Join 社区黑料 and the Progressive Policy Institute at 2 p.m. ET Tuesday for a special conversation about how apprenticeships can better prepare young people for success in a changing economy 鈥� and what policymakers need to do to ensure every student gets a strong start on the path to a good job.

PPI鈥檚 Bruno Manno will be joined by Adele Burns, chief of the California Division of Apprenticeship Standards; Chris Harrington, director of ApprenticeshipNC; Taylor White, director of postsecondary pathways for youth at New America; and a pair of young apprentices.

Sign up for the Zoom or tune in to this page Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET to stream the event.

Related coverage on 社区黑料: 

• Apprenticeships Aimed at Boosting Child Care Careers Have Been Flourishing
  
• 鈥楽tage Is Shifting Rapidly鈥� for High Schools: Are States Helping Them Keep Up?
  
• What鈥檚 a College Degree Worth? It Depends on the Major
  
• Coalition Hopes to 鈥楢ccelerate鈥� Career Training, Apprenticeships

Students across the country will soon be able to receive Workforce Pell Grants to use toward tuition and fees for certain short-term workforce training programs.

Established by the in 2025, Workforce Pell Grants expand traditional to programs that are between 8-15 weeks, lead to a high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand job, result in a recognized postsecondary credential, and articulate credit into a certificate or degree program, among other requirements.

In December, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) held a process to develop new rules for Workforce Pell Grants. In one week, negotiators reached an agreement on , which will be used as the basis of DOE鈥檚 forthcoming consensus rule. That consensus rule will be open to public comment before a final rule is published.

In the meantime, states are working to identify potentially eligible programs ahead of Workforce Pell鈥檚 anticipated launch on July 1, 2026. States play a critical role in implementing Workforce Pell 鈥� under the law and proposed regulations, governors must approve any eligible program before a federal approval process takes place.

However, during a Feb. 11 meeting of the , Jeff Cox, president of the N.C. Community College System, expressed caution about the number of programs that may ultimately qualify for Workforce Pell in the state due to the program鈥檚 federally-established . Eligible programs must demonstrate a 70% completion rate, a 70% job placement rate within 180 days, and a positive return on investment, demonstrated through a value-added .

鈥淛ust out of these initial screens 鈥� the number of hours and then the job placement and the completion rates 鈥� I think only about 4% or so of our overall short-term credential programs are going to qualify,鈥� Cox said.

The status of Workforce Pell in North Carolina

During its February meeting, the council heard an update on the status of Workforce Pell Grant implementation in North Carolina from Andrea DeSantis, assistant secretary for workforce solutions at the N.C. Department of Commerce.

DeSantis opened with an overview of Workforce Pell Grants, highlighting that they provide a new opportunity to quickly move students into the workforce through short-term training programs, but that eligible programs must meet high standards.

鈥淭his is really a huge departure from the way that federal funding happens right now and the accountability measures for institutions,鈥� DeSantis said.

DeSantis then outlined the federal timeline for Workforce Pell, noting that she participated as an alternate negotiator during DOE鈥� negotiated rulemaking process in December. DOE鈥檚 goal is to have a final rule by the spring, and according to , the program should launch on July 1.

鈥淭hat timeline is going to move quick, and that means us as states, we have to move quickly too,鈥� DeSantis said. 鈥淲hat will that mean in July? While we have not heard official dates from the Department of Ed, it means that the Department of Ed intends to be able to start reviewing applications from institutions that have programs that were approved at the state level.鈥�

As states consider potentially eligible programs, DeSantis said that it is not the federal government鈥檚 expectation that all short-term training programs will be eligible for Workforce Pell. Instead, she said, 鈥渟tates should take this as an opportunity to say, 鈥榃hat are the needs in communities, and what programs are really essential for us to improve and fund?’鈥�

DeSantis then provided an update on where North Carolina stands in Workforce Pell implementation. Since November 2025, staff from the Governor鈥檚 Office, Department of Commerce, and higher education agencies have worked with , a national consulting firm, to develop the state鈥檚 Workforce Pell approach.

This includes:

• Defining what a high-wage, high-skill, or in-demand job is: DeSantis said these definitions will build off assets from the within the N.C. Department of Commerce. To define in-demand jobs, DeSantis said LEAD has pulled a list of occupations that are in-demand at both the state and local levels. She added that high-skill jobs are those that require a license or additional postsecondary credential, and that no definition has been determined yet for what qualifies as a high-wage job. Importantly, to be eligible for Workforce Pell, a program must lead to a job that meets at least one of these three criteria. For example, a job that is in-demand but low-wage could still be eligible.
• Defining stackability and portability: These are two additional federal requirements for Workforce Pell 鈥� programs must result in a recognized credential, and they must articulate credit into a related certificate or degree program.
• Developing an application process: DeSantis said the group will also develop an application process that accounts for the data that a program must report and the high standards it must meet to qualify for Workforce Pell. 鈥淗ow do we leverage existing assets within the Department of Commerce and our as a potential pathway for institutions to apply?鈥� DeSantis said.
• Determining how Workforce Pell can be leveraged for apprenticeships: DeSantis said that Workforce Pell can be used to cover portions of the cost of related instruction for a Reegistered Apprenticeship Program, which is a component of the policy the group is working on.

In April, the state hopes to have a draft policy and application for Workforce Pell that would be available for public comment. On May 13, the , the state鈥檚 workforce development board, would review the policy and application.

鈥淎ssuming that the federal level has put out their final guidance, we would then plan to have an application available sometime in late May,鈥� said DeSantis. 鈥淭his would give us enough time to approve initial applications before the July deadline.鈥�

DeSantis also noted that the N.C. Community College System (NCCCS) has already published an initial , which is part of the system鈥檚 . This list includes short-term workforce courses and credentials that meet the time limits required by Workforce Pell 鈥� but not all of those programs will necessarily meet the grant鈥檚 additional eligibility requirements.

鈥淚nstitutions have received individualized data to see, 鈥極K, which programs do we offer at our own institutions 鈥� not just across the state 鈥� that we think could be eligible for Workforce Pell,鈥� based on the hour requirements, as well as that completion and job placement data, which is going to be really important,鈥� said DeSantis.

Although all Workforce Pell programs must have existed in their current format for at least one year, DeSantis said this is an opportunity for community colleges to have conversations with employers and consider what new programs or adjustments to current programs may be needed to meet workforce needs in the coming years.

鈥淭his is expected to be a slow start,鈥� DeSantis said of Workforce Pell鈥檚 launch. 鈥淭his is not intended to approve every program, but to really be about intentional design at the state and local level.鈥�

Cox echoed that sentiment, saying he is 鈥渁 little bit underwhelmed鈥� by the number of programs that may qualify for Workforce Pell.

鈥淚鈥檓 excited about it, but I also want to inject a little bit of caution around the level of impact we鈥檙e going to have right out of the gate,鈥� he said.

Updates on the council鈥檚 work

In addition to hearing this update on Workforce Pell, the council also reflected on its work in 2025 and discussed other key efforts that will help advance its goals.

In June 2025, the council outlining the state鈥檚 goals for workforce development, which are separated into four objectives: increasing attainment, expanding work-based education, focusing on key sectors, and highlighting workforce programs through a public outreach campaign. In December, the council released a that outlines 30 strategies to advance those goals.

Then, in January, the council鈥檚 co-chairs joined Gov. Josh Stein at an event to announce the state鈥檚 ranking as first for workforce development by .

鈥淲e now stand at a pivotal moment where strategy development is transitioning into action,鈥� said N.C. Secretary of Commerce Lee Lilley, who is also a council co-chair, at the February meeting. 鈥淎s we move forward today, our focus shifts toward implementation, accountability, and metrics, translating these strategies into meaningful outcomes for North Carolina鈥檚 workforce.鈥�

The council heard a short presentation on how the relates to the work of the council.

Annie Izod, executive director of the NCWorks Commission, shared that as of February, the council and NCWorks Commission had aligned each entities鈥� four committees. In December 2026, the council committees will sunset, and the NCWorks Commission will continue to monitor progress toward the state鈥檚 workforce development goals.

New funding for youth apprenticeships

On Feb. 10, Stein announced that he is directing discretionary funds allotted through the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to to expand youth apprenticeships.

According to a , NC Career Launch 鈥渉elps businesses develop registered apprenticeship programs for students beginning in grades 11 and 12 in high-demand sectors like child care, health care, skilled trades, and advanced manufacturing.鈥�

This investment is connected to one of the council鈥檚 : to double the number of apprentices in the state, including both registered apprenticeships and apprenticeships. According to , youth apprenticeships can begin as early as 16 and are available in more than 1,200 occupations.

During the council鈥檚 February meeting, Kindl Detar, policy adviser to Stein, said youth apprenticeships allow employers to grow local talent early before students may drop out of the , and they allow students to earn and learn with pathways to career opportunities in their local communities.

According to Detar, the first year of the investment will focus on expanding existing youth apprenticeship programs that have wait lists and on expanding youth apprenticeships in the western part of the state as it continues to recover from .

鈥淲e know that making these apprenticeships work will require engagement from our employers,鈥� said Detar. 鈥淚n his announcement yesterday, the governor had a special call-out to employers to think about how these models of youth apprenticeships 鈥� can be beneficial to them, to not only provide opportunity, but to create that local workforce that they need.鈥�

NCCareers.org sees record number of users

First launched in July 2020, is the state鈥檚 career information system. It aggregates key information on jobs, wages, and pathways, providing career exploration tools to help North Carolinians on their education-to-workforce journey.

During the council鈥檚 meeting, Jamie Vaughn, senior analyst for market intelligence at the North Carolina Department of Commerce, shared that the website had 1 million users in the last 12 months 鈥� representing 95% growth from the previous year.

The website has information on wages and demand across more than 800 occupations that can be sorted by 16 sub-state regions. According to Vaughn, more than half of school districts in the state are to help meet the that all middle and high school students complete a career development plan.

Vaughn also previewed new features that will be added to the website, including business listings of local companies that may hire employees in specific occupations, and information to help high school students better understand what CTE courses are available at their school that will lead to CTE pathways.

Cecilia Holden, president and CEO of , said that one component of myfutureNC鈥檚 proposed Workforce Act of 2026 for the legislative short session is $1.5 million for NCCareers.org, which would equate to $1.50 per user based on 1 million annual users.

For more information on NCCareers.org, see this

The council鈥檚 next meeting will be held on May 13 from 10 to 11:30 a.m.

This first appeared on and is republished here under a .

The governor鈥檚 convened on Thursday in Raleigh to discuss and vote on strategies that were drafted to achieve 11 goals related to workforce development in North Carolina.

In a , the council discussed the goals, .

A slew of strategies were approved in a voice vote that will be packaged into a comprehensive report to be sent to Gov. Josh Stein by Dec. 15. But 鈥渢hat does not end our work on this council,鈥� said N.C. Secretary of Commerce Lee Lilley. All strategies that were presented at the meeting were approved.

The workforce goals are all on a four-year timeline, and the council will submit annual progress reports for the next three years. Lilley said the goals are time-limited, actionable, and measurable.

鈥淭hose reports will measure the progress we鈥檝e made on all of these goals,鈥� he said.

that contained reports on the strategies put together by the council鈥檚 subcommittees reiterated the vision for the council鈥檚 efforts.

After the strategies were approved, myFutureNC presented a proposal for a 鈥淲orkforce Act,鈥� a framework that would also contribute toward the goals outlined by the council.

Below, find an outline of the strategies approved by the council to meet its workforce goals, which are categorized by the following groups:

• Education and credential attainment,
• Work-based learning and apprenticeships,
• Employer and sector partnerships, and
• Governing and aligning a future-ready workforce.

Education and credential Attainment

Goals:

1. Ensure 2 million North Carolinians ages 25-44 will have earned an industry-valued credential or degree.

2. By graduation, every high school student will have completed coursework that results in transferable credit or credentials/certifications in preparation for the postsecondary pathway of their choice. The coursework includes dual enrollment, Career & Technical Education (CTE) concentrator, Junior Reserve Officers鈥� Training Corps (JROTC), Advanced Placement/ International Baccalaureate, and work-based learning courses.

3. For graduating high school students, increase postsecondary enrollment, employment, or enlistment in the military within 12 months of high school graduation.

To address those goals, the council approved the following strategies:

• Continue to develop and expand an interoperable data system (e.g., digital transcripts), that allows for real-time, seamless transitions across education, workforce and licensure pathways, along with robust tracking to understand and evaluate learner-level outcomes.
• Further align the state鈥檚 industry-valued credentials list with employer demand and expand access to relevant credentials. Leverage the list to support implementation of Workforce Pell.
• Strengthen and coordinate programs that ensure learners are on track and reengage adults who stop before finishing a credential or degree. Create clear and consistent ways to give credit for prior learning, military service, and work experience.
• Align and strategically expand funding and partnerships to support learners with essential needs like child care, transportation, food, and housing, especially for people in rural communities, justice-involved people, people with disabilities, and veterans and their families.
• Promote awareness and increase uptake of , and the NC Need-Based Scholarship to provide direct admission to North Carolina colleges and universities and financial aid to support the cost of attendance, making financial aid more flexible to cover tuition, credentials, and licensing costs 鈥� especially in high-demand career fields.
• Review and adjust high school course quality points system, encouraging parity across prioritized course types (Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate/Cambridge International Education, Career and Technical Education, and Junior Reserve Officers鈥� Training Corps).
• Ensure every K-12 student develops a meaningful career development plan, supported by well-trained advisors across schools, colleges, and workforce programs. Expand successful advising models, such as Advise NC and the NC Career Coach program, to more high schools, so all students receive high-quality guidance as they explore and prepare for their future.
• Increase the number of school counselors to ensure that North Carolina meets the American School Counselor Association student-to-counselor ratio of 250 to 1.

Cecilia Holden, president and CEO of myFutureNC, commented on the strategies as she presented them. Referring to the data system to transition students across education, workforce, and licensure pathways, she said the current systems are 鈥渄isparate.鈥�

She also said that employers say not all credentials have equal value, and that the state should prioritize higher-value credentials.

Work-based learning and apprenticeships

Goals:

4. Double the number of registered apprentices.

5. Increase participation in work-based learning.

6. Engage 50,000 employers to partner with the governor鈥檚 Council on Workforce and Apprenticeships on achieving its goals.

7. Establish and expand coordinated partnerships between education and workforce agencies and employers to increase alignment of resources to better address current and projected employer needs.

To address those goals, the council approved the following strategies:

• Develop an employer-centered model for shared training and education of talent, to create a unified, statewide, tiered employer engagement system that incentivizes varying levels of employer participation.
• Leverage existing state and local business councils, professional associations, etc. to identify barriers to the expansion of apprenticeships and work-based learning, build strategic partnerships, and recommend incentives for pre-apprenticeships, apprenticeships, and work-based learning opportunities.
• When possible, embed credentials and degrees into apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships programs.
• Explore opportunities to strengthen and integrate Perkins V K-14 Business Advisory Councils and local area workforce development boards to formalize commitments and shared goals among education and workforce partners.
• Across agencies, review policies and procedures to reduce regulatory burdens for employers and update policies and procedures to foster an aligned multisector ecosystem that supports ApprenticeshipNC and partners.
• Secure stable and sustainable funding to organizations that will expand apprenticeships and work-based learning to include ApprenticeshipNC, NCWorks, NC Department of Adult Correction, NC Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, and the NC Department of Health and Human Services, to meet the needs of employers as they serve people in rural communities, justice-involved people, people with disabilities, and veterans and their families.
• Grow and unify workforce professionals supporting students and engage Community Based Organizations (CBOs) in supporting priority populations and rural populations to address barriers, so that more North Carolinians can gain access to education and training that will lead to advancement opportunities.
• Extend the existing Youth Apprenticeship Tuition Waiver to all apprentices regardless of participation in a pre-apprenticeship program.

The council also approved the following additional strategies:

• Create the Apprenticeship County Match Fund that provides matching funding to counties that support registered apprenticeships by paying the related instruction at community colleges in partnership with companies who pay apprenticeship wages. Funds would be matched on a sliding scale basis based on a county鈥檚 Tier designation.
• Implement a tax credit for companies on the wages spent on apprenticeship salaries.
• Launch Apprenticeships UNC that creates new apprenticeship opportunities in areas like industrial maintenance, skilled trades, scientific associate research roles, and health care occupations (where relevant) in partnership with area community colleges.

The additional strategies were raised by J.B. Buxton, president of . When pitching the Apprenticeship County Match Fund, Buxton said that Wake County funds Wake Technical Community College to pay for related instruction for apprentices.

He also noted that because North Carolina is phasing out its corporate income tax, a tax credit for companies may not be necessary.

Employer engagement and sector partnerships

Goals:

8. Create statewide sector-based workforce development strategies for at least three key industries, including, but not limited to, advanced manufacturing, education, and health care.

9. Develop a plan to integrate AI skills development into sector-based strategies and work-based learning in key industries to build a future-ready workforce.

10. Reduce state government vacancy rate to 15%.

To address those goals, the council approved the following strategies:

• Create a governance structure to organize existing industry groups, leaders, and councils within advanced manufacturing, education, and health care to develop and refine statewide sector strategies.
• Equip local and regional stakeholders with the tools, knowledge, and support needed to implement and scale sector-based strategies aligned with statewide sector strategies.
• In collaboration with the North Carolina AI Leadership Council, develop an AI curriculum addressing needs from K-12 to postsecondary that can be integrated into existing coursework to support AI fluency for all North Carolinians, especially people in rural communities, justice-involved people, people with disabilities, and veterans and their families.
• Work with employers to understand and expand the skills related to AI adoption that are most needed by their current and future workforce.
• Improve public perception and attractiveness of state government jobs, by having a dedicated public relations effort to rebrand state government employment, enhancing competitive compensation, benefits, and opportunities for advancement. Expand the partnership with education institutions to create a workforce pipeline into state government.
• Increase use of work-based learning in state government for high-volume, entry-level positions (nurses, CNAs, direct support professionals, correctional officers, etc.) to utilize apprenticeships and trainee pathways to develop talent and fund continuing education opportunities to support retention and advancement.

The council also approved the following additional strategies:

• Charge Commerce and the regional EDPNC research partnerships to develop a comprehensive and regularly updated labor market information tool on job availability and job projections in the target industry sectors by region.
• Create a Good Jobs and Regional Competitiveness Fund to support aligned sector-based initiatives in the research partnership regions. Capitalize the fund with state funding and philanthropic dollars to serve as risk capital or matching funding to invest in a handful of eligible strategies such as supporting apprenticeship and internship funding, employer roundtables, faculty recruitment and retention in key sectors, etc.
• Launch Early College districts aligned with advanced manufacturing, education, health care, and life sciences that allow students at high schools across a school district to complete community college coursework and pathways that lead to credentials with labor market value and prepare them for jobs in target sectors.
• Develop the NC Advanced Manufacturing Credential that is the equivalent to BioWork to create a consistent and demand-side approved credential for advanced manufacturing firms.
• Add life sciences.

The additional strategies were again pitched by Buxton. He proposed adding life sciences to a list of high-demand fields the council has previously highlighted, which includes advanced manufacturing, health care, and education.

After the presentation, Lilley noted that the state鈥檚 recently met and that the majority of the conversation of that council was about workforce preparedness and 鈥渕inimizing impacts of displacement.鈥�

Governing and aligning a future-ready workforce

Goal:

11. Launch a coordinated statewide public outreach effort to broaden awareness and participation in workforce development programs by employers, learners, jobseekers, and incumbent workers, with an emphasis on reaching under-tapped talent pools like rural communities, veterans and their families, individuals with disabilities, and justice-involved people.

