For high school students, career and technical education is an important bridge to the future: It offers the opportunity to gain authentic, hands-on work experience before making a commitment to training, higher education, or employment. Work-based learning (WBL) allows young people to learn about careers, experience what it’s like to work in a particular field, and acquire the technical and workplace skills valued by employers.

When many people hear about WBL, they picture internships or apprenticeships in the field. But these options are not always accessible or feasible. Luckily, there are other learning experiences that fall under the umbrella of WBL and still provide meaningful and practical work experience.

A Growing Federal and State Focus

Recognizing the benefits of WBL, Congress introduced participation in WBL as an optional indicator in the 2018 reauthorization of the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V). States have responded by voluntarily adopting WBL as one of their secondary program quality indicators: Twenty-six states, the District of Columbia, Palau, and Puerto Rico assess student participation in work as a metric of program effectiveness.

These and other states are adopting new policies and partnering with employers to expand student access to WBL experiences. Attracting special attention are apprenticeship and internship: the gold standards of placement. States are scaling offerings in traditional fields, such as registered apprenticeships in the trades, and creating new placement opportunities in technology, health care, and business and finance.

The Limitations of Apprenticeship and Internship for Young Adults

Unfortunately, while apprenticeships and internships offer peak career-connected learning experiences, they may have limited reach. Although labor market shortages exist in many fields, high school students are not a viable option to fill most skilled worker gaps. Nearly three-fifths (56 percent) of high school graduates earned fewer than two credits in a single CTE pathway, suggesting that few have the requisite skills to function at an advanced level. Insurance and safety issues also complicate placing students in the field, as do school scheduling and transportation issues. And while finding a job is an important part of growing up, so are other activities: after-school sports and clubs, homework, family time and responsibilities, and downtime to decompress and socialize with friends.

Creative WBL Opportunities

To offer all young people authentic work experiences where they can practice workplace skills, educators need to expand their WBL repertoire to include alternatives to apprenticeship and internship. A continuum of closer-to-home approaches could include:

• School-based enterprise: Students run a business housed within their school, such as a café, greenhouse, or store
• Simulated workplace: Young people carry out work assignments in a classroom lab or setting mirroring that of an employer
• Virtual placements: Students interact with employers using digital tools to structure communications
• Project-based learning: Employers pose an actual workplace problem that students are charged to solve

Educators could also partner with employers in the community that already employ high school workers. Common after-school jobs—like those in retail or food service—might initially seem disconnected to long-term goals, but they offer ample opportunities for students to apply academic and technical skills learned in the classroom. With a little creativity and support (e.g., release and planning time), educators and employers can collaborate to align school and work to add relevance and context to what otherwise might be a disconnected experience. Even when these jobs are not technically advanced, they can provide space for students to develop transferrable skills that are crucial for workplace success. Employers consistently name basic skills like punctuality, communication, critical thinking, and collaboration as critical for entry-level workers.

Scaling and Flexibility for Success

Scaling WBL will require careful planning by educators. This begins with designing experiences that offer a structured environment for learning, including learning standards, curricula, and assessments that align to contemporary workplace practice. Students should be observed and graded by both employers and educators, who collaborate to help them understand acceptable work expectations and behaviors. In addition, it is important to use data to identify patterns of student participation and persistence: These patterns can help educators and employers assess how successful WBL opportunities are in preparing young people for careers.

No one WBL approach will work for all students. Young people with well-defined career aspirations should be supported in pursuing advanced studies and, where possible, placed in an apprenticeship or internship with a partnering employer. Students with diverse interests should be offered WBL experiences that allow them to practice work skills in an authentic setting, which may cross over to differing fields. And those who have yet to identify a career interest or want to attend college after graduation should have options to explore careers and what it means to work.

To ensure that all young people are prepared for careers, we need to broaden our idea of what makes a quality WBL experience and create new options so that all students—not just those concentrating in a CTE program of study—have a chance to benefit.

Steve Klein is a senior expert in career and technical education (CTE) at Education Northwest. For more than 30 years, he has worked with federal and state agencies, school districts, and colleges to design improved performance accountability, finance, and career pathways systems for CTE.

Sam Riggs is a leader and researcher at Education Northwest. He uses research and evaluation to identify opportunities to ensure that all students can access and succeed in CTE and postsecondary education. Sam draws on his technical skills and professional experience to ensure that his research findings are accessible and actionable.