
of a group of employers, or labor unions, who act as the Lead Provider.
Each Lead Provider must then devise a plan to work with at least three
employers or other entities, such as community-based organizations,
postsecondary institutions, government, regional or local economic
development entities, labor unions, local education agencies, industry
associations, philanthropic organizations, or other education and
training providers.
The source of funds for the Learning for Careers grants are Delaware
State General Funds appropriated to the Department of Labor, Division of
Employment and Training for the Learning for Careers Program.
CHAPTER 4
The strategy is
to essentially put
systems around
summer youth
employment,
K12, and higher
education to
scale work-based
learning eorts.”
LUKE RHINE
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 15
DEDICATE FEDERAL
AND STATE FUNDING
CHAPTER 5
5
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT provides dedicated
funding for work-based learning at both the
secondary and postsecondary level through the
Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education
Act (reauthorized as the Strengthening Career
and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act,
or Perkins V) and the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act. Under Perkins, states receive
block grants of funding that can be allocated
to financially support all facets of career and
technical education (CTE) programs of study
and career pathways programs, including costs
associated with work-based learning. WIOA
funds employment and training services for
adults, dislocated workers, and youth.
In 2020, each state was required to submit
a Perkins V State Plan to the US Department of
Education covering FY 2020-23. Perkins V gave
states the option to select one or more program
quality indicators in their plans; 29 states
selected “the percentage of CTE concentrators
graduating from high school having participated
in work-based learning.” These metrics are then
reported back to the federal government on an
annual basis. While Perkins funds can be used to
support work-based learning whether or not the
state selected work-based learning as a program
quality indicator, selection of this indicator
suggests that work-based learning will be a focus
of states’ CTE programs and thus those states
will use their Perkins funds explicitly to support
and expand work-based learning. For some
states, like Connecticut, participation in work-
based learning is the only performance quality
indicator they will report as part of their Perkins V
plans. Other states, such as West Virginia, plan
to report multiple indicators, including attainment
of postsecondary credentials and attainment of
postsecondary credits.
In addition to federal funding, some states
use state categorical and foundational per-pupil
funds to pay for work-based learning eorts.
About half of all states also use grant funds or
other time-bound sources of funding for work-
based learning. While these programs can
provide an important infusion of cash to support
schools, districts, or other organizations to launch
work-based learning programs, these funds are
not a consistent source of support, meaning that
districts and organizations may have diculty
sustaining work-based learning programs
beyond the duration of the grant period.
A smaller handful of five states have taken the
additional step of inserting a line item in the state
budget or creating dedicated funding streams
solely or primarily focused on creating and
expanding work-based learning opportunities.
In Washington, the 2019 Workforce Education
Investment Act authorized $25 million in
dedicated state funding to operate initiatives that
support and scale work-based learning and other
career-connected learning opportunities, as well
as $11 million in capital and transportation funding
to support these initiatives.
South Carolina provides dedicated funding
to districts to support work-based learning. With
these funds, districts can hire a work-based
learning coordinator, integrate academic and
CTE programming, provide sta development
related to work-based learning, transport
BEST PRACTICE:
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 16
students, and more. In Rhode Island, the
state’s three-year action plan, PrepareRI, is
supported by philanthropic grants and by $2.5
million per year by the Governor’s Workforce
Board to coordinate paid work-based learning
experiences for high school juniors. In Iowa,
the Legislature appropriated $1.45 million to
the Iowa Department of Education to develop
and implement a statewide network comprising
15 regional work-based learning intermediary
networks (one for each community college).
In addition, districts can access funding
through the governor’s STEM BEST program.
Most recently, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds
announced two grant opportunities to create
or expand registered apprenticeships. In
Massachusetts, the state provides annual
funding to its Connecting Activities initiative
— a statewide network of 16 workforce boards
charged with supporting work-based learning
and other career development education
activities for students — through a line item in
the state budget.
DEEP DIVE
Massachusetts
Career-focused education has become a more prominent focus for many
states in recent years, but in Massachusetts, it has received dedicated
attention for much longer. One of the longest running programs, since
1998, is Connecting Activities, a statewide network of 16 workforce
boards charged with supporting work-based learning and other career
development education activities for students, led by the Massachusetts
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Through this
program, regional workforce boards serve as intermediaries and liaisons
with schools and employers. They work to increase the number of high-
quality internship opportunities, ensure that students are getting equitable
career development education experiences, and work to grow the future
workforce in Massachusetts.
Dedicated state funding through a specific long-term line item in the
Massachusetts state budget has been pivotal to Connecting Activities’
success and longevity. Appropriations for the program have risen from
approximately $3.8 million to $7 million over the past five fiscal years.