To address this goal, the council approved the following strategies:

• Fully fund an outreach and awareness campaign, built around a unifying theme related to 鈥渙pportunity,鈥� seeking to broaden trust and increase engagement in workforce development services across NC, among both employers and jobseekers.
• Create a single user-friendly platform that incorporates NCWorks.gov, NCcareers.org, and other statewide career resources to better assist users through seamless connectivity, elimination of redundancies, shared reporting, and overall improvement of site performance, data/information quality, and customer service.
• Deliver regular, coordinated training across schools, community colleges, NCWorks Career Centers, and community-based organizations to ensure that all counselors, advisors, and career coaches are fully equipped to guide students toward informed, seamless postsecondary and career pathways.
• Expand access to workforce opportunities that bring career services directly to residents, including people in rural communities, justice-involved people, people with disabilities, and veterans and their families.

Following the presentation of these strategies, multiple council members called for an account of all of the organizations currently working on workforce goals in North Carolina.

鈥淚 see a lot of different groups, entities 鈥� whether it鈥檚 individual hospitals, individual community colleges, school districts, community college partnerships 鈥� a lot of people are kind of doing this and trying to reinvent the same kind of work streams that we鈥檙e talking about. And it strikes me that some of what鈥檚 missing is more of a coordinated effort,鈥� said North Carolina Community College System President Jeff Cox.

myFutureNC calls for a 鈥榃orkforce Act鈥�

Following the council鈥檚 vote to approve the strategies laid out above, representatives from gave a presentation that projected a shortfall on the first goal 鈥� that by 2030, 2 million 25- to 44-year-olds will have completed a high-quality credential or postsecondary degree 鈥� as things stand.

That goal, also called North Carolina鈥檚 postsecondary attainment goal, is laid out in state statute in .

Holden said the number of North Carolinians with high-quality credentials or postsecondary degrees was 1,664,892 in 2023, and though that figure is rising, it is only projected to be 1,945,174 in 2030. Holden also said that if the state wants to celebrate in 2030, the goal will have to be met in 2029, because the data takes a year to process.

Therefore, myFutureNC called for what would be dubbed a 鈥淲orkforce Act,鈥� which is a framework that 鈥渞epresents a roadmap, built on the collective input of all of these stakeholders for what North Carolina can accomplish over the next few years to ensure our state and our economy continues to thrive well into the future,鈥� according to the presentation.

Cory Biggs, director of policy and advocacy for myFutureNC, finished the presentation by noting the importance of robust data collection in order to access the full , which he called 鈥渁 transformational opportunity.鈥�

He said North Carolina will have to accurately track job placement and wage outcomes for workers with credentials funded by Workforce Pell.

鈥淭he thing that I want to flag for you guys today is the fact that we鈥檝e got to get serious about data to implement Workforce Pell well. Otherwise, we鈥檙e going to be leaving money on the table, and nobody in the state wants to do that,鈥� Biggs said.

While it鈥檚 important to think creatively about how to train workers in a variety of industries, too many workers are being locked out of traditional apprenticeships 鈥� ones that promise to open doors for anyone hoping to enter a career in construction. Until we fix this, we鈥檙e leaving talent on the table in an industry .

Currently, the discourse around traditional apprenticeships focuses on the limited number of slots, which is certainly a challenge; but it obfuscates a more troubling issue: the composition of these slots. Apprenticeships in the construction industry are highly selective and essentially designed for the student who is already passing the class. It favors those with pre-existing knowledge or skills, requires advanced coursework with technical content and has cumbersome application processes. If you鈥檙e a student who鈥檚 motivated but needs a little bit of extra help, you鈥檙e being .

So, how do we change this?

Pre-apprenticeships are one answer. These short-term programs provide exposure to multiple careers and employers, build professional and technical skills, connect participants with a mentor and prepare them for entry assessments. Often, participants can leave with industry recognized credentials.

During a six- to eight-week , for example, students might visit union job sites, earn an OSHA certification and come away with both a clearer understanding of what career path fits them best and the confidence that they know what it takes  to enter the workforce. They鈥檙e like internships but better.

High quality pre-apprenticeship programs 鈥� ones that are well-designed and connected to real opportunities like union programs, employers and registered apprenticeships鈥攁re effective in helping people make that leap to the next step in their career journey.

Why then are pre-apprenticeships not more popular? The answer is simple: Programs lack funding. While there are for this, the result is the same: Programs are limited in how many people they can serve and the support they can provide. They also lack capacity to track and collect outcomes data 鈥� and unlike their registered apprenticeship counterparts, aren鈥檛 federally required to do so. That limits a program鈥檚 ability to attract funding, perpetuating the cycle of underinvestment.

But breaking this cycle is possible, if we get creative:

First, let鈥檚 rethink how to finance wraparound support. Transportation, childcare or lost wages 鈥� real barriers that lock many people out 鈥� represent the most expensive but most critical element for learner success. Providing 鈥� like zero-percent loans or emergency lines of credit, designed so that participants only repay if their earnings increase 鈥� would help minimize the financial burden and risk for workers. Unions, trade associations or employers could also partner to repay these loans for participants who join them, creating a mutually beneficial situation: a pipeline of diverse, skilled talent for employers and life-changing access for learners.

Collecting better data is another key step. Until programs can demonstrate a track record of achieving outcomes, they will struggle to grow and scale. In particular, programs must show that they can graduate students and place them into apprenticeships that lead to longer-term employment.

Those steps will help unlock new funding sources. There are plenty of stakeholders who care about economic mobility and want to think creatively about improving our current workforce training system. With evidence showing tangible, improved results from pre-apprenticeship programs, there鈥檚 no reason why these programs can鈥檛 attract additional grants or philanthropic investment.

Making these changes will take partnership and intentional, strategic investment across a wide range of stakeholders 鈥� from employers and unions to government agencies and philanthropy. So, while we expand apprenticeships in other industries, let鈥檚 not lose sight of ensuring the current system reaches its full potential by investing in construction pathways that allow all people to access these opportunities. This will create a ripple effect: helping to bolster the talent pipeline needed to fill in-demand jobs, putting people on the path to economic mobility, and creating best practices other industries can learn from. It鈥檚 a win-win for everyone.

This year鈥檚 edition devotes particular attention to career education, workforce readiness and the critical transition from grades 10-12 鈥� what the report calls 鈥� into employment or further study. The findings are stark: While some countries provide clear pathways from classroom to career, many 鈥� including the United States 鈥� leave too many teenagers unready for the next stage of life.

Released each autumn since 2010, the report compares data from 38 member nations and about a dozen partner economies. The current version covers more than a billion students worldwide. It is filled with tables and charts on topics from preschool enrollment to the wage premium for education and training beyond high school, including diplomas, academic degrees and vocational certificates 鈥� all of which it groups under what it calls tertiary education.

The report confirms that more schooling typically means stronger earnings and more stable employment, and that adults with postsecondary degrees usually enjoy the highest wages and lowest unemployment. Yet it warns that credentials alone are not enough. In every country, a significant share of young people, including some university graduates, lack the literacy, numeracy and digital skills that employers demand.

Depending upon the country, the decisive years for young people are ages 15 to 19, when students finish compulsory schooling and face choices about university, vocational programs or work. The report highlights that upper-secondary programs, whether academic or vocational, are pivotal to workplace success. In systems with strong vocational education and training, young people typically move smoothly into paid apprenticeships that confer recognized credentials.

Programs such as career-focused community college certificates or industry-recognized credentials can serve as effective bridges between high school and either employment or further study. 

Yet many nations, including the United States, lack a systematic and robust tier of such programs that have a direct link with employers, leaving some high school graduates thinking their only option is a university degree.

Finally, the report underscores how background still influences destiny. Students from low-income families or with less-educated parents are markedly less likely to complete degrees or other credentials, or to find stable work after high school. Without intentional policies, career education may widen, not close, opportunity gaps.

The U.S. illustrates both the strengths and the shortcomings that the report highlights. Here are five examples.

1. General versus vocational pathways. Unlike countries such as Switzerland, Germany or Austria, the U.S. typically does not have a distinct, mainstream vocational track in high school. What does exist is usually tucked into career and technical education or electives rather than embedded in a structured vocational education system. This gives U.S. students flexibility but deprives them of an employer-linked route into skilled trades.

2. Apprenticeship numbers are growing but still small. The number of apprenticeship programs in the U.S. has expanded sharply, with over 667,000 active apprentices in 2024. This includes growth beyond the construction trades in fields like health care, information technology and education. Women now make up roughly 14% of participants. Yet relative to the general workforce population, the U.S. is far behind Germany or Switzerland, where the majority of teenagers enter paid apprenticeships that blend classroom and workplace learning.

3. Work-study and youth employment rates. Roughly 1 in 5 U.S. 18- to 24-year-olds report that they combine work and study in some way, which is similar to the OECD average. But that鈥檚 far below leaders like the Netherlands, where just over half do both. And around 14% of U.S. youth are unemployed, or what the report describes as being in the 鈥淣EET鈥� category 鈥� not in education, employment or training 鈥� also around the OECD average.

4. Community colleges and dual enrollment. Many OECD countries have formal and systematic education and training programs that bridge the gap between school and work. In the U.S., community colleges and dual-enrollment programs play this bridging role. Nearly 2.5 million high school students take college courses for credit, and early college high schools show significant in degree attainment. These efforts partially substitute for the formal vocational bridges that are common elsewhere

5. Access and support services. The U.S. also shares OECD鈥檚 concern about young people who are not looking for work. Barriers such as transportation, mental health and caregiving responsibilities often stand in their way. Federal youth programs and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act offer patchwork assistance, but personal supports remain fragmented compared with the integrated guidance available in many European systems.

But examining the findings on high-performing countries illuminates what the U.S. might learn from them. For example, well-structured vocational options need not limit the pursuit of further education that leads to a college degree. This is typically accomplished by creating clear occupational pathways that provide opportunities for students to follow a course sequence that leads to a collection of credentials that eventually lead to a degree. Many graduates of Swiss or German apprenticeships later complete what we would call associate or bachelor鈥檚 degrees.

One illustration of how this earn-and-learn approach is being duplicated in the U.S. is found in the effort to create that integrate on-the-job training with an accredited academic degree. and are two examples.

is Switzerland鈥檚 approach to apprenticeships, where almost 60% of students who would be in the equivalent of U.S. grades 10 to 12 enter vocational programs that combine three to four days a week of paid company training with classroom instruction. Industry groups co-design curricula and pay apprentice wages. The Swiss model also features early career exploration and allows movement between vocational and academic tracks at multiple points. Indiana and Colorado are at the forefront of adapting this model to their states鈥� needs.

The OECD analysis suggests four priorities for American educators and policymakers going forward.

• Make work-based learning a common experience. Opportunities like internships and apprenticeships should be routine for young people in high school, so earning and learning overlap rather than conflict.

• Double down on bridge programs. Continue to expand dual-enrollment and early college high school initiatives, especially for students least likely to complete a four-year degree.

• Implement wraparound supports for vulnerable youth. Integrate career guidance and navigation, transportation and mental-health services with work-based programs to reduce the share of young people who are not working, training or in school.

• Strengthen credential transparency. Ensure that certificates and associate degrees are based on the skills that employers value, reducing mismatches and boosting confidence in non-bachelor鈥檚 routes.

Education at a Glance 2025 makes clear that America鈥檚 young people need more explicit and direct pathways into work 鈥� pathways that blend a strong academic foundation with work-based opportunities. Achieving that will require schools, employers and policymakers to treat the school-to-work transition as a shared responsibility, not an afterthought. Without such deliberate action, too many young people will continue to leave classrooms with diplomas in hand but no clear route to a fulfilling career.

She wanted to earn credentials that would allow her to advance in the field, but it was slow going. Briones, 55, was working 40 hours a week at the San Francisco Bay area child care center and tending to her own family. It was tough to find the time and money to attend classes on a salary of about $15 an hour.

But in 2022, she saw a flyer promoting an at nearby Skyline College and figured it was worth a try. Three years later, she has earned child care credentials that allowed her to be promoted above colleagues who have been working at the center twice as long as her. And that promotion more than doubled her pay. 

The wraparound support from counselors, teachers, peers and mentors, along with the free tuition and on-the-ground learning helped her get 鈥� and stay 鈥� on the right path, she said.

鈥淣ow I know what I need to get done because they are guiding me,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 am motivated to keep moving forward.鈥� 

Briones is part of a of apprenticeships in nontraditional fields. While the apprenticeship model has long been successful in industries such as construction and , over the past decade or so policymakers, educators and industry have focused on how such apprenticeships can be reimagined for careers such as child care. 

In 2001, only a handful of states offered for entry level early childhood education positions, meaning an apprenticeship that鈥檚 approved by 鈥� and therefore eligible for funding by 鈥� the U.S. Department of Labor or a state agency. As of 2023, 35 states now have such regional or statewide programs according to a published by the Bipartisan Policy Center.听

To get approved, a program must meet specific criteria: It must be a paid position as part of a business/employer partnership; have structured on-the-job training; provide instruction related to their field (in early childhood that is typically in a classroom setting); earn guaranteed pay increases and an industry credential.

鈥淲e want to professionalize the field. We want to ensure that we have high quality educators and that they’re supported,鈥� said Binal Patel, executive director of the Boston-based nonprofit , which operates a for early childhood educators in the Boston area. 鈥淗owever, to require degrees without providing the support that goes with it to employees who are making poverty-level wages and often working two [or] three jobs to do so is pushing people out of the field.鈥�

And the country desperately needs child care workers; the number of child care teachers, family care providers and program administrators has dropped from more than 2 million to 1.6 million over the past decade, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center report. But workforce challenges, especially those related to compensation, make it tough to draw people to the field. Child care workers earn less annually than 98% of other occupations and face poverty rates 7.7% higher than public school teachers, the report stated. 

Apprenticeships won鈥檛 fix the myriad problems facing the country鈥檚 child care system. Besides the dramatically low wages for employees, employers struggle with wafer-thin margins and parents with paying the costs of child care. 

But they are a move in the right direction. The Registered Apprenticeship Programs can be operated or sponsored by a variety of organizations, including workforce development agencies, employers, nonprofits, community colleges or unions. 

In better resourced industries, such as manufacturing or technology, employers or unions often cover the costs of apprenticeships. In early childhood education, where there is less funding available, those sponsoring the apprenticeships 鈥� such as Neighborhood Villages 鈥� often rely on a variety of external sources, such as state, federal and private grants to cover the costs of classes and extras that may be needed such as textbooks or laptops.

The nonprofit (ECEPTS) develops and administers 35 early care and education registered apprenticeships in California 鈥� including Skyline 鈥� that have employed about 1,400 apprentices since 2019. The organization also offers technical assistance to programs and develops apprenticeships in 20 other states.

While the national completion rate for apprenticeships in all industries is about 40%, about 75 to 80% of ECEPTS apprentices finish their programs, said Randi Wolfe, ECEPTS鈥檚 founder and executive director. 

鈥淚t’s expensive and it’s not quick,鈥� Wolfe said. 鈥淏ut quick doesn’t really give you what you want.鈥�

In a about a California apprenticeship for early educators 鈥� conducted by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley 鈥� almost all of the 101 respondents said their apprenticeship increased their knowledge of child development theory, leading to changing the quality of care and instruction. The majority also said they planned to seek a role with more responsibility as a result of participating in the program.

While government funding covers the costs of most apprenticeships, the child care program the apprentice works for needs to pay for the required wage increase, which varies. That can be a sticking point.

Temple Beth Shalom Children鈥檚 Center in Needham, Massachusetts, is part of Neighborhood Villages apprenticeship program; the center has had eight apprentices in the past two years, all of them entry level workers who wanted to pursue licensing to allow them advance their careers.

Temple Beth Shalom agreed to a $2 per hour increase when an apprentice finishes the 2,000-hour program.That comes to an additional $4,000 per apprentice. 

鈥淚t was a big commitment, and we also felt like we really wanted to be a part of it,鈥� said . Ellen Dietrick, Temple Beth Shalom鈥檚 senior director of learning and engagement. 鈥淪o, we figured out how to make it work. But that was definitely a challenge.鈥�

At Skyline, the California community college, these costs for apprenticeships are covered by  government grants. Its Early Childhood Apprenticeship Program grew out of a problem: College officials saw that it was taking on average seven years for students to get an associate鈥檚 degree in early childhood education.

Many students 鈥渨ere only able to take one class a semester because of personal commitments, as well as working full time,鈥� said Michael Kane, Skyline鈥檚 dean of business, education and professional programs. 鈥淲e were looking for a way to support them and allow them to at least cut that in half. The apprenticeship gave us the ability to get them full-time employment within the field, and then we could actually push them to do at least two courses per semester.鈥�

Kane and his colleague Tina Watts, Skyline鈥檚 education and child development department coordinator and faculty member, studied the best way to run such a program for two years before applying for a state grant. An important goal, Kane said, was to make the program sustainable after grant money ran out. 

The Skyline program places apprentices with six employers who regularly communicate with college faculty about the progress of the apprentices. The apprenticeship requires students to take six units a semester, as well as complete their work and attend community practice meetings three times a semester.

In exchange, apprentices receive free tuition and potentially other financial support, as needed, for books and transportation.

Since 2021, about 40 students entered the program, the majority of them Latina women, and about half are still in it, Watts said; the others dropped out for a variety of reasons. 

There was a disconnect, Kane said, between excitement for the program, which was high, and the ability to fully commit, which was lower. 鈥淓very one of our students has complicated lives,鈥� Kane said, adding that many applicants work two or three jobs, are living in a home with multiple generations, and are responsible for caring for their own children, or finding someone who can. Skyline has had to adjust the application process to consider the ability to commit to the program, Kane said. 

By addressing that issue, more students are in the program who are committed to finishing it, leading to fewer dropouts, Watts said. Even if they stop out, they receive support to return to the program more quickly.

As apprenticeships are , abound that the Trump administration鈥檚 proposal to consolidate numerous workforce programs into one funding stream may affect money available for registered apprenticeship programs 鈥� and that states, faced with difficult choices about resources, may not pick up the slack.

In 2023, for example, ECEPTS received a one-year $3 million contract from the U.S. Department of Labor, with an option to renew for four more years, to expand its work nationally. Recently the department notified ECEPTS, among numerous other organizations that run registered apprenticeship programs, that it would not renew the third year of the contract, Wolfe said.

For now, ECEPTS has enough of a diversified funding base to continue its work for the next two to three years, she added, but that won鈥檛 be true for many other apprenticeship programs.

And that will mean fewer opportunities for people like Rebeca Briones, who sees her apprenticeship as the beginning, not the end. She has her goals planned out now including pursuing the credential needed to become a site supervisor and trained to teach students with special needs. 

鈥淚 want to continue providing the best experiences to our children and parents [and] our community,鈥� she said.

The American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second-largest teachers union, and CareerWise USA, which runs apprenticeship programs for high-schoolers in five states, announced the Education and Apprenticeship Accelerator late last month.

The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades and the governors of California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania have also joined the coalition.

Its goal is to improve and expand Career Technical Education (CTE) both in high schools and community colleges and create more student internships and apprenticeships where students are paid to both work and go to school. Only about 5% of high school students nationally have a chance at an internship or apprenticeship, estimates available show.

AFT President Randi Weingarten said the union sees a need to shift away from the 鈥渃ollege for all鈥� mindset of the last 20 years, and be a part of giving students other ways to prepare for work and life.

鈥淟ook how many kids we’ve seen in schools that feel totally at sea,鈥� said Weingarten, who also called for changes in a May 6 New York Times opinion piece

Instead of working independently and sometimes at cross-purposes, which has kept the number of opportunities for students low, CareerWise founder Noel Ginsburg said the new partnership will help government, business and schools work together in support of training efforts.

Challenges include aligning school and work schedules, finding transportation for students between work and school, giving students course credit for work-based learning and making sure students are working in fields that are hiring.

Both Ginsburg and Weingarten said the states can serve as laboratories to find the right formulas to succeed, then the partnership can promote them and find a common plan that covers all states.