Explains Dr. Kerry Akashian, Career Development Education Lead at the
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, “It’s
had a really big impact in terms of signaling that the state is committed to
this work. Massachusetts also has an employer wage match requirement,
so Connecting Activities leaders are required to recruit employers that
will actually pay the students and bring more funding into the system.
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 17
Sometimes the money supplied by the employers can be four times the
actual budget line item.”
During the pandemic, Massachusetts workforce development boards
combined Connecting Activities funding with federal funding to employ
800 high school seniors as tutors at K-8 schools to help accelerate the
learning of the students and to support teachers. “The students benefited
from work-based learning experiences and were paid for their work,
they contributed to their community, and they received professional
development from a group called Educators Rising,” says Akashian. “It
was a wonderful project that had never been done before, and something
that other states might be interested in. It’s a concrete example of how the
intermediaries at the workforce boards worked with schools, placed the
kids on the payroll quickly, and in turn provided for the communities.”
Connecting Activities funding has also invested in stang and
recruitment, with funding given to each workforce board in the past year
to hire an employer engagement specialist who can focus on building up
relationships with local business and industry.
Connecting Activities works closely with another initiative in
Massachusetts, Innovation Pathways, to expand access to high-quality
career pathways in the Commonwealth’s comprehensive high schools.
The idea behind Innovation Pathways is to give more Massachusetts
students a chance to benefit from career and technical education and
hands-on learning experiences. The program allows academic and
comprehensive high schools, once granted the designation by the state, to
restructure the learning experience to oer coursework and experience in
a specific regional high-demand industry, such as information technology,
engineering, healthcare, life sciences, and advanced manufacturing. All
IP programs are required to partner with a local MassHire Board and
employer(s); participating students take the necessary coursework, engage
in 100 hours of a career immersive experience, internship or Capstone
project, and earn industry credentials and/or college credit.
“Demand for career and technical education in Massachusetts has
increased in recent years and vocational high schools can’t meet demand,”
relates Akashian. “They have long waiting lists and turn away more than
3,000 students each year. IP is an inventive solution to this problem,
and the quandary of student engagement, by putting hands-on learning
experiences and career exploration opportunities directly into general
education schools. Another great aspect of the program is that a student
doesn’t necessarily have to be pigeonholed into a particular job or know
everything they’re going to do when they’re only 15 years old. IP allows
students to develop their skills, which will be transferable in any sector.”
Demand for
career and
technical
education in
Massachusetts
has increased in
recent years and
vocational high
schools can’t
meet demand.”
DR. KERRY
AKASHIAN
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 18
WORK-BASED LEARNING infrastructure
remains in the early stages in most states.
Many states have adopted a “work-based
learning coordinator” model and tasked those
coordinators with communicating among
stakeholders about work-based learning
programs and opportunities. This approach
to communications, though, relies heavily on
the capacity and networks of a single person,
rather than leveraging the collective capacity
and networks of stakeholders statewide.
Several states also have built websites to
help match young people with work-based
learning opportunities. In Nevada, Life Works
is a work-based learning hub for in- and out-of-
school youth and young adults statewide where
users can find internships, apprenticeships,
on-the-job training, and CTE programs, as well
as learn about in-demand occupations and
skills. LifeWorks utilizes strategic partnerships
among Nevada government agencies, K-12
public education, business and industry
leaders, and the Nevada System of Higher
Education. North Carolina’s Navigator and
Rhode Island’s Work-Based Learning Navigator
allow employers to post available work-based
learning opportunities and educators to search
and track those opportunities across the state
and request resources based on their needs.
Another common approach is the
development of an intermediary or public-
private partnership, which can play a critical
role in connecting schools and businesses
and ensuring students can access work-based
learning opportunities. The North Carolina
Business Committee for Education (NCBCE) is a
business-led, education nonprofit organization
that operates out of the Oce of the Governor.
The organization works to link business leaders
and the state’s education decision makers to
create connections between the education
curriculum and the overall work readiness of
citizens across the state. In addition to the
NCBCE, North Carolina has a system of local
advisory councils, which are public-private
partnerships that support the planning and
development of CTE programming, including
work-based learning. Washington state’s
Career Connect Washington (CCW) is another
example of a statewide initiative and public-
private partnership that facilitates work-based
learning opportunities through a system of
regional networks, intermediaries, and local
coordinators. To date, CCW has nine regional
networks established to serve as “career-
connected learning” (CCL) hubs in their regions;
60 intermediaries funded to expand or develop
programs; 150+ employers engaged in career
explore, prep, and launch programs; and 13,000
enrolled students in Career Launch programs,
among other accomplishments.
STRENGTHEN STATEWIDE
INFRASTRUCTURE AND COMMUNICATIONS
CHAPTER 6
6
States have developed many
approaches to work-based
infrastructure: websites to help
match young people with work-
based learning opportunities
and public-private partnerships
have both been successful.
BEST PRACTICE:
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 19
Another example of a statewide intermediary
is the nonprofit Skills for Rhode Island’s
Future, which connects unemployed and
underemployed Rhode Islanders to jobs with
socially responsible, civic-minded employers.
The organization runs the PrepareRI Internship
Program for both high school and college
students, facilitating job opportunities with its
180 corporate partners throughout the state.
In Massachusetts, the Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education’s
Connecting Activities initiative establishes
public-private partnerships through 16 local
MassHire Workforce Boards to provide work-
based learning experiences for students.
The workforce boards also coordinate One
Stop Career Centers, YouthWorks programs,
labor market research programs, and several
other workforce training and educational
programs. In Delaware, the Delaware Technical
Community College’s (DTCC) Oce of Work-
based Learning serves as an intermediary
between education agencies and business
and industry partners to facilitate and scale
career connected learning opportunities
across the state. Sta from the DTCC work with
school districts, employers, and community-
based organizations to expand and build
upon regional employer engagement and
help to coordinate the supply and demand
of work-based learning opportunities. Iowa’s
Intermediary Network comprises 15 regional
intermediary networks designed to connect
business and education by oering work-
based learning activities to students in their
region. In addition, the STEM BEST program
launches school-business partnerships that
engage students in relevant, authentic work-
based learning in communities across the
state. Since 2014, the Iowa Governor’s STEM
Advisory Council has awarded 75 STEM BEST
programs, which involve a significant public-
private match.
DEEP DIVE
North Carolina
THE NORTH CAROLINA Business Committee for Education, a business-
led, education non-profit 501(c)(3), started 39 years ago, before the
phrase “work-based learning” was widely used. Initially focused on STEM
pathways, the NCBCE was a way to bring employers into the conversation
with educational systems, so they could help share information about what
employers needed and workforce opportunities for students, as well as
provide educator professional development.
Nearly 15 years ago, the NCBCE was an innovator in the work-based
learning space, implementing its “Students@Work” program. Every March,
the program sent students as early as middle school from all over the
state to spend time at employers in their community, from data centers
CHAPTER 6
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 20
to the state police credit unions, advanced manufacturing, the NASCAR
speedway, hotels, and more.
In 2017, the NCBCE board began to think of ways to build upon
Students@Work. “We spent a ton of time workshopping it with career
and technical education, community colleges, employers, teachers, and
coordinators with businesses,” recalls Caroline Sullivan, NCBCE Executive
Director. “Eventually we came up with something where teachers could
see employers and basically order them as a resource for speakers at
career days.”
The end result was the Navigator, a free, first-of-its-kind tool where
employers post work-based learning opportunities like job shadowing and
internships, and educators search for, request, and track those resources
in an open market environment. The Navigator enjoyed heavy utilization
upon its launch. “We thought our challenge would be getting educators
to go on the platform but that was wrong,” recounts Sullivan. “There are
about 100,000 teachers in North Carolina and very quickly,
we got to 50,000 teachers on the Navigator. At last count,
there were 87,000, which is pretty much almost all of them.
The success of that is probably because it’s integrated into
their ‘ED cloud,’ so where they might find all their learning
management systems, the Navigator’s there.”
New features include an updated interface for teachers
so they can specifically request employer resources for
a particular lesson, or a subject matter expert or a guest
speaker for a career fair only on one certain subject. Other
improvements include better collection of non-student
identifiable data, like the number of student participants,
their gender, race, age and the career cluster of the work-based learning
experience. The Navigator’s new employer interface, due soon, will also
allow teachers and employers to schedule events via chat rather than email.
While other work-based learning platforms charge the schools or
employers, North Carolina’s Navigator is provided free of charge, funded
through a blend of nonprofit philanthropy and dierent government
entities, such as the Department of Commerce and pandemic relief dollars
provided through the CARES act.
Technological solutions like the Navigator are one example of the
benefits of having a strong infrastructure or intermediary in place, but
entities like NCBCE can oer value in other ways, too. The ability to
convene multiple parties and act nimbly, especially during a crisis, is key.
CHAPTER 6
North Carolina’s Navigator
is a free, first-of-its-kind
tool where employers
post work-based learning
opportunities like job
shadowing and internships,
and educators search for,
request, and track those
resources in an open
market environment.
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 21
“Being this hybrid model of a nonprofit with connections to business
and business leaders, plus we work with the government educational
systems and departments, is a big value add,” says Sullivan. Right as the
COVID pandemic began, the NCBCE was able to bring board members
who were Internet Service Providers together with the Department of
Public Instruction and superintendents, to quickly put into place buses
that could act as Wi-Fi hotspots, as well as deliver meals and homework
packets to students and families.