鈥淭his is intended to truly create鈥xamples for the country in multiple states that can show how this matters,鈥� Ginsburg said. 

鈥淲e’ll bring resources to it, both financial, technical and consulting, to enable these states to accelerate faster, to make this happen,鈥� Ginsburg said. 鈥�(We鈥檒l) bring these systems together so that our gears aren’t grinding, that they are connected and, in fact, we’re moving forward.鈥�

Governors of the participating states echoed the call for improving training opportunities for students.

Apprenticeships are common in Europe, with more than half of students in countries like Switzerland participating. Apprenticeships In the U.S. usually start after high school, instead of the equivalent of junior year in Europe, and have traditionally been in construction trades.

But apprenticeships across the country have been growing in recent years and in other fields, particularly health care, information technology and advanced manufacturing. New U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has also , and has called for more CTE, apprenticeships and tuition assistance for career training.

President Donald Trump signed an. But the administration also shut down a Department of Labor advisory panel on apprenticeships that Ginsburg had a major role on and , a training program for 25,000 young people a year, a decision that is being

As the saying goes: never let a crisis go to waste. These cuts present a chance for TFA not only to address its funding structure, but also to rethink how it prepares the young people it recruits. Now is the right time to evolve the model in ways that improve both financial sustainability and teacher readiness.

I say this not as an outsider, but as someone who went through the program. I鈥檓 a Teach for America alum, and like many of my peers, I entered the classroom deeply committed 鈥� but not fully prepared. I cared about my students, I believed in the mission, but I didn鈥檛 have enough time, training, or support to meet the demands of the job on day one. That experience has stayed with me and shaped my thinking about what future corps members need.

One powerful way forward for TFA? Become a registered apprenticeship program.

Registered apprenticeships are gaining traction as a practical solution to the national teacher shortage. These programs allow individuals to earn while they learn, combining paid, on-the-job experience with structured training and support. For TFA, integrating into this model could strengthen the quality of corps member preparation while opening up access to federal and state workforce funding.

Rather than placing corps members into classrooms after only a few weeks of training, TFA could design a first-year experience as a paraprofessional apprenticeship. During this year, participants would work under the guidance of a certified teacher while gaining real-time experience and completing relevant coursework. The result: corps members who are more confident, capable, and better prepared to take on full teaching responsibilities in their second year and beyond.

This would be a meaningful shift from the current model, which places new corps members in lead teaching roles almost immediately. But the whole point of an apprenticeship is that someone learns to do the job 鈥� they鈥檙e not expected to fully do the job on day one. That鈥檚 what separates this model from TFA and why it has become so attractive to states seeking to address both quality and pipeline issues.

TFA could also offer an early admittance track. College seniors accepted into the corps could spend their final year of college working part-time as paraprofessionals in local schools. This would give them an earlier entry point into the profession while helping districts meet staffing needs and reducing the ramp-up time before full-time teaching begins.

TFA has already laid the groundwork for the registered apprenticeship approach. In Memphis and Nashville, the organization operates as its own educator preparation provider (EPP), training corps members directly in alignment with its expectations and priorities. Expanding this model to additional states 鈥� particularly those supportive of registered apprenticeships 鈥� would give TFA greater control over training while accessing workforce dollars to support instruction, coaching, and operational costs.

In states like Arkansas, TFA could consider a different kind of partnership. The Arkansas Department of Education has created its own EPP and is launching a K-12 special education teacher registered apprenticeship program. TFA could partner with such states to enroll corps members in high-quality, state-run programs at no cost. These arrangements would allow TFA to focus on recruitment, placement, and ongoing support while relying on the state鈥檚 infrastructure for licensure and training.

These strategies offer clear financial benefits. Apprenticeship funding can cover tuition, licensure costs, and other expenses currently borne by TFA or corps members. In a time of tightening budgets and rising preparation costs, these savings could help TFA maintain or expand its footprint without compromising on quality.

It would also allow the organization to better support the people it recruits, many of whom want to become effective teachers but find themselves underprepared and overwhelmed. By investing in a more gradual and structured on-ramp into the profession, TFA can reduce burnout, improve retention, and ultimately deliver better results for students.

TFA has always been known for innovation and responsiveness to the needs of schools. By embracing the registered apprenticeship model, it can meet this moment with a new strategy: one that addresses the funding crisis head-on while finally tackling long-standing concerns about corps member readiness.

This is not about walking away from the core of what made TFA successful. It鈥檚 about strengthening it. Apprenticeship offers a chance to double down on the mission by building a better bridge into teaching, honoring the complexity of the role and giving new educators the time, training, and support they deserve.

The students were up and at ’em. The narrator of the bunch read a passage from the play “Gigi and the Wishing Ring,” then came across a word they didn鈥檛 know 鈥� “imminent.”

Shannon Lamb, a.k.a. Ms. Lamb, a.k.a. K-12 apprentice, walked them through it. 鈥淲hat does that mean?鈥� Lamb asked. 鈥淲ho do you know in your life that is imminent?鈥�

鈥淢s. Rivenbark,鈥� the third-graders said, pointing to Lamb鈥檚 clinical teacher.

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That was just a snapshot of one of Lamb鈥檚 days at in the (WCPS) system, which has begun its first year of operating the Educator Registered Apprenticeship Program. District representatives told EdNC that they are聽excited to expand their teacher pipeline and support their local economy. Apprentices said they are excited to give back to the community while getting experience before licensure.

Forming the apprenticeship

鈥淚 would say first, it starts with everyone coming to the table and agreeing on what they want to achieve and accomplish,鈥� said Felicia Brown, director of human resources at WCPS. “And so that’s what we were able to do with Wayne Community College.”

Wayne Community College (WCC) formed the program in 2020. In general, apprenticeships are arrangements where employers provide workers with on-the-job training in a certain field combined with classroom instruction. Students are paid for their time and earn nationally recognized certifications.

In 2022, WCPS became interested in starting an apprenticeship program for K-12 teachers, with a special interest in recruiting high school students. Apprenticeship Wayne partnered with the University of Mount Olive and the , housed under RTI International, in 2023. The role of the intermediary is to apply apprenticeship standards to the needs of the education sector.

鈥淭he greatest value-add of the ERA Intermediary was having a thought partner that understood both apprenticeship and education and who could explain how the two work together in the program standards,鈥� Kristie Sauls, executive director of apprenticeships and career development at WCC, said in a . 鈥淓RA helped us understand braided funding opportunities and clarified the benefits of apprenticeship to prepare future educators.鈥�

Educator Registered Apprenticeships are registered and funded by the U.S. Department of Labor. As of spring 2024, Wayne County Schools became the first district in the state to offer a K-12 apprenticeship program. It’s the second in the nation to receive ERA funding.

Apprentices are required to enroll in an educator prep program at a community college or a four-year university and聽then have in-classroom training planned around their school schedule.听They earn an hourly wage as instructional assistants and receive additional financial support for licensure assessments, assessment preparation, and anything else related to their training that may not be covered by other financial aid sources.

The apprenticeship lasts up to three years. Throughout their time in the program, participants are to be on track to earn an associate degree or bachelor’s degree in a related education field, or teaching license.

Additionally, the apprentice will earn a nationally recognized certificate from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Office of Apprenticeship.

The district had no difficulty finding teaching assistants, Brown said. So programs like the apprenticeship are ways to help build a pipeline through which assistants can become full-time teachers.

When asked about the apprenticeship program’s success compared with the district’s other pathways, Brown said they are still in the “beginning stages” of the program. Their office is getting more and more inquiries as they get the word out.

Into the classroom

If you had needed math tutoring in Wayne County over the past 20 years, you might have been asked to call Angela Lamb.

Lamb insists she is one of those people who always wanted to become a teacher. That passion to facilitate learning is reflected in how she raised her own children.

鈥淚 taught all my children how to read before they got to kindergarten, because I just wanted that to be something that is not a hurdle for them, and also dragging out from classroom management to all the other things that teachers have to do,鈥� Lamb said. 鈥淚 wanted that to be out of the way, because kids can always learn to read, and I’ve always heard it starts at home, so just that joy of seeing kids grow and learn has just always been like, 鈥業 love this.鈥� I love everything about it.鈥�

Lamb is now a WCPS apprentice and a North Carolina Teaching Fellows scholarship recipient. She heard about the apprenticeship program while working as an instructional assistant at Edgewood Community Developmental School, which is also a part of WCPS. After four years in special education, she said, it was an opportunity for her to pivot.

Lamb spends three days a week working at the elementary school to fulfill the experience requirements for both the apprenticeship and her degree requirements at East Carolina University. While working, she teaches lessons in reading and math, learns how to monitor student progress, and gets feedback from her clinical teacher, Shannan Rivenbark.

鈥淔rom the start, she has been enthusiastic and receptive to this tremendous growth opportunity,鈥� Rivenbark said of Lamb. “The additional support that she is receiving from being a part of the apprenticeship program is undoubtedly helping to further her endeavor toward the goal of becoming an effective classroom educator.”

To continue to give back to the community, Lamb said she plans to get a master’s degree and be certified in teaching children experiencing poverty.

鈥淚 do want to go back to those schools that have, you know, those students that are dealing with things that are huge outside of school, you know, in their families.鈥� Lamb said. “These are the schools that I grew up in, and so I want to be the teacher that they deserve, that I deserved when I was going, you know, through school.”

‘I am already seeing so much’

As an apprentice in a kindergarten classroom, Kayla Heitrick spends her time working with students at Carver Elementary in small groups or supervising lunch and recess.

So far, Heitrick said, her biggest challenge has been learning how to do what鈥檚 best for each student.

鈥淎nd I guess that’s the main thing, just trying to figure out what works for everybody so that everybody’s learning 鈥� and everyone’s having fun learning,鈥� Heitrick said. “Because I think that’s important too, especially with the kindergartners.”

Heitrick said she is being exposed to things as an apprentice that she would not have known about otherwise. For example, she said she has been helping students who have not been in pre-K make the transition into a classroom environment for the first time. Her clinical teacher also has been showing her how to work directly with students and parents who are not native English speakers.

鈥淎nd I think being in the classroom before becoming a teacher really helped me … because I am already seeing so much, and I feel like the more experienced, the better you know how to handle certain things,鈥� Heitrick said.

Heitrick was working as a dental assistant and a waitress before she heard about the apprenticeship. She realized that she wanted to work with young children while working with pediatric dental patients.

鈥淚 like to help people,” she said. “I like to make that difference. And I think it’s important for children to have that firm foundation, and to know, you know, like they feel safe here, like they can come to our room and they feel safe.鈥�

‘We’re here, we’re present’

Yvette Mason, the assistant superintendent of human resources at WCPS, said the district had to jump several hurdles to recruit and retain teachers.

As natives of Wayne County, both Brown and Mason said they are aware of what their school district has to compete with when compared with other districts across North Carolina and even other states. For instance, neighboring counties may offer teachers higher pay supplements.

Plus, many of the teachers who have found a home in Wayne County are aging out.

鈥淪o when COVID hit 鈥� oh, my God, that was almost like the exit door flew open for everybody to exit out of education,鈥� Mason said. “There was a change in how to teach, you know, with technology and all of those things. So we did see a lot of our teachers that were at that age to retire move out.鈥�

Yet another challenge, Mason said, is the low number of education graduates from local colleges and universities.

鈥淪ome of the colleges and universities are not turning out 200 and 300 educators strong like what I graduated with,鈥� Mason said. 鈥淚t may be a row of teachers graduating from a school of education, or less than that.鈥�

in North Carolina have shown that pay, mentorship, and support for beginning teachers play a factor in how far they go in the profession.

Apprentices said they feel supported both financially and emotionally by the district and their respective programs. Lamb said they have regular meetings and get to speak with beginning teachers about their experiences.

Lamb said that specifically Brown and Mason are there to 鈥渢alk her off the ledge,鈥� if she needs it.

鈥淵ou know, (the response) is, 鈥榃e鈥檙e coming to just support you and let you know that we’re here, we’re present,鈥� and that’s something that I wouldn’t get as just a regular intern,鈥� Lamb said.

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Natalie Watts loves her computer science classes at Campbell High School. The junior has studied everything from coding robots to creating online computer games and was initially attracted to the career track because of the technological skills she could gain and the high-paying jobs that could follow. 

But when Watts recently participated in a presentation highlighting Campbell鈥檚 STEM programs, she received an unexpected question from the audience: Is being in the program 鈥渓ike going to an all-boys school?鈥�

In the 2022-23 school year, 70% of students in Campbell鈥檚 information technology classes were boys. The school had a similar gender gap in its architecture and science programs. 

Watts has always felt supported and welcomed by her male peers and teachers, but she also wants more girls to see computer science and engineering as a part of their futures. 

Campbell is one of 46 Hawaii public high schools enrolling students in career and technical education courses, which provide hands-on learning, internships and training to prepare students for life after graduation. Students usually enroll in a single CTE program throughout high school, taking multiple classes related to careers in fields such as nursing, teaching and engineering. 

The number of students enrolled in CTE pathways has exploded in Hawaii in recent years, amid debates about how to help students secure high-paying jobs after graduation and combat the state鈥檚 high cost of living. Nearly two-thirds of the class of 2023 participated in a high school CTE program. 

But the programs  across the state. 

In the 2022-23 school year, boys made up nearly 75% of Hawaii CTE programs focused on STEM and information technology, and roughly 70% of programs focused on manufacturing. On the other hand, girls made up three-quarters of health care programs like nursing. 

Researchers say these patterns reflect and reinforce larger trends in the state鈥檚 workforce, where men dominate lucrative careers such as engineering and computer science. Statewide, women make 86 cents for every dollar men earn, in part because of which careers they pursue,  from the University of Hawaii. 

Federal legislation requires states to track gender enrollment in these programs and dedicate funds to address enrollment disparities that help perpetuate longstanding  and shut women out of higher-paying opportunities. But many states 鈥� including Hawaii 鈥� have made little progress in closing the gender gap over the past five years. 

Hawaii has slightly better success than mainland districts in getting boys interested in careers in education 鈥� and has equal participation in some career tracks like business and hospitality 鈥� but the state is lagging behind the national average when it comes to enrolling girls in fields most likely to lead to high-paying jobs in the future.

The Hawaii Department of Education declined multiple interview requests for this story, but individual principals say they are exploring a range of strategies to address the problem, from career fairs highlighting women in STEM to presentations encouraging middle schoolers to keep their minds open about future jobs. Outside organizations and employers have also stepped in to help schools close gender gaps.

But efforts vary by school, and some CTE coordinators say the state isn’t doing enough to help schools create gender-balanced programs.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no real systematic approach,鈥� said Jeremy Seitz, who leads the engineering CTE program at Farrington High School. 

Federal Funds And Few Plans 

Eden Ledward is the face of the University of Hawaii鈥檚 CTE carpentry program. A minute-long video on the university鈥檚 website shows Ledward building houses, studying construction plans and operating a handsaw as she explains how CTE classes help her pursue her passion for building.  

鈥淢y classmates and instructors are solid, and we get real experience doing real work,鈥� she says to the camera. 

The promotional video is the product of federal funds Hawaii receives annually to support CTE programs at the high school and college level under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. Of the $7 million the federal government provided Hawaii for its CTE programs in 2024, the state was required to set aside $60,000 to address gender disparities.

Many of these dollars have gone toward creating promotional videos posted on the . The videos feature students who are pursuing CTE programs that have traditionally been dominated by a single gender, such as construction or nursing, said Warren Kawano, career pathways and strategy director at the organization .

UH isn鈥檛 required to report on the outcomes of specific gender equality initiatives using Perkins funds, and it鈥檚 difficult to measure the impact of these marketing campaigns, Kawano said. But he hopes the videos help broaden students鈥� understanding of the careers they can pursue. 

鈥淚f you’re interested, there’s a place for you,鈥� he said.  

The state Department of Education gets about $1.4 million a year of the state鈥檚 Perkins funding. In the past, department spokesperson Kimi Takazawa said, schools have used some of the federal funds to purchase safety gear for girls in CTE programs, bring in female guest speakers to speak about their experiences in STEM fields, and more.

But the department could not say how much money was spent on initiatives around gender equality and doesn鈥檛 track in detail how schools use the funds. 

Schools receive Perkins funds based on the number of students enrolled in their CTE programs, said Wai膩kea High School Principal Kelcy Koga, but staff have a lot of flexibility in how the funds can be used. Wai膩kea has used the money on everything from hiring CTE staff to running a daylong program teaching elementary and middle school girls about robotics and engineering.

State leaders have said that equity and access in these programs is paramount, but there are few details on how they will achieve that. When the state submitted a comprehensive plan in 2020 to the federal government outlining how it would improve equity and enrollment in its CTE programs, there was not a single mention of how Hawaii would close its gender gap in the 157-page document.

That doesn鈥檛 mean that the state disregarded the issue completely, Kawano said, since the $60,000 designated for gender equality is only a small portion of the funding Hawaii uses for CTE. It鈥檚 up to the education department and individual schools, he said, to determine how to achieve greater equality in their CTE programs. 

Since the plan鈥檚 implementation, the state has made some progress, but the change hasn鈥檛 been the same across all programs. The proportion of girls enrolled in STEM programs rose from 20% to 27% between 2020 and 2022, but the percentage of boys participating in the health science career track stayed roughly the same, at 25%. 

‘Highly Segregated By Gender’

Hawaii is not alone in this.

A 2024 analysis from the U.S. Department of Education found that high school girls earned roughly the same number of CTE credits in architecture and construction in 2019 as they did in 1990. At the same time, the gap between the number of boys and girls in CTE health care programs grew as female students enrolled in classes at higher rates.   

鈥淭hese results underscore the need for continued leadership in this space and an urgent, strategic focus on better engaging females in career pathways that lead to good jobs,鈥� U.S. DOE Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical and Adult Education Amy Loyd wrote last year. 鈥淐TE programs in some career clusters remain highly segregated by gender, as do the occupations for which they prepare students.鈥�

A number of factors can explain states鈥� ongoing challenges in achieving gender equality in career-based learning, said Emily Passias, deputy executive director of the national advocacy group Advance CTE. Gender gaps may persist as students gravitate toward the same classes as their friends, she said, or feel family pressure to pursue traditional careers. Sometimes, she added, CTE programs like welding may not have equipment specially fitted for girls, further enforcing gender stereotypes. 

鈥淭hose are things that signal to young people, I’m welcome or not welcome here,鈥� she said.  

Some schools have shown that it鈥檚 possible to address gender segregation in CTE. 

Roughly half of students in STEM programs in the District of Columbia were girls in the 2021-22 school year, compared to the national average of 30%. The district said its success comes from teaching girls about careers in STEM from a young age and hosting career fairs and guest speakers emphasizing the importance of gender diversity in fields such as health care and engineering. 

But efforts in Hawaii are mostly piecemeal.

When Jeremy Seitz began teaching engineering and design technology classes at Farrington High School in 2008, all his students were boys. Roughly a quarter of students in the school鈥檚 engineering program are now girls. 

Making engineering classes a more welcoming place for girls has taken time, Seitz said. Growing up in Kalihi, he said, students have few opportunities to explore career options, and girls are often expected to stay home and take care of their younger siblings. 

The school brings in female engineers as guest speakers, Seitz said, and high school girls visit nearby middle schools to give lessons and show younger students what it鈥檚 like to study construction and architecture. 

Watts, the junior studying computer science at Campbell High School, is working with classmates on events that encourage girls to sign up for STEM programs. 

鈥淚f you want to do it, you should do it,鈥� Watts tells younger students. 鈥淒on鈥檛 let male domination keep you from doing what you want to do.鈥� 

‘You Just Have To Keep Trying’

There鈥檚 been little statewide effort to make sure all programs are taking similar steps. The state education department has occasionally completed equity audits of schools鈥� CTE programs, Seitz said, but he hasn鈥檛 seen any action taken based on that data.   

The CTE program at Waipahu High School, formerly under the leadership of Superintendent Keith Hayashi, is considered one of the trailblazers in providing career-based learning to all students during their four years on campus. Over 90% of Waipahu鈥檚 graduating class of 2023 participated in CTE, and the school opened a  hosting the culinary and natural resources programs just over a year ago. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 an opportunity for us in the department to lead change not only in Hawaii but, I believe, across the country,鈥� Hayashi said at the learning center鈥檚 grand opening in December 2023. 

Even the state鈥檚 premier CTE school has significant gender gaps in its health care and engineering programs. Only 15% of students in the industrial and engineering technology program are girls. Meanwhile, only a quarter of students are boys in the health and science program.  

Waipahu High School Principal Zachary Sheets said achieving gender equality in CTE is a top priority. He tries to make sure there鈥檚 equal gender representation in the presentations and promotional materials the school gives to students choosing their CTE programs and has added career tracks like kinesiology to try to make the health care program appealing to more boys. 

鈥淒on鈥檛 limit yourself,鈥� Sheets said he tells students. 鈥淚f you really have a passion about it, we want you to pursue that.鈥� 

Sheets is optimistic that efforts by feeder schools to provide career education to younger students will help close some gender gaps at the high school level.

An equal number of boys and girls are enrolled in classes such as woodworking and aquaponics at nearby Waikele Elementary, said Michelle Tavares-Yamada, the school鈥檚 academy pathway director.

Younger kids aren鈥檛 always aware of gender stereotypes around certain jobs, she said, and the school capitalizes on this by encouraging students to explore their interests.

鈥淚 think our students see that, so they don鈥檛 think about those gender inequities,鈥� she said. 

With limited statewide guidance, some community groups and local employers are also stepping in to help schools close their gender gaps. 

Since 2018, the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii has led a pilot program targeting middle and high school girls who are interested in careers in STEM. The program, taking place in the Castle, Campbell and Waipahu complexes, connects schools with female leaders in the field and hosts activities and panels teaching girls about engineering at partner campuses. 

Kathleen Chu, who helps lead the initiative and works at the local engineering firm Bowers + Kubota, said young girls aren鈥檛 always aware that engineering is a high-paying career path. When talking to girls about their CTE options, she shares the challenges of working in a male-dominated field but also emphasizes that women can bring leadership skills and new perspectives to the job. 

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 give up,鈥� said Chu, adding that she doesn鈥檛 want girls to disregard a career in engineering because they struggle with math or haven鈥檛 seen many women at a construction site before. 鈥淵ou just have to keep trying.鈥� 

In the three school complexes hosting the pilot program, the percentage of girls in engineering CTE programs has increased from 17% to 26% over the last five years. The Chamber of Commerce is trying to expand the program and identify new schools as future partners, said Lord Ryan Lizardo, vice president of education. 

Even with these partnerships and guest speakers, it鈥檚 still difficult to encourage students to pursue programs where they鈥檒l be in the minority, said Tracie Koide, a teacher at Campbell High School. Teachers try to create welcoming environments for all students, regardless of their gender, she added, but many kids want to enroll in the same programs as their friends.

Looking Ahead

Hawaii has the opportunity to ramp up its efforts to achieve greater gender equality this year, as the state prepares to submit a new CTE plan to the federal government. 

The  offers few details on how schools will address gender gaps, but the public will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the document beginning next month.

For now, said UH research economist Rachel Inafuku, differences in career preparation for boys and girls can contribute to gender gaps already existing in the workplace. 

Nearly 80% of Hawaii鈥檚 elementary and middle school teachers are female and earn a median income of $63,000. Electrical engineers, 90% of whom are male, have a median income of more than $100,000. 

At the Chamber of Commerce, Lizardo said he鈥檇 like to see more professional development for teachers when it comes to helping students make informed decisions about CTE. It鈥檚 important for schools to be honest about gender inequalities in the workforce, he added, but students should also have as much information as possible when deciding what CTE programs to pursue so they鈥檙e not swayed by their families or friends.  

David Sun-Miyashiro, executive director of HawaiiKidsCAN, said the state should take a closer look at the way schools are marketing and administering CTE programs with clear differences in enrollment for boys and girls. CTE programs should open up new opportunities for students, he added, rather than confining them to the limited representation they currently see in the workforce.   

鈥淚 think we need to have those really honest and sometimes tough conversations,鈥� he said. 

This story is a collaboration between  and , with support from Ascendium Education Group.

Civil Beat鈥檚 education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.

He won one of 20 available slots in a new 鈥�  just one of three at Accenture 鈥� in a city of 20,000 public high school students. 

Three years later, Brown-Weaver, now 19, has become a full-time employee, earning more than $20 an hour as a package app developer at Accenture.

But a good friend who missed out on the apprenticeships is struggling. 

鈥淏ecause of the luck of the draw that I had (I’m working) 鈥� in the field that I want to be in,鈥� Brown-Weaver told a recent .

His friend, he said, 鈥渨orks part time at Target, making minimum wage.鈥�

鈥淚t’s sad to see that I simply just got lucky that day,鈥� Brown-Weaver said.

Providing high school students like Brown-Weaver a chance to try out possible careers has become a growing focus for families, public officials, schools and even businesses the last several years. 

But all work opportunities aren鈥檛 created equal. 

There’s a hierarchy of experiences that rise in commitment, intensity and benefit for students and providers 鈥�  with career days and job fairs at the low end. At the top end are internships, where students work with adults; and apprenticeships, longer programs where students are paid to work and earn career credentials.

Schools and communities routinely boast of making great efforts to better connect students with real work opportunities, but the reality is these efforts rarely go beyond career exposure events like career days or job shadows.

鈥淭he ultimate internship…a paid experience鈥e still have a long way to go to provide more opportunity for young people to experience those,鈥� said Julie Lammers, senior vice president of American Student Assistance, a non-profit connecting students to career training.

The best estimates available suggest five percent of students or less have the chance for the gold standard of work experiences 鈥�  apprenticeships or internships. 

At the request of 社区黑料, the U.S. Department of Labor compiled data showing a little over 10,000 16- to 18-year-olds started apprenticeships nationally last year 鈥� less than a tenth of a percent of the more than 13 million students that age. That鈥檚 including 18-year-olds who started apprenticeships after graduating high school.

It鈥檚 a dramatic difference from European countries such as Switzerland, where more than half of students use apprenticeships to start a career or as a stepping stone to university. Apprenticeships in Switzerland have the attention of Linda McMahon, the new appointee for U.S. secretary of education, who on the day her appointment was announced. 

There are more internships than apprenticeships for high schoolers, but still not many. A 2018 survey of more than 800 students by American Student Assistance, a non-profit that works with students on career choices, showed while 79 percent were interested in trying a work experience, only 2 percent completed an internship in high school.

Though the percentage of employers offering high school internships has, ASA estimates only four to five percent of students actually are participating in internships.

鈥楾hat鈥檚 still a very small number of young people,鈥� Lammers said. 鈥淭hose organizations may only be offering one or two opportunities, so the volume is still not there.鈥�

Lammers said schools are instead adding 鈥渢hings that expose young people to work, but are not necessarily training them in specific skills.鈥�

ASA鈥檚 recent survey found that close to half of employers offer mentorships, job shadowing, open houses and field trip visits 鈥� all valuable experiences for students but that barely scratch the surface of providing  the skills and training needed for the world of work.

Noel Ginsburg, co-chairman of the U.S. Department of Labor鈥檚 said schools and businesses can鈥檛 stop at just exposing students to careers.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a bad thing,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just not enough.鈥�

鈥淚t’s a lack of understanding what quality actually means when a school says, 鈥榃e have these partnerships with XYZ company, and they come in, they’re helping us in class, and sometimes they’ll donate old whatever (equipment to train with),鈥� Ginsburg said. 鈥淭hat’s not what apprenticeship is鈥ut that’s historically what it has been for them.鈥�

Experts have agreed on a rough hierarchy of work experiences for several years, often distinguishing between those where students 鈥渓earn about work鈥� and those where they 鈥渓earn how to work.鈥�

As a co-written by Advance CTE, the national association of state directors of career technical education, notes, 鈥淲ork-based learning includes a continuum of experiences ranging from less intensive opportunities such as career awareness and career exploration to more intensive opportunities such as career preparation and career training.鈥�

The Advance CTE hierarchy below is similar to those created in 2009 like, a Bay Area non-profit that has worked on career efforts in California and New York. It鈥檚 also similar to those used by nonprofits like Brookings, ExcelInED, ASA or adopted by states such as , , , or , sometimes labeling the top level as career immersion, development or participation.

Some take that hierarchy even farther. As officials in Indiana started developing plans for a statewide expansion of high school apprenticeships they ranked student work experiences with full registered apprenticeships at the top, pre-apprenticeships and other apprenticeships a level below, internships below those and work opportunities that teach students general employability skills a step lower.

The trouble is that while low-level career experiences like job fairs take just a few hours of time for students and businesses, apprenticeships and internships require much more effort from both sides. 

CityWorks DC, the program that organized Brown-Weaver鈥檚 apprenticeship, would like to expand to many more students, but is growing slowly.

鈥淲e definitely need more opportunities and hope to offer more, but one reason there are so few are the systemic barriers that make what we do very resource intensive and challenging,鈥� said Lateefah Durant, CityWorks鈥� vice president of innovation.

She said it can be hard to find students that can commit to working several hours a week and fit that within their high school class schedules. It鈥檚 also hard to find companies willing to take on high school students and train them.

In 2019, the program鈥檚 first year, one of nine companies that took on apprentices backed out. And one of the other Accenture apprentices alongside Brown-Weaver had trouble meeting standards and was dropped.

ASA鈥檚 2023 survey highlighted several common challenges businesses see as they start high school internships, including finding appropriate work for them, devoting staff to training them, scheduling around class schedules and whether students have transportation to work.

Companies are less likely to view high school apprenticeships as a key part of building a workforce than just as a way to give back to the community. Using apprenticeships and internships as a real talent strategy, as they are in Europe, is key to them ever becoming widely available, experts say.

Those findings are in keeping with challenges experts have pointed to as holding growth of internships and apprenticeships back.

Transportation is a big problem for lower-income students, who often need to improve their career chances the most but rarely have their own car. And class schedules, along with extracurricular activities, can be a big hurdle too since they can limit the time a student can spend in a workplace each day.

Indiana is among states trying to overcome these issues. Transportation costs could be covered by new Career Savings Accounts – state grants to students for training expenses. And the state is considering more flexible class schedules, so students can work at an apprenticeship a few days each week.

In many cases, with few companies stepping up to take on interns or apprenticeships, students are placed instead in government offices or with nonprofits that advocate for work opportunities. The D.C. program has apprentices with the Department of Labor and with New America, a left-leaning think tank that is part of the national Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship.

Indiana also placed early apprentices with Ascend Indiana, a non-profit that helped create them.

Schools and communities also lean on experiences that partly simulate or mirror work experience. These can include students doing exploratory summer internships with industry associations or schools that partner with companies so students earn money by doing a project, such as a small coding or marketing task, through school for the company.

Though there鈥檚 no consensus on where these fall on the continuum of work experiences, ASA鈥檚 Lammers said they can be worthwhile, if students are working on real-world problems for employers that intend to use the work product.

鈥淚f it is high- intensity project based learning, where young people are still exposed to a career鈥nd are able to understand that it’s not just sort of an academic exercise鈥� there is huge value in that,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t might not just be the nine-to- five paid experience that we sort of see in an internship, and that might be okay.鈥�

Others look to third parties that the field is calling 鈥渋ntermediaries鈥� to navigate some of the complex legal, liability and training issues, as well as to recruit, select and train students, along with training company staff in how to work with teenagers.

In Boston, the city鈥檚 Public Industry Council helps run paid summer internships for high schoolers, while also running staff training sessions to make sure students and companies benefit. CareerWise acts as an intermediary on some levels. Genesys Works, a non-profit, fills that role in eight regions 鈥� Houston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, Tulsa and Washington, D.C., with Jacksonville coming next year.

Genesys gives students eight-week of unpaid training in the summer after 11th grade before placing them in paid internships for 20 hours a week as seniors. Students are paid employees of Genesys, not the companies, but they work in the offices of companies like Accenture, Medtronic or Target, the latter in corporate offices, not stocking shelves or working a register like Brown-Weaver鈥檚 friend.

鈥淲e’re going to our corporate partners saying, like, what are the roles, entry level roles in your corporate offices that you are filling over and over again?鈥� said Mandy Hildenbrand, chief services officer of Genesys. 鈥淟et’s talk about how we can be a pipeline for that.鈥�

For many apprenticeship advocates, some of the barriers are more about attitudes than real problems. 

鈥淐ulturally, U.S. companies haven’t traditionally viewed themselves as a training ground or an extension of the classroom,鈥� said Ginsburg, founder of CareerWise, the nation鈥檚 largest youth apprenticeship program. 鈥淭here’s a big difference between having an intern look over your shoulder and actually expecting real work from an apprentice.鈥�

He said businesses should recognize that while they won鈥檛 see immediate returns, they will if they are patient and take the time to train students well.

鈥淚t’s hard,鈥� he said, 鈥渂efore it gets easy.鈥�

鈥淲hat do I actually need from the customer?鈥� Besler asks the second year apprentices, all 17 or 18 years old at the wirtschaftsschule 鈥� business school. 

鈥淚t’s really important that you know why these documents are being requested,鈥� he tells them in German as part of their kreditprozess 鈥� credit process 鈥� class. 鈥淎 few are simple and obvious, such as a standard ID card … And of course I also want to see how much he earns.鈥�

Created in 2003 by Switzerland鈥檚 five largest banks, the CYP banking school is unlike any in the United States. With 30 partnering banks, it鈥檚 a school where apprentices 鈥� many of them teenagers who would still be in high school in the U.S. 鈥� learn banking skills letting them work in any bank in the country.

Now, the Indiana Bankers Association wants to create a version of CYP in Indianapolis as part of the state鈥檚 push to reinvent high schools and offer more meaningful work opportunities for students.

The association plans to start a statewide banking apprenticeship by the fall of 2025 where high school juniors and seniors are paid to work and train at banks as often as three days a week, and attend high school the other two.

Though common in Europe, Indiana鈥檚 new apprenticeship program would be one of the first large-scale white-collar apprentice programs in the U.S. Traditionally, building trades apprenticeships have dominated here.

Apprentices would rotate between bank departments for two years, sometimes directly working with customers and handling accounts, with the possibility of doing a third year while also attending college.

Students will also receive extra training in banking skills at a new state Financial Services Academy based on CYP. The association will host at its 75-seat training center it already uses for adults. Students would likely take classes there once a month, as Swiss apprentices do at CYP, either in person or live online if they are in other parts of the state.

The Academy could later expand to include other financial industries such as insurance.

The new banking apprenticeships, along with a similar effort with hospitals, will be the first steps in Indiana鈥檚 goal of better serving the 60% of high school students in the state who never attend college and earn any degree.

Indiana Fifth Third Bank regional president Michael Ash visited CYP and member banks in Switzerland twice over the last two years as Indiana leaders crafted a plan unveiled this month to create thousands more apprenticeships. Those visits taught him the state could adapt and create opportunities for high school students that also would help banks.

鈥淚t’ll give the student a lot more experience and鈥t will give the employer an opportunity to have an employee doing real work,鈥� Ash told 社区黑料. 鈥淚 think it’s a win-win for the student and for the company.鈥� 

Though some U.S. banks and insurance companies have hired apprentices, including J.P. Morgan Chase and Zurich insurance, the new academy is likely the first in the U.S. where multiple banks jointly train apprentices of competitors, as well as of their own company. 

The American Bankers Association and several youth apprenticeship experts were unable to identify any other school like it.

Cooperation and agreement between banks on the key skills they all want employees to have, then to consistently teach those to apprentices, is a key part of the European apprentice model. 

鈥淚t hasn’t been in an organized fashion (in the U.S.) before where the trade association is involved and also educating the students, which is a big piece of this,鈥� said Amber Van Til, president of the Indiana association. 鈥淚t’s going to give the banks the confidence that they (students) have also had the educational training that they need to be workforce ready.鈥�

The state legislature and department of education are reworking state diploma requirements to give students more course credit, and flexibility of class schedules, when students pursue work experience and training while still in school.

At the same time, teams of leaders from the manufacturing, medical and financial service industries have visited Switzerland to learn from a country where about two thirds of students use apprenticeships to learn a career or launch into further study.

Those trips have included stops to the CYP campus in Zurich, one of 12 in the country, that train about 6,000 apprentices a year combined.

In classrooms carved out of a rehabilitated former foundry, apprentices take classes starting at age 16 or 17 that progress from the basics of retail banking 鈥� working with customers at the front desk 鈥� to how banks operate, how stock markets work, how to handle mortgage or construction loans and later investment banking by their third and final year.

Altogether, CYP teaches apprentices 87 specific skills over the three years, such as this one:

1.7.4.1 Describing the range of accounts: I can list the various products within my bank鈥榮 range of accounts and name the segment specific offers (e.g. youth savings account), their characteristics and particularities

(e.g. handling children鈥榮 assets)

Simon Stadler, CEO of the 12-campus CYP system, said Swiss parents often prefer their children go to universities instead of doing apprenticeships, just like in the U.S. But the Swiss still regard apprenticeships highly and there are real practical advantages to learning a job through them.

鈥淎fterwards, you’re able to do it,鈥� Stadler said. 鈥淵ou’re able to work from the first day in the bank, because you already know it. You have the experience and you also know how it works in real life.鈥�

Being able to learn the different departments of a bank drew Chantal Rupff to become a banking apprentice.

鈥淵ou get many opportunities during your apprenticeship,鈥� said Rupff, 17 when this reporter visited CYP in 2022. 鈥淲e get to see a lot of different departments 鈥� we change departments every half a year 鈥� so it’s really cool.鈥�

Apprentice Nuzla Issadeen had a chance to go to university at 16, which the Swiss system allows, but chose to be a banking apprentice instead.

鈥淚 think that’s way too young to just go to school and study all the time,鈥� she said at 18. 鈥淚’ve been in school since the age of five, I guess, so it wasn’t for me. I wanted to try something new. I wanted to earn money. 鈥�

Apprentice Noemi Cattolico also preferred having the hands鈥攐n experience of her apprenticeship, instead of the pure academics of students who go to university.

鈥淭hey might be much more intelligent in what concerns studying, but if we’re talking about experience in life, and such things, and actually understanding others and understanding how the world works, they have absolutely no knowledge,鈥� said Cattolico, 18 at the time.

CYP has shared its curriculum and overall banking apprenticeship plan with Indiana, which plans to adapt it slightly for the new academy.

鈥淲e’re going to probably stick pretty close to the Swiss model,鈥� said Van Til. 鈥淚t’s very well developed鈥he tracks that they have, the rotations that they have, the education CYP is providing is pretty much in line.鈥�

Van Til said that though students will learn basic interaction with customers, they won鈥檛 be limited to just being traditional tellers, whose role she said has expanded over the years. They won鈥檛 be funneled into high鈥攕takes investment banking either.

鈥淛ust because you come in the bank and you want to be an investment banker doesn’t mean that’s where you’re going to end up,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e’re going to assess the student while they’re there, see where we think their skill set is and try and direct them to where we think would best be a fit.鈥�

鈥淎re they good at writing?鈥� she asked. 鈥淎re they good at communication? Do they like marketing? Do they like working with customers? Are they better behind the desk? Maybe loan processing. (We鈥檙e) seeing what their skill sets are, and then matching them up upon graduation.鈥�

How much demand Indiana high school students will have for banking apprenticeships isn鈥檛 clear. Students who have test 鈥� driven banking through internships at a bank branch located at Zionsville Community High School northwest of Indianapolis were intrigued.

Mann Patel, now a sophomore majoring in finance at Indiana University, interned at the branch of Star Bank as a senior in 2023. That internship, just an hour a day for a semester, taught him enough about banking that he decided to continue pursuing the field, possibly focusing on wealth management.