The NCBCE also innovated a pilot program, using CARES act funding, to
solve the problem of tech assistance during the pandemic. The committee
formed the North Carolina Student Connect Tech Team, a comprehensive
framework for North Carolina schools and districts to access resources
for starting, implementing, and scaling a student technology support
desk. NCBCE worked with leaders of North Carolina tech companies to
develop a list of industry-developed credentials that students and teachers
can access. Since its launch in 2020, 10 pilot districts have developed
programs to support Tech Teams, which give students valuable work-
based learning, a stipend and credential attainment.
CHAPTER 6
Being this hybrid
model of a
nonprofit with
connections to
business and
business leaders,
plus we work with
the government
educational
systems and
departments, is a
big value add.”
CAROLINE
SULLIVAN
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 22
SET CLEAR QUALITY AND
ACCOUNTABILITY EXPECTATIONS
CHAPTER 7
7
ALTHOUGH MANY WORK-BASED learning
programs are developed and implemented at
the local level, states have an important role to
play in setting quality expectations and holding
schools and employers accountable. States are
at varying places in their development of quality
expectations. Many states oer lists of roles and
responsibilities for various parties, including the
teacher or work-based learning coordinator,
the employer partner, and the student, that
can provide a framework for program design
and establish expectations. For example,
Iowa’s work-based learning guide states that
work-based learning teacher-coordinators are
responsible for program planning, development,
and related classroom instruction; on-the-
job instruction and coordination; guidance
and advice; program administration and
management; community and public relations;
and development in their professional roles and
activities. Employers “provide instruction in the
specific tasks students are expected to complete
on the job, as well as information about safety
and the general operation of the business.”
This delineation of expectations is an
important first step. However, states should
also define what high-quality implementation of
these responsibilities looks like. For example,
Georgia has developed multiple standards for
high-quality work-based learning programs.
Each standard has an accompanying rubric to
evaluate the extent to which a given program
meets the standard. For example, Standard 14
sets expectations for how work-based learning
sites are selected and how mentors at those
worksites are trained, while Standard 20
sets an expectation that work-based learning
coordinators conduct site visits and ensures
what is happening at the work-based learning
site is integrated into classroom instruction.
Even less states have taken the further step
to develop processes to hold either schools or
employers accountable to quality expectations.
Just six states have developed a quality
framework and accompanying accountability
for the school-based elements of a work-
based learning program (e.g., standards for the
instructor or coordinator, expectations about
student evaluation, etc.). New York has defined
in its work-based learning manual the quality
expectations for career connected learning
programs and holds them accountable by
requiring that they re-register every few years.
Registered work-based learning programs must
have: a certified teacher or guidance counselor
to serve as work-based learning coordinator,
an industry advisory committee, safety training
prior to placement at a worksite, supervised
on-the-job training, related in-school instruction,
a memorandum of agreement between schools
and employers, a student training plan, and an
employer evaluation. Programs must have their
applications approved by the state Department
of Education, and then reapply after the
States have an important role
to play in setting quality
expectations and holding schools
and employers accountable.
BEST PRACTICE:
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 23
registration expires every few years, ensuring
programs meet minimum expectations.
Pennsylvania’s work-based learning activities
require schools to meet certain requirements
to qualify for the Industry-Based Learning
Indicator of the Future Ready PA Index, the
Commonwealth’s public-facing school progress
report. In addition, their work-based learning
toolkit provides program guidance and
implementation support.
Washington’s Career Connect Washington
(CCW) initiative also oers an example of a
robust quality and accountability system for
work-based learning programs. In Washington,
any community and technical college,
training center, university, or K-12 school (in
partnership with a higher education institution)
in Washington can oer a work-based learning
program, called Career Launch. In order to
operate a Career Launch program, however,
the sponsoring organization must complete
an application, undergo a rigorous review
process, and receive an endorsement from
CCW. Endorsements last for three years, and
programs must undergo a review process
to renew their endorsement. Programs with
worksites that do not meet expectations may
not be re-endorsed. Without these kinds of
clear and consistent expectations, the quality
of both schools’ work-based learning programs
and the experiences provided by participating
employers likely varies considerably both within
a district and across the state.
DEEP DIVE
Pennsylvania
THE FUTURE READY PA INDEX was launched in November 2018 to move
beyond standardized test scores as the only metric of student success.
The tool is a public-facing dashboard that tracks student and school
success in three areas: academic performance, student progress, and
college and career readiness.