But committing to that path in 11th grade would have been too much for him, even if more hands-on work than what the internship offered would have been tempting.

鈥淧robably senior year I would have definitely considered it,鈥� Patel said. 鈥淕oing into college? Yeah. But junior year, if it’s two or three days full time, I probably would not have.鈥�

Akshara Amuhadin, a junior interning at that branch now, also hopes to find a career in finance. She said she likes hands-on learning and would likely try the new apprenticeship.

鈥淚f you know for sure that this is the career that you want to go into, that’d be a really great way to get some real world experience about banking,鈥� she said.

Fifth Third鈥檚 Ash said he believes both banks and students will take advantage of apprenticeships that are long overdue.

鈥淲hen you see CYP and you see the students this seems so obvious,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou kind of kick yourself, like, why haven’t we done this sooner? Because it makes so much sense. But you know, we’re starting now, right? So we’ll get there.鈥�

This article was published with the support of the Spencer education reporting fellowship at Columbia University.

In the last four years, more than 500 young people from every region of Idaho have enrolled in 鈥� and many completed 鈥� for occupations as varied as teacher鈥檚 aide, welder, personal trainer and medical assistant.

has been a key player in helping employers, school districts, training providers and young people from 16 to 24 years of age expand opportunities to grow Idaho鈥檚 workforce through apprenticeship.

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In Idaho, we are hoping to increase the percentage of high school graduates who 鈥済o on鈥� to some form of higher education (including the military). Although apprenticeship is not explicitly included in this goal, it can be a life-changing alternative to young people looking for innovative ways to enter meaningful careers that pay well and provide challenge and opportunity. And it often includes more traditional training that is very much a part of the state鈥檚 鈥済o on鈥� effort.

During National Apprenticeship Week (Nov. 17-23) Idaho Business for Education wants to recognize and celebrate entering its fifth year of supporting youth apprenticeship. It started in 2020 when IBE and the Idaho Workforce Development Council were awarded a four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to establish, grow, support and sustain youth apprenticeship. It continues with a new grant from the IWDC to expand this work through 2026.

Why are IBE and IWDC so passionate about youth apprenticeship?

Apprenticeship has a proven track record of helping workers and employers by providing on-the-job training, classroom-type instruction, mentorship, and a clear career path.
Apprenticeship helps businesses (and nonprofit employers) attract and retain top talent at a time when the labor market is more competitive than ever.

Apprenticeship creates partnerships between schools and employers, connecting students as young as 16 to real jobs that lead to meaningful careers.

Our grant provides eligible youth apprentices up to $750 per year to cover related costs, such as equipment, clothing, supplies or even the expenses to drive to and from work. For many young people, this is a game-changing service that means the difference between being able to enter the workforce or not.

The program can connect with other programs, such as , the new program that pays for up to 80 percent of eligible graduating high school seniors for post-secondary tuition and fees. This can be part of an approved youth apprenticeship.

Idaho has received national recognition for this program and has lots of highlights to celebrate. In Soda Springs, the high school has both sponsored its own apprenticeships for teacher鈥檚 aides and other opportunities and collaborated with local employers to establish apprenticeships around the region, with over 70 apprentices placed to date.

Elsewhere, the Nez Perce Tribe has partnered with IBE to create unique and sustainable opportunities for over 50 of its young people in a variety of fields. Large employers such as St. Luke鈥檚 Health System and Micron are significant participants in apprenticeship in the Treasure Valley. Idaho Central Credit Union partners with high schools across the state using branches right in the schools, placing 65 apprentices to date.

There are many more 鈥� dozens more. Each example tells its own story, with unique opportunities to expand the state鈥檚 workforce, introduce young people to new opportunities, and open doors for coursework and technical certifications.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com. Follow Idaho Capital Sun on and .

This article originally appeared at .听

Tiaja Gundy was just 19 years old when she started working at Federal Hill House, an early learning center in Providence, Rhode Island. It was 2016, and back then, she lacked experience and expertise working with young children. She had no intention of staying in the field long-term.

But the work grew on her. Gundy started out as a 鈥渇loater,鈥� helping with infants, toddlers and preschoolers as needed. She found she loved being around children.

As years passed, Gundy gained experience, and she moved into an assistant teaching position in a toddler classroom. Yet she was still missing some of the critical knowledge about child development that would allow her to continue growing in her career.

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In 2021, Gundy recalls, one of her supervisors pulled her aside, and said, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e very promising. I know you can go farther in this field,鈥� then told her about an interesting opportunity.

Rhode Island was launching a for early childhood educators. With her employer鈥檚 support, Gundy would get to continue her paid teaching job as she took college courses, pursuing a Child Development Associate (CDA), a nationally recognized credential for those who work in early care and education settings. It would set her up to one day become a lead teacher. The apprenticeship would come with guaranteed wage increases, too.

The thought of balancing both work and school again was daunting, Gundy admits, but she was encouraged by her colleagues and excited to deepen her understanding of early childhood education. She decided to apply.

For decades, apprenticeship has been a popular career pathway for occupations such as electricians, plumbers and carpenters. In early care and education, however, there was limited uptake of the model.

Recently, that has changed 鈥� and fast. A decade ago, only a handful of states had registered apprenticeship programs in early childhood education. Five years ago, that had risen to about a dozen. As of last year, 35 states had an apprenticeship program for child care and early childhood education, and another seven states were developing them, according to a report published by the (BPC) in 2023.

In 2021, the last year for which there is available data, early childhood education was one of the five for apprenticeship, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

鈥淭here鈥檚 just been an explosion,鈥� says Linda Smith, who authored the BPC鈥檚 apprenticeship report last summer and has since joined the Buffett Early Childhood Institute as director of policy. 鈥淚t is happening all over this country.鈥�

Explaining the 鈥榚xplosion鈥�

Smith sees at least two reasons for the emergence and rapid growth of this model in early childhood education.

The first is that more federal funding has become available in recent years. At least 10 states are using (ARPA) dollars to build or expand their child care apprenticeship programs, and 13 are using funds. As many as 15 states are using money from the Child Care and Development Fund, which received a under ARPA.

The second reason is that there is increased awareness of how essential and how endangered the early care and education sector is.

鈥淲e鈥檙e in a tough spot right now with child care in this country,鈥� Smith says soberly. 鈥淲e have a workforce problem on our hands. Everyone is crying for child care workers. They can鈥檛 fill jobs. Wages are low. Child care programs can鈥檛 compete with big box stores, fast food, you name it.鈥�

Broad recognition of that reality, Smith says, made policymakers and other leaders more willing to invest in the early education workforce.

It also helps, she adds, that people understand what apprenticeships are. It鈥檚 a well-established model that they can visualize and 鈥� importantly 鈥� measure.

Randi Wolfe, founder and executive director of Early Care and Education Pathways to Success (), an organization that provides training and technical assistance to get programs registered as apprenticeships, believes this model is proliferating in early care and education because it鈥檚 a natural fit for the field鈥檚 workforce development needs.

The early care and education workforce, Wolfe points out, is mostly made up of low-income women, and they are disproportionately women of color, immigrants, non-native English speakers and first-generation college students.

鈥淎sking those people to do an internship that is unpaid creates unintended inequity,鈥� Wolfe says. 鈥淔rom day one, an apprentice is a W-2 employee. There is no such thing as an unpaid apprentice.鈥�

It works well for both educators and early learning programs, she adds. Early childhood educators who can鈥檛 afford to miss out on wages while they earn a degree 鈥� and at little or no cost. They get raises throughout the apprenticeship and, in many cases, are eligible for a promotion once they complete it.

Their employers, meanwhile, end up with highly skilled teachers who, after investing significant time and energy into their careers, are more likely to remain in the field.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e the best qualified candidate,鈥� Wolfe says of apprentices. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e trained them. You鈥檝e grown them.鈥�

For early learning programs, better-qualified teachers can also help them move up the scale on their state鈥檚 . Higher quality ratings are tied to in many states. In short, apprentices help a program鈥檚 bottom line.

All of these outcomes support children and families, who benefit greatly from having teachers who provide high-quality, research-backed care and education.

The nuts and bolts of apprenticeships

To be considered a , programs must meet a number of criteria and get approval from the U.S. Department of Labor or a state apprenticeship agency. All registered apprenticeships have a sponsor, such as a community-based organization, a workforce intermediary or a business, that manages program operations. Registered apprenticeship programs have a few other key ingredients:

• Employers must partner with apprentices, allowing them to learn while they earn. In early care and education, the employers are early learning programs.
• Apprentices must receive on-the-job training with opportunities to practice their new skills in context. Many programs pair apprentices with a mentor to fulfill this goal.
• Apprentices must receive instruction related to their industry. In early care and education, that happens in a classroom setting, often at a community college but at four-year institutions too. Employers are expected to provide support and flexibility so apprentices can attend classes and complete coursework.
• Apprentices are guaranteed incremental wage increases as their knowledge and skills grow. This is a huge win for early educators, who have some of the , but also a point of tension for programs, which are seldom in a to pay staff more.
• Apprentices must receive a credential. In early education, that is usually a CDA or an associate degree, and sometimes a bachelor鈥檚 degree.

Despite the many criteria, there is still some flexibility for individual apprenticeship programs to put their own spin on the model.

In Rhode Island, where Gundy apprenticed, the program is exclusively for infant and toddler teachers, often the 鈥渓east educated and least compensated鈥� faction of the early childhood workforce, says Lisa Hildebrand, executive director of the Rhode Island Association for the Education of Young Children, which helped develop and implement the program, in partnership with a , and now manages it.

There is a notion in the field, Hildebrand says, that if you start out as an infant or toddler teacher, you can get more training and education and then 鈥渕ove up鈥� to teaching preschool.

鈥淚t鈥檚 almost like a promotion,鈥� she says, because preschool teachers typically earn more money and command more respect.

But that dynamic leads to the high turnover of infant and toddler teachers, which, given the challenges with hiring and retention, and the legal requirements around , can result in classroom closures and reduced slots for the youngest children. It certainly has in Rhode Island.

鈥淭he waiting list for infants and toddlers is absolutely astronomical,鈥� Hildebrand says, acknowledging that鈥檚 true outside of Rhode Island too. 鈥淚t is reaching critical levels at this point.鈥�

With on the way, the apprenticeship may soon expand to preschool teachers, among whom there is ample interest, Hildebrand notes. But right now, Rhode Island is focused on retaining the teachers who are in the highest demand.

Minnesota鈥檚 registered apprenticeship program, , includes a strong mentorship component. Each apprentice is paired with a mentor, often a colleague at the program where they work, says Erin Young, who manages the program for Child Care Aware of Minnesota.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the secret sauce,鈥� says Young. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the magic.鈥�

Mentors, who receive 24 hours of free training, guide apprentices through questions and topics ranging from children鈥檚 behavioral challenges, to curriculum implementation, to family engagement. That can be especially helpful for apprentices who are still quite new to the field of early childhood education, Young explains.

鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to have someone say, 鈥業t鈥檚 OK.鈥� 鈥楾ry this.鈥� 鈥楽tart here,鈥欌�� Young says. 鈥淗aving a mentor at the beginning of my early childhood career would鈥檝e been a huge help.鈥�

The mentorship made an impression on Katelyn Sarkar, an apprentice who graduated with her bachelor鈥檚 degree in early childhood education leadership in June.

Sarkar鈥檚 mentor would observe her in her classroom at a Head Start program in Rochester, Minnesota, then offer feedback and suggest strategies for her to try. 鈥淎s an early childhood educator, I grew so much more in my skills because of that,鈥� Sarkar shares.

Next up, Young is developing an apprenticeship model for licensed family child care providers, a group that is currently left out of most registered apprenticeship programs, despite being the 鈥渄ominant form of care in rural Minnesota,鈥� Young says, and an option preferred by many families.

鈥淚f it gets approved, that鈥檚 a really big win,鈥� Young notes. 鈥淚t opens the door for other states to do it.鈥�

No such thing as a silver bullet

Although many early childhood advocates view the apprenticeship model as a promising strategy for workforce retention and improvement, they鈥檙e also quick to caution against overweighting its potential.

鈥淚n early childhood, we tend to [want] a single solution to a complex problem. That does not work. The problems of child care in this country are very complicated,鈥� says Smith of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute. 鈥淎pprenticeships are never going to be the only answer.鈥�

The model, while exciting, has its limitations, Smith adds.

Right now, apprenticeship cohorts tend to be quite small, with around five to 25 early childhood educators enrolled. Rhode Island graduated 16 apprentices in its pilot cohort and has another 17 enrolled now. Minnesota had 19 apprentices enrolled as of June.

That鈥檚 because apprenticeship programs are demanding, resource-intensive and very costly.

In Minnesota, for example, where early childhood apprenticeship costs fall on the high end, Young budgets $20,000 to $24,000 per apprentice per year. Apprenticeships there run for at least two years, she says.

That estimate includes covering 85 percent of the cost of college tuition and books, as well as giving apprentices an annual $2,000 stipend to help with transportation, internet access and their remaining 10 percent of tuition costs, and awarding them a small bonus at the end of their apprenticeship year.

It also includes an annual $5,000 stipend to employers to offset the costs of hosting an apprentice. In Minnesota, employers chip in the final 5 percent of tuition costs, and they are expected to give apprentices a $1 an hour raise at the end of each year, which typically works out to be about $2,000 a year, Young says. It can be hard for employers to budget for that right away, she notes. Mentors also receive a $3,500 annual stipend.

It鈥檚 expensive, to be sure, but Minnesota recently received $5 million from the state earmarked specifically for apprenticeships, Young says.

鈥淭here鈥檚 not going to be one silver bullet,鈥� Young acknowledges, 鈥渂ut professionalizing the field, reducing turnover and increasing compensation is going to have to happen, and I am hoping the data will show this is one positive strategy that moves the needle on that.鈥�

Now 27 and finished with her apprenticeship, Gundy has received her CDA and been promoted to lead teacher in her toddler classroom. She鈥檚 also pursuing her bachelor鈥檚 degree in early childhood education.

鈥淚t was nice to get the science behind what I did,鈥� Gundy shares about her apprenticeship experience. 鈥淚t answered 鈥榳hy鈥� 鈥� why are we doing it this way, why is play important. 鈥� It helped me be an overall better teacher.鈥�

This article was originally published in EdSurge, a nonprofit newsroom that covers education through original journalism and research. Sign up for their . Emily Tate Sullivan is a senior reporter for EdSurge covering early childhood and K-12 education.

Indiana is the latest state to work with ETH Zurich 鈥� where Albert Einstein once studied 鈥�  to develop ways to break down barriers between educators and business so that career training can be a large part of a reinvented high school experience.

Indiana government, business and education officials  鈥� like those in Alabama, California, Colorado, Washington State, New York City and Washington, D.C. 鈥� have spent the last few years working with Ursula Renold, the former head of the Swiss vocational system.

Now a professor at ETH, Renold鈥檚 highly-regarded Center on the Economics and Management of Education and Training Systems, known as CEMETS, earns rave reviews and advises companies and officials around the world.

A broad Indiana coalition including legislators, the state community college Ivy Tech, the Indiana Department of Education and Indiana Chamber of Commerce have visited Switzerland under CEMETS鈥� direction. Committees of executives from several industries have also taken trips to see Swiss companies and schools in their field.

The coalition expects to release a statewide plan to expand youth apprenticeships 鈥� potentially from 500 today to 50,000 in 10 years  鈥� in September. 

“College, of course, is very important, and it will continue to be important,” said Claire Fiddian-Green, President and CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, which has paid for and is leading some of the work. “But we know that it’s not serving the majority of students in Indiana today.鈥�

鈥淲e are trying to grow another great pathway that allows for upward mobility for young people in our state and also meets the demand for skilled labor that employers have been struggling to find for a long time,鈥� she said. 

That vision includes creating thousands of apprenticeships in fields such as health care, manufacturing and information technology, which are common in Europe. Such apprenticeships would add to the more traditional ones in the U.S. in the construction trades. 

Among potential changes coming to Indiana based on the Swiss system are letting 11th and 12th graders work part time while attending school part time; and letting businesses have a say in which work skills schools teach students.

The plan will likely call for high school students to receive credit toward graduation from their work and training experiences, a change already being discussed at the department of education as it debates new diploma requirements.

Indiana already has a pilot Modern Youth Apprenticeship Program that started in 2021 to let high school juniors and seniors earn money working in businesses, such as AES Indiana and pharmaceutical company Roche, through their first year in college. Nearly 500 students have worked as apprentices in the three-year program.

That program will soon expand to four other communities across the state, but officials want to grow it even more.

鈥淲e鈥檝e really kind of hit the accelerator,鈥� said Robert Behning, the Indiana House education committee chairman.

Annelies Goger, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who researches career training, has traveled to Switzerland with Indiana officials for research on how the state, along with Colorado and Alabama, is breaking ground in trying to bring apprenticeships to a large scale.

鈥淚 am struck by the level of cohesion and shared vision in the state across many of the key leaders in workforce, education, the legislature, and the chamber,鈥� Goger said. 鈥淐EMETS has played a critical role in creating the space and time for these leaders to work together and align around how they plan to tackle several challenges with student success.鈥�

Day 1 of our Summer Institute was a hit!

鈥� Chair of Education Systems (@CES_zurich)

The top challenges the Indiana coalition has identified and are looking to Renold and the Swiss for solutions include high school class schedules that interfere with work, a lack of public transportation for students to get to jobs without a car, and businesses鈥� willingness to train large numbers of students 鈥� not just a few as a charity effort.

Perhaps the biggest will be having competitors in each field partner to find common skills they all want new employees to have, so apprentices can train for an entire industry, not just a single employer.

The Swiss have solved many of these issues, at least to a far greater degree than the U.S. About two thirds of students in Switzerland participate in apprenticeships as part of their education. Though attending university can still be the most prestigious path, apprenticeships are respected and are often combined with college by students who want both theoretical and practical training.

The Swiss also have no reluctance in having high-school age students as apprentices as Indiana is considering. Many Swiss apprenticeships start as early as age 15, not after high school when most start in the U.S. Swiss companies view working with young people as a chance to attract new talent, not the risk and bother many American companies do.

The Swiss system also gives companies a say in what skills schools teach in return for taking on responsibility and the expense of co-training teenagers. 

Fiddian-Green said she was sold on the potential of Indiana schools and businesses cooperating to help students and themselves after attending a summer seminar in 2019 that CEMETS runs every year. Teams from around the world spend the week of the seminar  touring businesses and schools, then work with Renold鈥檚 staff to try and better grow training programs back home.

Fiddian-Green said visiting training centers that Swiss businesses create just for young people and seeing how competing companies can agree on what students need to be taught to succeed in that industry, not just their own company, was eye-opening.

鈥淵ou start to have light bulbs go off after you’ve been there about three days, because it all starts to kind of click together,鈥� she said.

Noel Ginsburg, the Colorado businessman who created the CareerWise youth apprenticeship program in Colorado in 2016 had a similar experience. He credits Renold and the CEMETS summer seminar with showing him how apprenticeships succeed for so many students and  inspiring CareerWise, which has served nearly 2,200 apprentices.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the combination of the theoretical that you learn in the classroom, where there’s discussion, but then you see it at scale, which is why CEMETS is powerful,鈥� Ginsburg told 社区黑料.

JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and his wife Judith are also fans of Renold, CEMETS and the Swiss system after Renold and staff took them to businesses and schools to see it in person. Chase now hires CareerWise apprentices in its New York City offices and is an outspoken backer of CareerWise expansion in that city.

Judi Dimon told 社区黑料 she was impressed with how engaged Swiss apprentices were, even those still of high school age. And she saw how seriously companies took apprenticeships as a recruiting and talent pipeline strategy, not a charity program as many youth training programs are.