One of the measures in the college and career readiness bucket is the
Industry-Based Learning Indicator. The Industry-Based Learning Indicator
identifies the percentage of high school 12th graders who meet at least
one of the following criteria:
• Score competent or advanced on Industry Standards-Based
Competency Assessments;
• Earn at least one industry-recognized credential; or
• Complete a work-based learning experience.
Work-based learning experiences generally include job shadowing,
internships/practicums, cooperative education, career mentoring, paid
CHAPTER 7
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 24
apprenticeship, community-based work programs and community service.
In order for a work-based learning experience to be counted towards the
Industry-Based Learning Indicator, it must meet certain requirements.
For example, for the job shadowing category, a student would need
to complete three dierent experiences for a minimum of three hours
each, and must complete pre, during, and post documentation connecting
the shadowing experience to student interest and career planning (e.g.,
research the experience, develop questions for experience, interview
career mentor, reflect on experience and key learnings). An internship,
meanwhile, must be at least six weeks or 60 hours, and must include not
only an evaluation of the work experience by both educator and employer,
with input from the student, but also a learning plan and a contract that
details learning objectives and roles of all parties.
Cooperative education programs, which combine school-based
classroom learning with work-based learning, must include one on-site
visit per month by appropriately certified professional school personnel
because school credit is to be awarded for this experience. Similar
to internships, cooperative education teacher-coordinators must also
complete a written training agreement and training plan.
More informal career mentoring experiences are also allowed activities
under the Indicator, but must incorporate clear, written policy and
procedures materials for all parties and the total time commitment must
be at least six hours. Unpaid community service can even count toward
the Indicator requirements, as long as it meets similar requirements to an
internship: at least six weeks long or 60 hours, supervised and evaluated
by an agency representative, an assigned teacher advisor and the student,
and including a learning plan and a contract. “So, if a student decided to
help out with an emergency disaster and it tied into their humanities class
at school, and the experience was valuable for their future career, it could
meet Indicator requirements,” says Laura Fridirici, M.Ed., Career Readiness
Advisor and Special Consultant to the Secretary for Career Readiness at
the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
CHAPTER 7
If a student
decided to
help out with
an emergency
disaster and it
tied into their
humanities class
at school, and
the experience
was valuable
for their future
career, it could
meet Indicator
requirements.”
LAURA
FRIDIRICI,
M.Ed.
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 25
USE DATA TO DRIVE
EQUITY AND QUALITY
CHAPTER 8
8
COLLECTING DATA ON work-based learning
experiences is key to spotting trends,
highlighting promising practices, and identifying
and addressing gaps. The vast majority of
states collect and disaggregate data on CTE
programming to meet the data reporting
expectations outlined in Perkins V. These data
often include work-based learning opportunities,
especially in states where work-based learning
courses have unique course codes that
enable states to collect participation data and
disaggregate it by student demographics.
However, many states oer work-based learning
opportunities outside of CTE programming that
are not measured in this CTE data reporting,
meaning that CTE-based work-based learning
data tell just a portion of the story.
Just 20 states collect comprehensive data
on work-based learning participation, including
student outcomes. Virginia, for example, oers
11 types of work-based learning experiences
and collects data on all types, including
demographics and special populations, three
times a year through its Master Schedule
Collection and Student Record Collections
processes. Tennessee has created the WBL
Student Placement Portal, in which all work-
based learning programs are required to share
information about work-based learning student
participation and outcomes.
States need to be able to disaggregate
data to ensure high-quality work-based
learning opportunities are accessed at similar
rates across dierent student groups, with no
equity gaps. Most states can disaggregate
CTE program data, which frequently includes
work-based learning program data. Fewer
have comprehensive data systems that allow
them to both capture and disaggregate data
for all work-based learning programming, in
and out of CTE courses. To identify trends in
work-based learning participation, just 11 states
can disaggregate that comprehensive data by
gender, ethnicity, income, geography, and type
of experience (e.g., industry sector, internship
vs. apprenticeship, etc.) at a minimum. For
example, Virginia’s Master Schedule Collection
referenced above captures work-based
learning participation by gender, ethnicity,
English learners, students with disabilities,
economically disadvantaged, military connected,
unaccompanied homeless, youth in foster care,
single parents, nontraditional students, and
out of workforce. School districts can access
subgroup-level student data for each work-
based learning experience.
As part of its annual CTE report, Iowa
disaggregates work-based learning participation
data over time by school size and service area,
student grade level and gender. The report
also makes comparisons across the same
categories for work-based learning participation
and general CTE participation. Maryland
collects work-based learning data through its
accountability system and disaggregates those
data by student demographics. In addition,
Maryland collects some student-level data
through a work-based learning survey system
and disaggregates the data by gender, race,
and experience type, among other factors. The
BEST PRACTICE:
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 26
Maryland Department of Education is in the
process of developing a dashboard to make its
survey data publicly available.
The use of disaggregated data to identify
gaps and barriers at the state and/or local
level is a critical component of a continuous
improvement feedback loop. A handful of states
use work-based learning data to inform state
planning eorts related to CTE programs as part
of their Perkins plans, while just two states have
developed comprehensive, statewide program
improvement processes using work-based
learning data. South Carolina, for example,
produces an annual work-based learning report
that uses data to identify gaps in and barriers to
work-based learning programming statewide.
The state uses these data to inform policy and
program changes to strengthen the state’s
approach to work-based learning. Washington’s
Career Connect Washington captures
disaggregated data for all of its Career Launch
programs and uses those data to identify gaps
in programming, inform its overarching strategy,
and provide additional support, resources, and
assistance to individual programs as needed.
Without strong data collection, reporting,
and analysis processes, it is impossible for
states to identify trends in work-based learning
participation and outcomes or to understand
how current policies and practices may
create opportunities or challenges for certain
communities, districts, student groups, or
employers aecting participation and outcomes.
DEEP DIVE
Tennessee
TENNESSEE STATE LEADERS implemented the Work-based Learning
Student Placement Portal (the Portal) in the 2016-17 school year. The
impetus for its creation, which was introduced at the same time as the
WBL Student Exit Survey (the Exit Survey), was to gather more detailed
information about the types of work-based learning student placements
statewide, the duration of placements, the nature of the placements,
alignment with students’ areas of elective focus, and placement outcomes.
Prior to the 2016-17 school year, student enrollment data, which includes
disaggregated demographic information by State Student ID Number, was
the only data source used by the department.
The overarching goal of adding the Portal and the Exit Survey was
to gather additional data to paint a clearer picture of what work-based
learning looks like locally, regionally, and statewide. The Portal tracks
all types of work-based learning experiences, including Apprenticeship,
Health Science Clinical, Internship, Paid Work Experience, School-Based
Enterprise, School District Placement, Service-Learning, Supervised
CHAPTER 8
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 27
Agriculture Experience, Cooperative Education and Special Education
Transition. The data collected through enrollment reports, the Portal, and
the Exit Survey identifiesenrollmentnumbers, demographics, gaps in
services, alignment to academic focus, continued employmentand more,
helping to answer the following questions:
a. How many students are enrolled in work-based learning courses?
b. What are the demographics of the students enrolled in work-
based learning courses (students with disabilities, economically
disadvantaged, Black/Hispanic/Native American, CTE concentrators,
English Language Learners)?
c. What gaps exist in special populations, and how can we close those
gaps?
d. What percentage of students’ work-based learning experiences align
with their area of elective focus? (Tennessee defines a capstone work-
based learning experience as any work-based learning experience
that is aligned with a student’s program of study or concentration,
equates to a full-time equivalent credit, and facilitates intentional
progress toward the attainment of knowledge and skills necessary to
pursue the student’s postsecondary and career goals.)
e. How many students continue their employment at their work-based
learning placement beyond the end of the term/course, and are there
trends by demographic/LEA/region in these outcomes?
f. (Specifically through the Exit Survey) Are students’ documented
experiences congruent with work-based learning coordinators’
depictions of student experiences/quality of their programs?
g. Which employers are continuing/growing partnerships with work-
based learning programs? Which employers are not?
Matthew Spinella, Director of Work-based Learning & Industry Engagement
in the Division of College, Career and Technical Education at the
Tennessee Department of Education, says that with this information, the
department is examining which LEAs/regions outperform others and why;
how the department can leverage successful implementation strategies
in these LEAs/regions to build capacity statewide; which employers are
most involved with work-based learning; and what specific components
of work-based learning should be areas of focus for future work-based
learning coordinator trainings. “The department requires work-based
learning coordinators to complete an initial certification training before
they can oversee a work-based learning program and complete a
CHAPTER 8
The
overarching
goal of adding
the Portal and
the Exit Survey
was to gather
additional
data to paint
a clearer
picture of what
work-based
learning looks
like locally,
regionally, and
statewide.
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 28
recertification training every two years,” explains Spinella. “Data collected
from enrollment reports, the Portal, the Exit Survey, and feedback from
LEAs dictates what new content is included in recertification trainings to
keep the content relevant and useful.”
According to Spinella, Tennessee measures success in its high school
work-based learning programs through three main measures: climbing
enrollment trends; steady growth in capstone work-based learning
experiences, both overall and by demographic; and increasing numbers of
participating employers.
Tennessee has used the data collected to inform changes in both
work-based learning policy and programming. For example, an increase
in demand for student hours has led to State Board of Education Rule
updates, increasing the number of work-based learning
credits a student can earn in a school year from two to three.