鈥淚t was not鈥� a corporate responsibility project that is paid for by the (company) foundation,鈥� Dimon said. 鈥淚t is core to the businesses themselves, and to the culture and to their ability to attract young talent.鈥�

That shift of viewing high school work experiences as a real business strategy and not just a public relations effort is cited by many experts as crucial to expanding high school internships or apprenticeships to a large scale anywhere in the U.S., not just Indiana.

Making a return on investment case to businesses is one of the key issues that Indiana teams have been working on with CEMETS staff.

Others include adapting high school schedules so that students can fit in real work time, perhaps by having some days of only work and some devoted to school as in Switzerland.  

The state also wants each industry to develop standards for what employees should know across many companies, so that training can be common across an industry. Having committees of competitors from Indiana building a plan together with CEMETS is a step toward the industry associations that determine training in Switzerland.

鈥淭hose associations actually create a curriculum with input from the education system,鈥� Fiddian-Green said. 鈥淭hat’s a huge critical function that makes it possible for employers to engage in apprenticeship, and that’s what we don’t have in Indiana.鈥�

When the only preschool teacher left Harold Kaveolook School in Kaktovik, a village of around 250 people on the northern coast of Alaska, Chelsea Brower was in charge. It was January and she had been the preschool aide for about a year-and-a-half.

鈥淏eing with the kids and trying to be their teacher is what really made me realize I want to be their teacher 鈥� and it also made me realize I need to become certified to be their teacher,鈥� she said.

The only problem was that universities that offered the requisite courses were hundreds of miles away, and she wanted to stay in her hometown with her students.

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Fortunately for Brower, the regional Arctic Slope Community Foundation has been working with other tribal groups, the state and federal Departments of Labor and the University of Alaska at Anchorage to develop an apprenticeship program that aims to grow the teacher pipeline in Alaska. The program was approved by the University of Alaska Board of Regents last week and solidified the first apprenticeship programs for teacher licensure in Alaska.

The tribal, state and university partnership unlocks millions of dollars in grant funding to educate and support the apprentices. It is all possible because the DOL made teaching an apprenticeable trade in 2022.

Now Brower can keep her job with the students in her community while she gets her education paid for. She is one of dozens of apprentices that will begin their coursework remotely with UAA this fall.

Brower is Inupiaq and said she hopes to build cultural values in the school.

鈥淭he students are seeing more people that look like them inside their school, and I鈥檓 hoping that it gets more people to want to become certified to be teachers for the different grade levels,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat would be good, because we have our language and we could incorporate it more into the school. And (the students) will learn more from the teachers from home than teachers from out of state.鈥�

The news comes as the state grapples with an unprecedented .

Tonia Dousay, dean of the UAA School of Education, said apprenticeships have been common in other industries for a long time, but it was only in 2022 that the state began accepting registered apprenticeships as a pathway to teacher certification.

鈥淣ationwide, we鈥檙e watching the registered apprenticeships for educators movement. This fall, we will welcome our first cohort of apprentice teachers from around the state,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his takes our degree and makes it the required training for a registered apprenticeship through the U.S. Department of Labor.鈥�

The program targets paraprofessionals, people without teaching credentials who already work in the state鈥檚 schools, like Brower.

Paradigm shift

Leaders from regional, tribally-affiliated groups worked together to build the apprenticeship program in Alaska with an aim to create a local teacher pipeline in the communities they serve, which are largely remote districts that are the trickiest to staff. Bristol Bay Regional Career and Technical Education Program, Sealaska Heritage Institute and Arctic Slope Community Foundation are sponsor groups for apprentices in their respective regions.

Steve Noonkesser, who works with BBRCTE and is a former superintendent, said the groups worked with the U.S. Department of Labor in Anchorage to become apprenticeship sponsors. That opens up federal funding and grant opportunities to track their apprentices鈥� progress on different skills, called competencies in the apprenticeship world.

鈥淲hen you do a federal apprenticeship, you learn skills, and you basically check off competencies as you work through it 鈥� whether you鈥檙e an electrician or a plumber or a welder or, in this case, a teacher,鈥� Noonkesser said.

The state鈥檚 Board of Education and Early Development has also and passed a resolution supporting them, but no state regulations about how to become a teacher have changed.

Since state law dictates that one must have a bachelor鈥檚 degree to become a certified teacher, the groups partnered with UAA and School of Education dean Dousay to create a pathway to a bachelor鈥檚 degree for the apprentices.

The sponsors, like Noonkesser, work with DOL to keep track of the competencies and on the job learning hours; UAA keeps track of the degree progress and academic hours.

Noonkesser said that there are additional hurdles to getting the degree for people who live in remote parts of Alaska, including financial challenges, difficulty in access and the often low quality of internet that may prevent potential students from taking online courses on their own. For those reasons, he said the apprenticeship coursework is delivered differently and with a different context: culture and place-based connection to community.

鈥淲e鈥檙e really heavily emphasizing that, because that we think has a huge bearing on recruiting teachers and teacher retention. You know, staying in the community and keeping teachers longer, because the turnover rates in Alaska have become just astronomical,鈥� he said, pointing to districts hiring ever increasing numbers of teachers from overseas because they 鈥渏ust can鈥檛 hire enough teachers from Alaska.鈥�

鈥淲e think that this program will help not only retain teachers more, but it will connect the teachers that are in our schools much better with the kids they鈥檙e serving,鈥� he said.

In his region, he said, 80-95% of the students are Alaska Native compared to only about 8-12% of the educators.

BBCTEP鈥檚 first cohort, he said, is predominantly Alaska Native paraeducators who are from the region. And he said he expects the learning will run both ways between them and their mentors. 鈥淥ur apprentices, a lot of them are from the community. Many of them have as many as 10 or 15 or 20 years of experience in the schools 鈥� as a parent, professional, as a classroom aide 鈥� and are very much connected to community, place and culture. And a lot of our mentors are very good teachers, but they鈥檙e from somewhere else, and so we kind of are feeling like both have a lot to learn,鈥� he said.

Kristy Ford, SHI鈥檚 education director who oversees the program in Southeast, said it opens up more opportunities because it allows apprentices to work through three tiers of certification, starting with a child care development specialist certificate, then moving to associate鈥檚 and bachelor鈥檚 degrees.

鈥淚t gives everybody an access point,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a paradigm shift in my opinion. We鈥檝e been doing the same thing with our universities over and over and over, and we鈥檙e getting the results that we have: It鈥檚 a rotating door in a lot of our schools. And so by having individuals who live in the community who are aunties, uncles, parents, guardians of the kids in those schools 鈥� I think is going to be a game changer.鈥�

Ford said the program is the first of its kind in the state.

Community, place and culture

Patuk Glenn, executive director of ASCF, said she they are sponsoring apprentices because they want to see increased engagement and better scores from their students in the North Slope and Arctic regions.

鈥淚 think it can all be pointed back to our children, especially in rural Alaska, whose test scores are not making the mark,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f you look at the AK Star Report for 2023 there are 92% of our children in our Arctic Slope region that are not proficient in the state assessment. That is a serious issue, and over the years we鈥檝e tried to address that in so many different ways.鈥�

She said she wants to see scores go up so that kids have better chances later in life.

Ryan Cope, grant director for ASCF, said that is why the program was developed with the understanding that educators have a responsibility to make education speak to students. In the Arctic, he said that means giving teachers a strong pedagogical foundation, so they can incorporate their place-based and Indigenous knowledge.

鈥淨uite frankly, it鈥檚 about meeting them halfway and having more teachers in the classroom understand who these kids are, where they come from, and what they do in the community. (Teachers) that really can kind of identify with them, and, in a lot of cases, having educators that look like them, speak like them, that know their language. These are very important things that I think that we have all wanted to see.鈥�

Cope said the state鈥檚 teacher certification process has not yielded enough of those educators, which is why the apprenticeship program is necessary. ASCF has also added the Inuit Circumpolar Council standards to its curriculum. In the Bristol Bay and Southeast regions cultural values are also incorporated.

Cheryl Anderson, an administrator with ASCF, added that there鈥檚 another shift as well: Alaska Native educators were not always encouraged to return to their home communities to teach, she said.

鈥淢y parents, they wanted to go and teach back in their village on Kodiak Island, but they were discouraged to do so, saying they were told that they didn鈥檛 want anybody back from there to go back and teach in their community,鈥� she said, adding that her parents ended up teaching in Anchorage instead.

鈥淔or the state of Alaska to now be really open and accepting to having people in their own communities 鈥� I鈥檓 happy to see that. I鈥檓 glad I could see it in my time, in my parents鈥� time.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alaska Beacon maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Andrew Kitchenman for questions: info@alaskabeacon.com. Follow Alaska Beacon on and .

Its , or party platform, describes , including one on education and workforce training named 鈥淏reak down barriers to opportunity.鈥� Details are provided in a companion 130-page focused on “Learning and Skills.“

Labour鈥檚 education and workforce training agenda for working families in the United Kingdom is similar to those numerous states and communities in the U.S. are creating under the banner of career pathways programs. It also has similarities to the bipartisan bill reauthorizing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and is under consideration by the Senate. 

This approach reflects , a viewpoint that encourages policymakers to create different education and training pathways and personal support programs so individuals can acquire the knowledge, skills and networks they need for jobs and careers. Policymakers and other analysts could benefit from comparing these similar U.S. and U.K. agendas, even though education governance in America is more decentralized than in Britain. Creating an opportunity pluralism learning agenda would advance the interests of working families and the prosperity of both nations.

The Manifesto describes a strategy for 鈥� career pathways for those 16 and older that include guaranteed job training, an apprenticeship and personal assistance in getting a job. It proposes changing how apprenticeships are funded by letting employers use some , which is currently paid to the national government, to develop local job training programs. It would allow vocational programs known as to apply to become Technical Education Colleges, which offer teenagers academic and specialized training 鈥� much like U.S. high school career and technical education. The shift would provide additional funds and allow the schools to respond to local community job needs. Finally, a new organization called Skills England would oversee implementation efforts by employers, training providers and unions.

In short, this approach dovetails with U.S. conversations on career pathway programs, created by education and training providers to prepare individuals for jobs that align with local labor market demands. These programs include apprenticeships and internships; career and technical education; dual enrollment in high school and college; career academies; early college high schools; bootcamps for learning specific skills; and staffing, placement and other assistance for job seekers, and they have five common features: an academic curriculum linked to labor market needs, leading to a recognized credential and decent income; career exposure and work, including engagement with and supervision by adults; advisers who help participants answer any questions they might have and deal with issues may they confront, ensuring they complete the program; a written civic compact among employers, trade associations and community partners; and local, state and federal policies that make these programs possible and track outcomes.

“Learning and Skills” proposes a makeover of the national government鈥檚 school and adult career services. This includes placing a career leader in each school and requiring all schools to become part of the current network of . These offer advice and technical assistance as schools develop their programs so they align with national benchmarks for good career guidance. Schools would also have access to all the career planning resources and job search tools that the hub offers, including a job mentor for every student.  

Some of the work of these hubs is akin to U.S. state-based efforts that develop career services and education frameworks. For example,   includes three program and activity categories: learning about work, learning through work and learning at work.  approach is based on career exploration, preparation and job seeking and advancement. The includes descriptions of the roles and responsibilities of training providers, primary and secondary schools, colleges, workforce boards and other community organizations. 

Central to these approaches is the  of career navigators and navigator organizations, similar to the Labour proposal for career leaders and hubs. Navigators provide information and guidance to students and families as they explore career pathways. They  participants identify their strengths, understand job requirements and get the education and credentials they need for career success. Their organizations have  that collect and aggregate information to assist in this navigation process, including using  to help navigators and their clients.

This approach to career pathways programs provides insight into the two dimensions that are needed to prepare individuals for meaningful work. The goal is to give people the knowledge, skills, relationships and networks they need to flourish and achieve success. As the adage reminds us, it is not only what you know but also who you know. Pursuing opportunity involves acquiring knowledge that pays and relationships that are priceless. 

A U.S. and U.K. learning agenda, sharing lessons learned from implementing an education and training agenda as described above, would have many benefits for each country. 

For example, the U.S. could profit from learning how the U.K.鈥檚 approach to apprenticeships beginning in the 1990s has increased the number of prepared job-seekers. As Ryan Craig explains in his book , many factors contributed to this growth. Two that would be particularly pertinent for the U.S. are the role of the federal government in providing financial support to states and communities to create more training providers and in developing national frameworks that describe the knowledge and skills needed for different occupations.

On the other hand, the U.K. could profit from examining how America’s decentralized system of education and training has produced many approaches to implementing an opportunity program that begins as early as middle school; how navigation services and their technology platforms have been used to assist students, their families and mentors; and whether using states and communities as laboratories of democracy and opportunity has a U.K equivalent. 

Britain鈥檚 Labour Party has embarked on its own July Fourth revolution for opportunity. It bears watching, as both nations can learn much to advance their opportunity agendas for students and the working class.

This summer, Lodi, California, high schoolers will again head to local wineries to learn the business through a combination of hands-on internships and college classes. The first-of-its-kind initiative is the result of a growing partnership among the district, Delta College, the Lodi Winegrape Commission and the nonprofit San Joaquin A+.听

社区黑料 recently partnered with the Progressive Policy Institute for an inside look at the “Growing Futures” Initiative and how it aims to promote a more inclusive agriculture industry. 

In the replay below, you鈥檒l hear from experts Stuart Spencer, Executive Director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission, Kai Kung, CEO of San Joaquin A+, Kathy Stonum, Winemaker at Stonum Vineyards and Francesca Stonum, Operations Manager at Stonum Vineyards.

Some of our recent coverage of trends in career preparation:

• How a California Wine Region Is 鈥楪rowing Futures鈥� By Turning Vineyards Into State-of-the-Art Classrooms

• Why Wait to Graduate? Georgia Apprentices Start Training as Sophomores

• How Rhode Island Is Tapping Career & Technical Ed to Help Every Student Succeed

• LISTEN 鈥� Beyond 鈥楥ollege or Bust鈥�: Apprenticeship as a Path to Opportunity

• Who You Know: Social Capital is Key for First-Gen Students鈥� Career Success

Apprenticeships are booming as high schools and private industry recognize the need for training students for roles in the workforce of the future and for offering career pathways that don’t necessarily rely on a bachelor’s degree.

社区黑料 recently partnered with the Progressive Policy Institute on a new installment of the “New Skills for a New Economy” webinar series, which focused on solutions needed to ensure the U.S. education and workforce systems adapt to meet current workforce needs.

In the replay below, you鈥檒l hear from experts, you鈥檒l hear from experts Vanessa Bennett of Jobs for the Future; Lateefah Durant of CityWorks D.C.; Jess Kostelnik, senior policy adviser to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis; and Seth Lentz, executive director of the Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin. Watch the full conversation:

Some of our recent coverage of trends in career preparation:

• Indianapolis High School Carves Time Away from Class for Internships for All
  
• Why Wait to Graduate? Georgia Apprentices Start Training as Sophomores
  
• How Rhode Island Is Tapping Career & Technical Ed to Help Every Student Succeed
  
• LISTEN 鈥� Beyond 鈥楥ollege or Bust鈥�: Apprenticeship as a Path to Opportunity
  
• Who You Know: Social Capital is Key for First-Gen Students鈥� Career Success

Diane and Michael are joined by Ryan Craig, author of to discuss the earn-and-learn alternative to the traditional tuition-based higher education pathway. They address the current state of apprenticeship in the U.S., its role in an increasingly automated world and how to incentivize the development and use of apprenticeship programs so they can scale access to opportunity. 

Listen to the episode below. A full transcript follows.

Diane Tavenner: Hey, Michael.

Michael Horn: Hey, Diane. How are you?

Diane Tavenner: I’m good. How are you feeling about 2024?

Michael Horn: I think I’m decidedly in the holding-my-breath-and-wait-and-see camp. What about you?

Diane Tavenner: That resonates. I’m trying to be optimistic here. Part of me feels like 2024 is a good number, maybe a good lucky number, and potentially good year. And there’s some signs for hope. And personally, it’s a building year for me. And so I like hard work and measurable growth and all of those things. So that all feels good. And the realist in me recognizes we’ve got a lot of big problems that we’re facing as a world right now and some struggles in the cracks in our foundation. And so I want to be real about that. And so I was thinking about, if I had to title it, what would it be? And a few years back, I wrote a paper with some friends that was called 鈥淒issatisfied Yet Optimistic.鈥� And so maybe that title still holds true, and maybe it’s going to be the truth of this conversation we’re about to have today, which I am super excited about. And so let’s get to that.

Michael Horn: Yeah. No, I know you are. I’m excited because we’re going to bring Ryan Craig on the show, longtime friend of mine. We got to meet probably about a decade or so ago in the education world. He’s the founder and partner at Achieve Partners, originally called University Ventures Fund, but is a PE firm in education. He’s written several books, many of which I wish I had written before he did, about , disruption and things of that nature in higher ed. And his latest, of course, is Apprentice Nation. It’s a great book. I’ve had him on my podcast, the Future of Education, but we really wanted to have him on Class Disrupted because the topic that he’s gone deep on over the last several years has been around these questions of apprenticeships and alternatives to the college for all mentality that has really gripped, as, you know, ed reform over the last several decades. And I think Ryan gives us perhaps the best picture of what one of those viable alternatives to the system might be. And I think, frankly, it relates well to your startup also, Diane, so selfishly – I think our audience will learn more – but I also think you will enjoy the conversation. So, Ryan, good to see you. Thanks for joining. 

Ryan Craig: Thanks, Michael. Diane, great to see you. Thanks for having me.

Diane Tavenner: You, too. Well, let’s jump in. As Michael just said, Ryan, my new work that I’m engaged in is really trying to find alternatives to a direct to four-year college pathway for young people and apprenticeships are, in my view, potentially the most promising of these pathways, or could be or should be the most promising. And so I’m excited to talk about them today. I thought before we got started we could just get some definitional stuff out of the way so people know what we’re talking about. And so you talk a lot about earn plus learn or earn and learn pathways. Just tell us what that is. What does that mean to you? What are we talking about here?

Ryan Craig: Sure. Well, as a category, I guess earn and learn is kind of the opposite or alternative to what I would call train and pray, which is sort of everything that we’ve had until now, which is post high school you’re paying tuition, likely taking on debt for some kind of educational program or pathway, and you’re taking a financial risk, but you’re also taking an employment risk because there’s no guaranteed employment or really any employment outcome at the end of the road. It’s train and pray, earn and learn is it’s the job first. And that’s really where apprenticeship is different. And you say 鈥渢he most promising,鈥� and I would agree because it’s really the only alternative pathway that truly levels the playing field because it’s a job. An apprenticeship is a job first and foremost, where you’re being paid a living wage and you have built in formal and informal training as well as wage and career progression with the apprenticeship. And if we’re talking definitions, I’m often asked, well, what’s the difference between apprenticeship and internship? And the difference is sort of what comes first. With apprenticeship, it’s the job first. You’re applying to an employer for a job and the training is sort of second. It’s built in, but it’s sort of secondary to the job. An internship is obviously a work experience, but it’s in the context of an educational program. So you’re applying to typically a degree program and either during the term, if it’s a co-op program, or over the summer, you’re participating in hopefully a paid internship, and then you go back to your educational program. So it’s educational program first, job second. But really, unlike apprenticeship, there’s no sense in which, or it’s rare where the internship sort of automatically becomes a sort of full-time job with a career, whereas apprenticeship, that’s exactly what it does. Apprentices don’t finish their apprenticeship and then sort of go somewhere else. They just continue with the company as a regular old employee.

Diane Tavenner: Yeah, that’s so helpful. And today we’re going to focus on apprenticeships. And so can you just give us a sense of where are we in the US right now with regard to apprenticeships? I think a lot of people have some understanding or sense that in Europe this is a big thing, lots of apprenticeships and apprenticeship model. But where are we in the US?

Ryan Craig: Well, you’d be correct. We’re last in the apprenticeship league tables. We are last among developed countries and the book really explores sort of where that is. So in terms of numbers, we put half a million civilian apprentices in the US. It may sound like a big number, but it’s only 0.3% of the workforce. So your listeners won’t be surprised to learn that the giants of central Europe, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, they do ten to 15 times better than we do as a percentage of the workforce. So they’re at three to four and a half percent of the workforce. But your listeners probably will be surprised to learn that the UK, Australia, Canada, countries that aren’t really sort of associated with apprenticeship in the public mind, they do eight times better than we are. And a generation ago they did it. A generation ago, they looked a lot like the US in terms of having a small apprenticeship sector, most of which was in the construction or building trades. About 70% of our 500,000 apprentices in the US are in the building trades. But today it’s very common in those countries, in the UK and Australia, to launch a career in financial services, tech, healthcare as an apprentice, whether or not you have a university. You know, the question that I pose in the book is how did they do it? And how come we haven’t figured out how to scale apprenticeships across the economy.

Michael Horn: Yeah, Ryan, on this podcast we talk a lot about sort of alternative post high school pathways that aren’t direct to four-year college, alluded to this earlier. And the need for K-12 to sort of move away from this college for all or college or bust mentality. Clearly in those visions you just painted, college is still a big piece of it. If we’re talking 3% of the workforce, even in Germany, it’s not apprenticeship or bust. But why do we need to get out of this mentality of college for all. 

Ryan Craig: Well, because college is not doing a good job serving the students we should care most about. It’s certainly doing a good job of serving the children of the wealthy. They do fine. Whether or not they get into the most selective schools or just reasonably selective schools, they do just fine. But the students that we should care most about, underprivileged first-generation underrepresented minority students aren’t being well served by the current system in terms of completion rates, in terms of affordability, obviously, as demonstrated by the fact that really the overwhelming public policy issue over the past three years in higher education at the federal level has been debt, student loan forgiveness, which is entirely backward looking, not forward looking. So we’re trying to redress the problems we face without fundamentally addressing the structure of post-secondary education. And then, of course, the issue I’ve been most focused on over the last decade, which is employability, where we have a real problem of underemployment college graduates coming out鈥nd it’s typically not your graduates out of computer science and engineering programs. They’re typically finding their way. But students who are coming out of what I would call lower value or less remunerative or less employer connected programs. If they graduate, they’re graduating into underemployment in many cases, and they make less, and it’s persistent. If they’re underemployed in their first job, two thirds of the time they’re underemployed five years later. Half the time they’re underemployed a decade later. And many reasons for this one is that colleges and universities aren’t doing a good job of keeping up with the digital transformation of the workforce and that entry-level jobs look a lot different now than they did even ten years ago, let alone a generation ago, in terms of the skills that are being demanded. But another big problem that we’re going to see over the next five years is what I call the experience gap, where employers are increasingly looking for experience for what used to be entry level jobs. So think about cybersecurity. A decade ago, a college graduate with some technical background could probably find their way into getting a job at a security operations center as a tier-one analyst. So your first row of defense, dealing with alerts, figuring out which ones you could resolve yourself, which ones need to be elevated, and which ones you could just disregard. Today, that job has basically been automated away. And the entry level, the lowest level jobs in the security operations centers are what used to be tier two analysts, which demand a CISSP certification, which is three to five years experience. So the idea of an entry-level job in cybersecurity is kind of an oxymoron. And my concern is that generative AI is going to do to every entry-level job what automation has already done to cybersecurity. Where I think back to my first good job as a consultant, where I spent, I don’t know, 35 hours a week building PowerPoint presentations and no one is going to want their entry-level consultant spending 35 hours a week building PowerPoints anymore. You’re going to maybe spend an hour a week and let Chat GPT do the work, and the expectation is you’ll be spending the bulk of your time doing much higher value product work, client work, business development work, what have you, but which you won’t be able to do with that experience. So we’re going to start seeing for these entry-level jobs, as we have for cybersecurity, an increasing experience requirements. Which means that we need to figure out a way, unless we’re willing to allow this sort of experience chasm to develop, we need to figure out a way to integrate real work experience into the educational programs and pathways we have starting at the high school level. But certainly for college, and apprenticeship is the best way I know to do that because an apprenticeship is a job where you are hiring a candidate based on their potential, based on their interest, based on their diversity, but not based on their specific skills or experience, because they’re going to gain that over the course of the apprenticeship. So it is the most promising, but it’s going to be increasingly important and promising for that reason as a strategy for bridging this experience gap that we’re about to see.

Diane Tavenner: Ryan, what you are sharing is I’ve spent the last 20 plus years in K-12 education in high schools, really for decades, focusing on ensuring all of our students were accepted to a four-year college. I thought that was the right thing to do and the thing that was going to lift them, especially serving mostly first-generation college-going students. And then what you described is what we started to see in our own data, that if they made it through [college], they were underemployed on the back end, they were carrying significant amounts of debt, and depending on what program or major they went into, it really mattered [for] what their prospects looked like outside. And many of these students don’t have the social networks to gain the experience that you’re talking about as being so valuable. And so I guess one of the questions I have as a recovering college-for-all K-12 educator is what do you think people like me should be doing right now in the high school space, particularly what are the top one or two things that we could do to start shifting in the right direction?

Ryan Craig: Yeah, well, look, I think CTE and career discovery at the high school and even middle school level are a casualty of this sort of college-for-all mentality. We’ve really allowed it to wither on the vine. I did a piece a couple of months ago about the fact that the sort of AP honors industrial complex, with its higher GPA, college is the only pathway. You sort of have to take those courses and you have to take that path, which leaves no room for鈥TE kind of withers on the vine in that case. But I get it right. If there aren’t alternatives for your college, then what’s the point of career discovery at the high school? So it is sort of a chicken or the egg problem. I’m very focused on how do we build out that post high school infrastructure of earn-and-learn pathways so we can kind of get to where we are in the UK now, which is, this last fall, for the first time, graduating high school students in the UK could look at the UCAS portal, which is kind of the common app of the UK, and see listed alongside all the university programs, all the apprenticeship options. It’s in one portal, in one place, and they can look with their guidance counselor and they can say, 鈥淥kay, here are some real earn and learn options that I might pursue.鈥� Here are some tuition-based options I might pursue. So that’s the ultimate goal. But I think beginning to work on CTE and career discovery. I did a profile of the superintendent in Winchester, Virginia that Ted Dintersmith introduced me to, who just is doing an incredible job of really elevating CTE and almost making it mandatory that every student has to pursue a CTE pathway. And so I think then we need to prime the pump both on the supply side and the demand at the high school level.

Michael Horn: So, Ryan, I want to stay with that just for a moment, because I think part of the narrative that we often hear when people are skeptical of the non-four-year college pathway is – and I can’t count the number of times I’ve been on a panel with college presidents, of course, being the ones to say this 鈥� 鈥淲ell, the people that are clamoring the loudest for alternatives to college are those who are going to send their kids to college.鈥� And so they have this real skepticism that it’s for them, but not for me. Why are you relegating them, if you will, to something lower? In Apprentice Nation, you make a pretty compelling counterargument around the data on this, but I’d love you to just walk us through that a little bit more. And part of this, I acknowledge, is we only have 500,000 apprenticeships in this country. There’s not really a dataset in this country to sort of play with, but walk us through it.

Ryan Craig: Yeah, look, I just think that’s inaccurate. I mean, I hear every week from a charter school organization that is focused on how do we help build new, how do we facilitate pathways, how do we build a sort of plus-two transition program to something other than college? Because like you, Diane, they see their students graduating and either not completing or completing and graduating into underemployment, so it’s clearly not working for everyone. So, I don’t buy that argument.

Diane Tavenner: Earlier this season, we had Todd Rose on the podcast, and a lot of his research is showing that you are not alone, that students, families, and, in fact, most Americans actually believe in earn-to-learn options. They want education to have a tighter connection to work. They actually care about career and work, and they want education to be a means to that end versus an end in and of itself, which is sort of how it has evolved to be positioned. As we’ve both said multiple times now, apprenticeships are sort of the most compelling model of this. And so, I’m curious, they’re not very prevalent yet. I’m wondering what we can do about that. And I also just wanted to tell you about an experience we had. We had a group of interns in my new company, and so we actually asked them to do this little experiment. They’re high school students, and we gave them 100 apprenticeships in California that theoretically they should be eligible for as they graduate from high school. The apprenticeships are open to 18+, and we asked them to try to figure out how they could apply to and if they had a chance at these apprenticeships. And so of the 100鈥t was mind boggling. This is not a friendly process at all. They go to the website. There’s usually like a phone number or an email that they have to call or email, just a cold email that they have to send. So they email 100. They only get responses from a third of 100. Out of 100, only 30 responses. And many of them were redirecting them back to look at the website, which is circular because the website says to email these people. And when they actually talked to people, they were often told 鈥淚t says 18, but we don’t really want 18 year olds.鈥� And so I’m just curious. It seems like we have a lot of work to do, so much work.

Ryan Craig: Experience, so many things there. So, first of all, I don’t know what list they were using, but if they were to use the most authoritative list out there, which is the federal Department of Labor Rapids database of registered apprenticeship programs, they’d be in for a disappointment because I use that database as the basis for the appendix in my book, which is a directory of apprenticeship programs outside the building and construction trades. Not to say that those aren’t good apprenticeships, but the point of the book is: 鈥淲e’re actually doing okay in the building trades. How do we expand apprenticeships beyond the building trades?鈥� So there are about 6000 apprenticeship programs in the US in the Rapids database that are not in the construction trades. And so I asked the question, well, how many of those are actually real? Meaning where I could apply for a job as an apprentice tomorrow and I’d be considered because they’re actually hiring apprentices. And so we went through that whole list and of those 6000, only 200 are real. The rest of them are what I call paper apprenticeship programs, which are primarily a kind of relic of how we’ve been funding apprenticeship programs at the federal level. So one reason we’re doing so poorly is that the federal government, while they’ve increased apprenticeship funding over the last decade and they’ve been actually trying to fund intermediaries, which is one of the key points of the book, which is that employers don’t do these things on their own. Colleges don’t do them on their own. They’re usually set up and run by intermediary groups. Like in Germany, it’s chambers of commerce that do most of the work of setting up and running these programs. In the building trades, it’s unions who are doing it. So the question is, who are those intermediaries going to be? So, the Department of Labor has tried to identify and fund intermediaries, but of course they’ve been funding groups that are really good at applying for Department of Labor grants, namely workforce boards and community colleges who get these five or $10 million grants. And then here’s what they do. They develop the curriculum for the formal training, the related technical instruction, RTI component of the apprenticeship. They register the program and then they sit on their hands and wait for an employer to come along and say, 鈥淲ow, if only I could find curriculum for the RTI, I’d launch my own apprenticeship program.鈥� But of course, that’s the easy part of apprenticeship. The hard part is convincing an employer to hire and pay a worker who’s not going to be productive for a period of time. And all the other stuff too, the mentoring and the recruiting and serving as the employer of record, all that stuff. So as a result, that’s how you get from 6000 down to 200. But then even if they’re reaching the 200 who are actually hiring you’re absolutely right. Apprenticeships are not designed sort of post-high school right now, largely, I think, just because there’s so few of them. So every time you actually launch an apprentice, a cohort of apprentices, and I can say this is at achieve, what we do is we buy companies and sectors where there’s a talent gap in tech and healthcare, and we build apprenticeship programs into those companies so they become talent engines for their talent starved sectors. And I can tell you that every time we launch a cohort, we have 100, 200, 300 applicants for every seat in the cohort, which is so much as we would like to make them available to 18-year-olds. It’s hard for an 18-year-old to compete with a 23- or 24-year-old who’s applying for that apprenticeship program. We’re probably going to hire that 23- or 24-year-old. And this is one of my pet peeves, which is that if you talk to the philanthropies, the big philanthropies who are involved in apprenticeship today, and I’m not sure, well, maybe I’ll name names. Gates Foundation, they actually don’t care about apprenticeship. Broadly, all they care about is youth apprenticeship, which is for kids in high school, which sounds good, but the hard part is, if you can’t convince an employer to hire a 24-year-old apprentice, you’re never going to convince them to hire a 16- or 17-year-old who’s still in high school. That’s like an order of magnitude more difficult to do. And so we need to focus on building the apprenticeship infrastructure we need for regular role apprenticeships before we begin focusing on what are called youth apprenticeship programs. So, yeah, the system is not set up today post-high school. And a big reason is we’re just not funding it like in the UK. At their peak, they were spending four or five billion pounds a year on apprenticeship, which, based on the size of the US economy, would be more like $40 billion a year. We’ve been spending less than one hundredth of that. So, if we’ve been spending $400 million a year, that’s even a smaller fraction of what we spend on a tuition-based post-secondary education. That’s one thousandth what we spend on. So it’s one hundredth of what we should be spending on apprenticeship. It’s one thousandth of what we do spend. And if you compare the funding that an apprentice receives, the public funding that an apprentice receives, compared to a college student, for every dollar of taxpayer support that apprentice is receiving, a college student receives $50. Those ratios are just way off. Every other developed country is like an order of magnitude or more. In the UK, it’s two orders of magnitude higher on earn and learn an apprenticeship than we are. And what does that do? Well, it makes a big difference because it allows intermediaries to market and sell apprenticeship programs to employers, which is what’s needed. So, in the UK, you have apprenticeship service providers like Multiverse who can go to big companies and say, we’ll set up and run an apprenticeship program for you. And it’s totally turnkey. All you need to do is put this apprentice on your payroll at the reduced apprentice wage. And that sounds pretty good, but everything that Multiverse does is covered by the government here. Multiverse does the same thing. When they go to a US employer, they say, oh, but it’s going to cost you $15,000 per apprentice in program fees because there’s no funding associated with apprenticeship. And so you may say, well, what about the $400 million that we’re spending? That’s not going to intermediaries like Multiverse. It’s going to community colleges and workforce boards who aren’t currently building apprenticeship programs. Part of the problem is that we viewed apprenticeship as just another workforce development or training program, and we’ve lumped it in with all these other training programs, most of which are pretty ineffective, and other countries don’t do that. Other countries have a separate funding mechanism for apprenticeship because they recognize they’re different, they’re jobs. They’re jobs first, and they start with an employer willing to hire an apprentice. So a lot of what the book is about is sort of policy fixes for this. Unfortunately, a month after the book came out, the Department of Labor came out with their fancy new apprenticeship regulations, which is 800 pages of new hoops that employers would have to jump through in order to register an apprenticeship program with no incentives whatsoever to do so, which is just the opposite of what needs to happen. We need to streamline apprenticeship registration, focus on the things that matter. Is it a good job? Does it have career progression associated with it and actually provide funding for it?

Diane Tavenner: I read your recent piece on those regulations, and I will confess that I had a moment where I was like, oh my gosh, this feels exactly like my charter school experience, where we started in the right place, where we create schools that serve kids, name the outcome that you’re going to get, and that’s what you’re held accountable to. But over time, we have been regulated and reregulated and back to sort of the old system. And I was reading your piece about this 800-page set of regulation. I was like, this feels exactly like what I experienced as someone who was trying to do this in the charter sector. And it made me wonder. There’s always interest groups. And look, I was reading through what you summarized. I get why they want people to do all these protective things and whatnot, not for bad reasons, but you have to balance the risk and you have to be thoughtful. Who are the blockers who’s contributing to these 800 pages?

Ryan Craig: Yeah, these are building and construction unions who would very much like to keep apprenticeship as their own little sort of private thing for the most part. And it’s bureaucrats who have never worked in the private sector and actually don’t know what’s involved in convincing an employer to hire an apprentice. There aren’t really鈥 mean, part of the problem is, up until last year, with the creation of Apprenticeships for America, which is this new trade association of apprenticeship intermediaries, there had been no voice for employers of apprentices. So we’re working hard on that, but that’s what’s necessary, and we need to get the folks like the business roundtable and Chamber of Commerce in this discussion. So I’m confident that these regulations are not going to have the force of law as currently proposed, but they’re just going the wrong direction. So there’s a lot of work to do here. And it’s so important to think of a country where we could have as many earn and learn options as we have tuition-based options. I think that it’s a big reason why we have such social and political sort of discontent. You have almost half the country who sort of sees this bright, shining digital economy, but feels like these jobs are out of reach because they’re told that they need to run the gauntlet of a four year degree, which can be five or six years in many cases, and with no guarantee of any employment outcome. And they just feel like it’s unaffordable and unrealistic and life’s going to get in the way, so why bother? And as I toured around the country talking about my book in the fall, I would start my talks with talking about what I call the song of the summer last summer, which was Rich Men North of Richmond, by Oliver Anthony, where basically he’s complaining about his crappy job. And that’s sort of what they. The only jobs available are these bad jobs that are breaking my back with no career progression available. And we need to address that. And it’s such an obvious political benefit for the Democratic Party. I don’t understand why the Democrats don’t become the party of earn and learn and apprenticeship. They’re not going to lose support among the university educated at this point. But we desperately need to support it, and obviously that’s where the other side is getting their momentum from.

Diane Tavenner: Let’s stick with employers for a moment because what I’m understanding is the financial incentives are not there for them the way they are in other countries right now, at least, and we need to work on that. So what are their incentives to create and grow apprenticeships? How do we pitch this to them?

Ryan Craig: Yeah, I mean, there are none really, today. It’s just all cost, with the potential long-term benefit of beginning to develop a proprietary new talent source. But if you look at where apprenticeships are, where they exist today, outside the construction trades, if you look at my directory of my book, many of these are subsidiaries of Swiss or German companies where they’ve just been instructed by the head office to launch an apprenticeship program. But again, there’s no funding associated with, like, technically, you can go to your local workforce board and apply for funding once you’re a registered apprenticeship program and then you get on the state ETPL list. But it is a three-, four-, five-part process with no guaranteed outcome and very limited funding as a result. So most employers don’t bother. So the way other countries have done it is you incentivize these intermediaries, you fund them, you provide formula-based funding, so they know every apprentice hired and trained, they get paid for it. And then in the UK, you have this ecosystem, this very robust, healthy ecosystem of 1200 intermediaries that are in the business of running around knocking on employers doors saying, 鈥淗ey, would you like us to set up and run an apprenticeship program for you at no cost to you?鈥� That’s something that lots of employers can get behind. You won’t find an employer in the US that’s sort of been similarly approached, and if they’ve been approached, it’s going to cost them $15,000 in program fees per apprentice. And so, no thank you. Or if they do, it’s a sort of corporate and social responsibility initiative that is not going to scale. I was at a meeting at the US Chamber in DC in the fall and there were four or five Fortune 500 companies in the room and they were bragging about their apprenticeship programs and one of them said, 鈥淲ell, we hired four cybersecurity apprentices last year, we hired eight.鈥� And it’s a joke, right? Based on the size of these companies.

Diane Tavenner: It’s so not scalable. We’ve had many conversations with such good, well-intended people who are mostly working in the community colleges. So they’ve gotten these grants, as you said, to be these intermediaries. They have one little teeny boutique program that they’re personally passionate about, and they’re like this one person’s running around trying to get employers to connect to their program. It’s a one-person shop.

Ryan Craig: We all know that academic institutions, including community colleges, are not sort of well set up as sort of sales and marketing organizations, which is what’s required here. So almost a decade ago now, we had this innovation that we’re going to connect this last mile training with staffing companies. We began buying staffing companies, and that was sort of the start of our workforce strategy. But that works really well because staffing companies have, they’re already in the business of supplying talent to hundreds or thousands of clients who can’t find talent. And so now why not offer new talent, entry-level talent as a product? So that’s the mentality, I do think that we’re going to see community colleges and perhaps even some four-year institutions figure this out in time. Apprenticeships for America has a grant from Strada to sort of chart a path for community colleges to become what we call high-intervention intermediaries, which are the folks who are actually actively selling apprenticeships and setting up and running turnkey apprenticeship programs for employers. So, I do think we’re going to see the ASU of sort of apprenticeship or the WGU of apprenticeship. I do think that will happen, but it’s going to take a pretty sizable change from what these institutions do or are capable of today.