Additionally, a new State Workforce Development Board
policy codifying Tennessee Certified Pre-Apprenticeships
was approved in 2021 to increase the number of capstone
work-based learning experiences. Spinella says in terms
of shifts in programming, his department has implemented
targeted trainings, focused on improving outcomes for
student subgroups and/or highlighting promising practices
based on data, at several Tennessee educator events,
including the Summer Institute for CTE Educators, the School
Counselor and Administrator Leadership Institute, the Partners in Education
Summit, and Work-based Learning Certification and Recertification
Networking Events.
Beyond data collection and analysis, Spinella reports there is more
broadly a lot of momentum behind work-based learning in Tennessee as a
result of inter-agency and public-private collaboration, including four major
initiatives:
1. The State Workforce Development Board has a specific workgroup
dedicated to improving apprenticeships and work-based learning
statewide.
2. The Tennessee Chamber of Commerce has created TN CAPS, a
resource that helps connect local businesses with K-12 LEAs by
providing educators with resources that promote career awareness
within the community, leading to an increase in work-based learning
opportunities.
CHAPTER 8
Beyond data collection
and analysis, Spinella
reports there is more
broadly a lot of momentum
behind work-based
learning in Tennessee
as a result of inter-
agency and public-private
collaboration.
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 29
3. The state has created Innovative High School Models Grants, which
promote forward-thinking collaboration between LEAs and employers.
4. The state has created School-Based Enterprise, Middle School STEM,
and Middle School CTE Start-Up and Expansion Grants, which help
students with barriers to accessing o-campus work-based learning
placements gain access to school-based capstone work-based
learning experiences.
CHAPTER 8
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 30
WASHINGTON – APPLYING
MULTIPLE BEST PRACTICES
CHAPTER 9
9
THE STATE OF WASHINGTON is a leader when
it comes to many of the best practices laid out
in this playbook. In a relatively short period of
time, Washington has established dedicated
state funding and a policy framework, strong
infrastructure and supports, and clear quality and
accountability expectations for its work-based
learning programs.
In Washington, only about 40% of students
go past high school to complete a credential
or a degree, but the state’s economy and job
market demand that about 70% of students
do so. So in 2017, Governor Inslee launched
the Career Connected Learning initiative,
inspired by a trip to Switzerland where he
brought together a cross sector delegation
of leaders from business, education, labor,
nonprofit and philanthropy to observe the Swiss
apprenticeship system. Leaders came away
impressed by a Swiss system that is high quality,
seen as equivalent to academic pathways, is
choice-based, and is permeable so that when
students leave high school, they can continue
academically or hop right into the workplace.
Career Connected Learning started with
the goal of connecting100,000 Washington
youthover five yearswith career connected
learning opportunities that prepare them for
high-demand, high wage jobs. A Career Connect
Washington (CCW) Task Force was formed to
perform a year of strategy work in 2018, meeting
with key stakeholder groups, conducting
focus groups with parents and students, and
presenting at conferences and meetings
around the state. The Task Force’s learnings
were then the basis of Washington’s plan for
the vision, framework and strategic approach
to implementing career connected learning
statewide.
In 2019 Washington passed legislation, the
Workforce Education Investment Act, a policy
framework for a three-step continuum of career
connected learning: Explore, Prep and Launch.
As of spring 2022, WEIA also provided $46
million in state operating and capital funding
over the FY19-23 period to make CCW a reality.
Today, CCW coordinates nine regional
networks to lead career connected learning
eorts across the state. CCW also provides state
and federally funded performance-oriented
grants to program intermediaries to help with
start-up funding, technical assistance, and
program design parameters for “Career Launch”
programming. These intermediaries work
backwards from real jobs in the current labor
market to build curriculum based on required
skillsets and design programs that will work for
both students and employers. Career Launch
work-based experiences are meaningful, paid,
connect to a real job, and also give the student
either an industry credential or at least a year’s
worth of college credit. Career Launch programs
include, but are not limited to, State Registered
Apprenticeship programs. Washington has the
ambitious goal of ensuring that 60 percent of the
class of 2030 will participate in a Career Launch
program by age 29.
CCW is also committed to equitable access
and ensuring work-based learning pathways
are available to each Washington student.
DEEP DIVE:
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 31
They strive to reach students furthest from
opportunity, particularly those who have been
disenfranchised already in the education system.
“Centering equity is really both challenge and
best practice for us,” says Maud Daudon, CCW
Executive Leader. “We have been steadfast in
our eort to try to build this as an anti-racist
system. Our goal is to ensure that not only do
all demographics enroll in our programs at
the same pace as their portion of the general
population of students, but that they also
complete and continue into family-wage jobs or
academic pathways.”
In just its first few years, the CCW eort has
achieved some major milestones: establishing
nine Regional Networks to serve as career
connected learning hubs in their regions;
enrolling nearly 13,000 students under the
age of 30 in Career Launch; and funding
approximately 60 intermediaries to expand or
develop career connected learning programs
in manufacturing, agriculture/food processing,
automotive maintenance, construction, health
care, hospitality, information technology, and
maritime trades. To date, over 100 programs
have been endorsed as Career Launch,
including 33 Registered Apprenticeship
programs. CCW also has supported virtual
career exploration during the pandemic by
launching CareerConnect@Home, which
featured one or more employers each day for
six weeks during the start of the pandemic. The
virtual series garnered 8,500+ viewers.
In many ways, what sets CCW’s approach
apart is its focus on being a movement rather
than a lone entity or organization. CCW leaders
are intent on integrating existing players in the
work-based learning space into their eorts,
recognizing the substantial work many of
them have done in this arena over the years.
“We want to empower the people who are
closest to this work in the state, who already
love and support and want to engage in it and
then therefore want it to continue and grow,”
explains Daudon. “A best practice, for us, has
been a dynamic combination of a distributed,
decentralized leadership model and high-quality
rigor, because it’s resulted in so much buy-
in across so many dierent sectors. The way
we’ve approached things in Washington has
been to employ all the assets the state already
has and not try to reinvent anything, so we look
at ourselves as a gap filler rather than a holistic
new thing. We stress that we are here to help
by elevating things to the relevant agencies, by
helping bring employer partners to the table,
by bringing additional funding resources, by
even enshrining legislation terminology, and
so on. Another benefit of our decentralized
approach has been that we now have hundreds
of champions, literally, who live and breathe
career connected learning and Career Connect
Washington in their work.”
CHAPTER 9
A best practice, for us, has been a
dynamic combination of a distributed,
decentralized leadership model and
high-quality rigor, because it’s resulted
in so much buy-in across so many
dierent sectors.”
MAUD DAUDON
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 32
LOOKING AHEAD
THE PAST TWO years in a worldwide pandemic
threatened to disrupt work-based learning on a
wide scale, at a time when it’s more important
than ever to find ways to engage students in
learning and ensure they are future ready. But
educators, employers and students instead
showed tremendous resilience, innovating
virtual work-based learning experiences that,
unconstrained by geographic proximity, actually
expanded student access. Pioneering work-
based learning programs took advantage of
the pandemic as a learning opportunity and
engaged students to develop solutions to real-
world problems. Many students made significant
contributions at their workplace and had
meaningful interactions with their employers,
learning valuable remote work skills for the
21
st
-century workplace. Virtual work-based
learning opportunities will no doubt continue to
exist side-by-side with in-person oerings in the
years ahead.
Now, work-based learning stands on the
precipice of an even larger period of expansion
and growth. Educators struggling to re-engage
students after the pandemic “lost” years
are turning to career-connected education
as a tool to energize and retain students
with hands-on learning, showing them the
connections between classroom and the real
world. Simultaneously, federal COVID relief
funding provided to schools and states may
be just the catalyst needed to spark robust
investment in work-based learning as an
education and workforce development tool.
ASA will continue to monitor states’ progress in
work-based learning policy and programming
over the upcoming months and years, and
we look forward to working together with you
– the educators, employers, youth-serving
organizations, state and federal policymakers
who make it all possible - to increase the number
of states committed to ensuring youth have
equitable access to robust, high-quality work-
based learning programs.
LOOKING AHEAD
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 33
Notes
1 Johnson, K. “High School Internships: A Field Overview.” American Student Assistance research,
July 2020.
2 “Spotlight on High School Internships.” American Student Assistance, 2020. https://www.asa.org/
research-study/spotlight-on-high-school-internships/
3 Martha Ross, Richard Kazis, Nicole Bateman, and Laura Stateler. “Work-Based Learning
Can Advance Equity and Opportunity for America’s Young People.” Brookings Metropolitan
Policy Program, 2020. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/20201120_
BrookingsMetro_Work-based-learning_Final_Report.pdf.
4 Some descriptions of best practice state examples are based on the initial state-by-state
research conducted in 2020 for the Working to Learn report. Updates on state processes or
progress made on work-based learning initiatives since that time can be reported to ASA at
[email protected], for inclusion in future reports.
5 “Bridging the Skills Gap: Career and Technical Education in High School.” US Department of
Education, September 2019. https://www2.ed.gov/datastory/cte/index.html
6 As of September 2022, WECEP will be consolidated into New York’s existing General Education
Work Experience Program: http://www.nysed.gov/memo/career-technical-education/updates-
registered-work-based-learning-wbl-programs
HIGH SCHOOL WORK-BASED LEARNING: A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE 34