Diane Tavenner: Well, that feels like the most hopeful we’ve gotten in this conversation. I want to be hopeful about this. So maybe we’ll…

Ryan Craig: We need to keep the vision in mind. The vision is like, it’s all hope, right? I mean, you know, the idea of someone being able to sit at the end of high school and look at an equal number of earn and learn options, and that’s something that I think politically everyone is in favor of. I don’t care what your political…Who’s against that? So the debate is really about tactics, right? And I think most people would agree that 800 pages of new regulations around apprenticeship is not the answer.

Michael Horn: [It鈥檚] not going to excite people to come in鈥�

Ryan Craig: Not going to excite people to come in. New funding. We haven’t talked about California. So California a year ago launched the first formula-based funding for apprenticeship in the country. Apprenticeship, innovation funding. So you, as an employer or intermediary, you get $3,500 for every apprentice you hire and train, period. It’s a formula, and that’s exactly what’s needed. If you think about sort of how we’ve built our post-secondary education system, our tuition-based system, it’s formula-based funding. That the funding travels with the student. We need the same with earn and learn. The funding needs to travel with the apprentice. And that’s part of what I wrote last week, which is we have to start being so obsessed鈥 get it, that folks on the left side of the aisle are obsessed, as a result of the sort of for-profit college scandals鈥here were a lot of them with making sure that not a single workforce dollar flows to a bad actor in the private sector. So, I get that. But we are truly throwing the baby out with the bathwater. If that’s our primary focus here, there are ways in which we can safeguard enough and really begin to catch up with every other developed country here.

Diane Tavenner: Well, I love that note as a place to wrap, at least for today. Feels entrepreneurial and hopeful to me, and it’s possible, and we know how to do it. So thank you for being in this conversation with us. I hope we get to come back and have it again and again because we’re making progress.

Ryan Craig: You can count on it. We are making progress, whether or not I can tell you, if not at the federal level, at the state level, there are a whole bunch of states who are interested in making sure that 20%, 40% of their high school graduates are able to access apprenticeships, and they have a willing partner on our side.

Diane Tavenner: That’s awesome.

Michael Horn: Terrific. Should we do a quick wrap up with what we’re reading or watching, if that works? Ryan, we’re going to put you on the hot seat first, because being connected to Hollywood, you always have interesting movie recs.

Ryan Craig: Well, I can tell you what I just finished reading, which 鈥�

Michael Horn: Sure.

Ryan Craig: This book by Margaret Macmillan called Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World about what happened that led up to the terrible Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and sort of set the stage for the next century of conflict everywhere in the world.

Michael Horn: November 11, if I recall, 1919 is the day.

Ryan Craig: Yeah, so that was a terrific book. My wife is the showrunner, co showrunner of the Handmaid’s Tale. So that’s why I live out here in L.A. But we actually like very different things, which is why we get along so well otherwise. But I actually just discovered the Hulu series, Fargo, which is terrific. I know lots of people have. I’m only on season two, which actually I like even better than season one. I’m from Canada, so I love the whole sort of north central aesthetic. I feel very at home.

Michael Horn: Love it. What about you?

Diane Tavenner: Well, I watched a movie this past week on a strong request from a friend because he wanted to talk about it, and it’s called Leave the World Behind. Has some big star power behind it. So Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke and Mahershala Ali and even Kevin Bacon, and I’m sort of speechless. It’s provocative, for sure, and about a warning sign to all of us, I would say, and beautifully done in a lot of ways.

Ryan Craig: A warning, like, if we don’t get apprenticeships right, what will happen?

Diane Tavenner: Exactly.

Michael Horn: That’s where I’m going to end mine at you all. You’ll see where my headspace is for both of you. I’ve finished reading In Search of Anti-Semitism, which was written by Bill Buckley back in 1992, and then Bari Weiss, her 2021 book, How to Fight Anti-Semitism. Reading the Buckley book, I mean, Ryan, you were at Yale just after.

Ryan Craig: I just want to say I saw Bill Buckley in 1992 at Yale playing harpsichord. He came to give a harpsichord鈥othing is more Bill Buckley than that. Like, I’m going to come play the harpsichord for the undergraduates.

Michael Horn: Nothing is more so. But the echoes from 1992 to what we hear now were just crazy to me because Buckley’s book was sort of antisemitism used to be the domain of the right. We’ve been chasing it out, and here comes the left. There’s growing presence on college campuses and among faculty. There’s questions about what constitutes it, how does Israel fit in, what’s fair criticism, what’s not? It’s very interesting. And so it’s all widened my thinking. But I guess I would say maybe earn and learn is a way out of those conversations to something that actually helps individuals make progress. And so that’s my hope for the new year. For all of you listening, and Ryan, thanks for joining us and for all of you listening, we’ll see you next time on Class Disrupted.

Six Maine schools are receiving a combined total of nearly $1 million in state grants for educator apprenticeship programs.

The funding comes from the Maine Jobs and Recovery plan and overall efforts from the Gov. Janet Mills administration to connect employers with a skilled workforce, according to a news release from the Maine Department of Labor. , but this new grant plans to expand that by preparing 200 new and existing teachers.

The programs also hope to build pathways for historically underrepresented populations in Maine鈥檚 teaching workforce such as people of color, those with disabilities and multilingual educators.

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At a virtual press conference Monday afternoon, Samantha Dina, director of special projects for DOL, announced the six schools who will receive the money to implement apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs. They are:

Brunswick School Department 鈥� $105,000MSAD 1 / RSU #79 鈥� $75,000RSU #34 鈥� $249,000Portland Public Schools 鈥� $250,000University of Maine Farmington 鈥� $144,000University of Southern Maine 鈥� $162,000

This builds on the in 2022 to more than double .

The Maine Department of Education also launched . That campaign is being funded by federal emergency relief dollars.

The campaign website links to across the state ranging from early childhood to postsecondary education.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maine Morning Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lauren McCauley for questions: info@mainemorningstar.com. Follow Maine Morning Star on and .

Repeatedly , the state legislature ordered Indianapolis education officials to rethink the mission of high schools. 

Current graduation requirements will be thrown out next year and new ones calling for more career preparation will take their place.

鈥淎re the four years of high school as valuable as possible for students?鈥� state education secretary Katie Jenner asked in an interview with 社区黑料. 鈥淚’ve yet to meet a person who said, 鈥榊es, they are.鈥� Most people say … if high school looked different for students, then we could better connect them to what鈥檚 what’s next.鈥�

鈥淚f that’s the case, then what barriers do we need to get out of the way?鈥� she continued. 鈥淗ow can we transform it in order to make it better for students.鈥� 

Jenner said having students spend time in workplaces to see what careers fit them, or earning career credentials, will help both students and businesses.

鈥淭hat’s really what we’re trying to think through in Indiana, to not only better support Indiana students, but to also be mindful of Indiana’s talent pipeline,鈥� Jenner said.

Republican State Rep. Chuck Goodrich, who helped lead the charge earlier this year to create a key piece of the new focus 鈥� $5,000 Career Scholarship Accounts that sophomores, juniors and seniors can use for career training 鈥� said students need better opportunities to gain skills.

鈥淕iving students hands-on applied learning opportunities and the ability to earn a credential before graduation is a game changer, not only for the student, not only for the family, but for Indiana,鈥� Goodrich told the state Senate this spring.听

Indiana already has a requirement students show 鈥渄emonstrable employability skills鈥� to graduate from high school, but it currently counts playing on a school team, other extracurricular activities, community service, an after-school job or a capstone research project the same as doing an internship or apprenticeship.

The new requirements will be more work and skills-focused.

The Career Scholarship Accounts are an early piece of the overhaul the legislature passed this spring in House Bill 1002. The bill contains another immediate change 鈥� requiring schools to teach students more this upcoming academic year about career planning, available training programs, scholarships, and different jobs available, 鈥渨ith an emphasis on high wage, high demand industry,鈥� according to the new law. 

Major parts of the overhaul, particularly which career preparation steps should be required to graduate and which just encouraged, are still to be determined.

The Indiana education department is holding focus groups with parents, educators and businesses about how to shape the new vision and should have proposals for the state board to discuss early next year. New graduation requirements will be set by the end of 2024, Jenner said, to kick in for the class of 2029.

Among the key items being discussed:

• A greater emphasis on students鈥� job shadowing, internships and apprenticeships that only 鈥渁 tiny percentage鈥� of students experience now, according to Jenner.
• Changing the courses required to graduate.
• Requiring more meeting time with career counselors or businesses
• Requiring students to earn credentials for careers before graduating.
• Piloting 鈥渕astery鈥� approaches to measuring student progress, throwing out traditional A-F grades, replacing them with tracking student progress toward their mastery or competency of skills. Workplace skills like teamwork and critical thinking would be measured, not just core subjects like English and math.

The efforts are attracting some national attention. Patricia Levesque, CEO of the Excellence In Education Foundation, visited Indianapolis this fall to praise the state for being a national leader in preparing students for careers, not just college.

Though Indiana is better than other states in helping students earn credentials, she warned too many students are being guided to many credentials businesses aren鈥檛 seeking.

“Nearly 60 to 70 percent of the credentials earned by high school students that year had no value,鈥� she said of Indiana. 鈥淣o company was asking for those credentials, right? Students were earning something that didn’t have currency in the marketplace.鈥�

Some legislators say they are concerned the overhaul is more an attempt to help businesses find employees than help students.

鈥淭his rethinking, reimagining of high school is our attempt at filling these jobs to me,鈥� said Democratic State Sen. Shelli Yoder before voting against House Bill 1002. 鈥淲e’re doing a disservice for students. And that’s not to say we don’t need to reimagine it … It’s going to help the workforce. But is it helping students?鈥�

Schools, like Victory College Prep high school in Indianapolis, are already on board with the main idea of the change. That school has placed every 11th and 12th grader in internships with companies or nonprofits for 10 school days a year the last five years, other than some pandemic adjustments.

鈥淲e really believe here that graduation is not the end goal for our students,鈥� said Rahul Jyoti, the school鈥檚 chief readiness officer. 鈥淲e don’t want them to celebrate and say, 鈥楬ey, I graduated. This is great鈥�. Because then real life hits you, especially for a lot of our students that come from the underserved communities, here in Indianapolis, and so really, this is the starting point.鈥�

Jyoti said his school has been able to find 25 and 40 employers a year to host students, but wonders what will happen if every school in the state tries to find similar opportunities for every student.

Jenner said connecting with enough employers willing to take on the work of running internships or apprenticeships will be a challenge. 

鈥淥ne of the threats is that we transform the high school diploma and鈥eadiness for Work Based Learning … and there aren’t there aren’t enough spots for kids,鈥� she said.

Solving that issue is a big part of her work this fall and was a key reason the state sent delegations to Switzerland, where school and business cooperation on apprenticeships is a part of the culture. She said work based learning experiences may need to be different for different industries and may have to evolve over time, but the state has to start somewhere.

鈥淲e’re getting after it because we have to and we must for kids,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e’re going to learn some lessons along the way and we’re gonna keep getting better from there. But we can’t wait to get started. We have to go. We have to try some things.鈥�

Eighty-nine Connecticut school districts will receive thousands of dollars of additional funding to expand their dual credit programs, which offer students both high school and college credit, state officials announced Tuesday morning.

鈥淚 think what we鈥檙e trying to do with these dual [credit programs], or trying to do with internships, and what we鈥檙e trying to do with apprentice programs 鈥� is we鈥檙e trying to make education real and give it a sense of purpose for young people,鈥� Gov. Ned Lamont said. 鈥淸These courses can] give a sneak preview of what happens next, in terms of confidence and sense of direction.鈥�

About $3.8 million  among the chosen districts, with most of the funding designated to those that serve high percentages of students of color, including Bridgeport, Danbury, East Hartford, Hartford, New Haven, Norwalk, Waterbury and CREC Magnet Schools, which received $90,000 grants each.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really about increasing access for all students. I think there are clearly disproportionalities in terms of students of color and students from low-income families, so our grant program that we have launched now is focused explicitly on not just increasing participation but losing those disparities as well,鈥� said Ajit Gopalakrishnan, the chief performance officer for the state鈥檚 Department of Education. 鈥淭he grant program helps with defraying district planning costs and works with institutional direct partners to make the work happen. 鈥� Long term, we do need to think about, as a state, supporting the costs involved, even though the costs are minimal for some families.鈥�

Earlier this year, the CT Mirror reported how students of color were being , another type of class that offers college credit if students pass a test at the end of the year. Experts, who said the disparities are often exacerbated in the same classroom or school because of school climate or systemic structures, also said college-level classes could become more equitable by shifting from AP into more dual-credit classes.

Three students interviewed at the time, all recent graduates of Wilby High School in Waterbury, said they weren鈥檛 offered dual credit courses at their school.

On Tuesday, Gopalakrishnan said 鈥渁lmost all鈥� high schools 鈥渉ave some availability鈥� of dual-credit courses through partnerships among the education department, individual high schools and UConn and CT State, but was unable to immediately answer how many didn鈥檛 offer these classes. 

At least 17 schools have suppressed data on the number of students who earned at least three college credits through dual enrollment during the 2022-23 school year, according to state data. Data is typically suppressed for confidentiality reasons because the number of students participating is low. 

Wilby was one of those schools. 

Other high schools like New Milford High only had seven of 602 upperclassmen, or 1.2%, obtaining at least three college credits through dual-enrollment.

Some schools in districts that are expected to receive funding like Danbury High School, Hartford Public High School and Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk reported under 10% of students were receiving college credit through dual-enrollment. 

Meanwhile, in other districts, like Colchester, Weston and Westport, the rate is around 82%.

In Ansonia, where about 40% of the high school鈥檚 upperclassmen earned three college credits or more, Superintendent Joseph DiBacco attested to the impact of those courses.

鈥淛ust last year, the senior class at Ansonia High School had 900 university credits they acquired,鈥� DiBacco said at the state鈥檚 press conference Tuesday.

DiBacco was joined by two students, both of whom said they began taking these courses when they were underclassmen.

鈥淚 feel really prepared for college, and I really think that gave me a step forward,鈥� said Paul Palmer, a senior at the high school. 鈥淚t also saves a lot of money, and that鈥檚 my main focus. 鈥� I wouldn鈥檛 be able to do that without all of these partnerships.鈥�

The state said grant funds are expected to be used mainly for:

• Stipends for high school teachers and college faculty to create course work that lines up with college expectations;

• Tuition reimbursement for high school teachers who need to complete additional training to teach these courses;

• Purchasing additional equipment for fields like health care, technology, etc.;

• Developing strategies to engage more students and explain 鈥渢he benefits of earning college credit,鈥� including saving money and skipping general education courses.

This story was originally published in

Gov. Brad Little touted Idaho鈥檚 growing apprenticeship programs Wednesday.

He also used the occasion to talk up one of his pet projects: the fledgling post-high school incentives program.

鈥淭here are multiple pathways to success,鈥� Little said Wednesday, at a proclamation ceremony in Meridian marking November as Idaho Apprenticeship Month. 鈥淲e need more young Idahoans to go on to postsecondary education, and we鈥檝e been very intentional about expanding 鈥榞o-on鈥� to include opportunities outside of the traditional four-year college degree 鈥� including apprenticeships.鈥�

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Idaho now offers about 2,400 apprenticeships, a number that has increased by 40% over the past three years, according to a Wednesday news release from Little鈥檚 office.

The state has put more than $10 million into building apprenticeship programs over the past five years, and starting next year, the state will put about $75 million of additional money into Launch.

High school seniors can now apply for Launch grants of up to $8,000, which they can put toward two- or four-year college, career-technical education or worker training programs. Grants will go out next summer.

This story was originally published on .

The United States has an education problem鈥攍ow and declining test scores, disengaged students, and growing teacher shortages, among other challenges. In Indiana, fewer high school students are pursuing postsecondary education or completing a credential or degree. This decline in postsecondary enrollment and educational attainment is sharpest for Black and Hispanic/Latino students, especially males. 

We also have a skills gap problem鈥攏ot enough people with the skills to handle the jobs of the future鈥攁nd the pandemic has accelerated this misalignment in supply and demand. In Indianapolis alone, at last count, we needed 215,000 people with job-ready credentials to close our skills gap. 

Traditional approaches aren鈥檛 working. Communities like ours must become much more innovative if we wish to ensure a future of inclusive economic prosperity. 

A continuum of career-connected learning

EmployIndy, a quasi-governmental intermediary organization, is doing what we can. We work closely with businesses, K-12, postsecondary and higher education, city and state agencies, and philanthropic organizations to ensure all local residents earn a livable wage and that local employers have the skilled talent they need to grow. In order to make our vision a reality, we invest in what works: good jobs, talent connections, coaching and training, and career-connected learning. 

We leverage a continuum of career-connected learning to ensure Indy鈥檚 youth and young adults are positioned to meet the future needs of the local economy. This continuum includes a broad array of exploration, engagement, and experience opportunities. As part of this learning continuum, one of our most ambitious initiatives is a reinvented approach to apprenticeship, a job training model that dates back to the Middle Ages. Through the Modern Apprenticeship Program, which we operate with a sister intermediary, Ascend Indiana, we鈥檙e preparing high school students for the jobs of the future. By blurring the lines between education and work, we鈥檙e making learning more relevant for students. We鈥檙e giving businesses a fresh approach to a time-tested model. And we鈥檙e creating more pathways to prosperity for all students, with a particular focus on the underserved, underrepresented, and underprivileged in our community. By blurring the lines between education and work, we鈥檙e making learning more relevant for students. We鈥檙e giving businesses a fresh approach to a timetested model. And we鈥檙e creating more pathways to prosperity for all students. 

More than 40 participating local employers and 14 high schools have come together to co-develop talent, offering apprenticeships across seven industries with the highest student interest: 

鈥� Healthcare services 

鈥� Information technology

鈥� Business operations 

鈥� Advanced manufacturing 

鈥� Construction 

鈥� Education 

鈥� Financial services 

Specific jobs range from project coordinators and staff accountants to maintenance technicians and IT support. 

High school students earn while they learn. As juniors, they spend two days a week on the job, which increases to three days as seniors. One year after graduation, young adults have earned a high school diploma, college credits, and industry credentials. They have built a professional network. And they have a choice for their next step鈥攃ollege, postsecondary training, or work. What parent wouldn鈥檛 want that for their 18-year-old? 

We鈥檙e having an impact. We鈥檙e helping diversify our workforce: about 88% of current apprentices are students of color, 60% are female, and one-third come from low-income households, doing jobs such as IT and accounting that historically have been dominated by white men. We鈥檙e reducing employer turnover: 94% of Indiana employees say they would stay with their companies longer if they invested in learning. And we鈥檙e having a positive return on investment: every $1 invested in apprenticeship returns $1.47.

Scaling what works

Our primary challenge now is to expand what鈥檚 working. We鈥檝e incubated success. Now we must scale it. Doing so will require all parties to adjust how they do business in the 21st century.

Employers need to play a much bigger, more well-defined role in this new system. They must cocreate learning opportunities, advise on occupations and curriculum, become training companies for apprentices, and invest more time and treasure to ensure education and government partners are providing the most comprehensive education possible to young people. They need to engage their future workforce early, starting in middle school, and not wait until unprepared graduates fill out a job application. 

High schools must continue to become more flexible, offering students more choices and pathways. They must work with their community partners to ensure all students are receiving the career-coaching support needed to make important decisions about their future. Graduation day must be seen as the starting line, not the endpoint. 

Colleges and universities must become more adaptable, awarding credits for prior learning (including on the job) and working more closely with local employers on teaching applied skills. Clearly, there is a continued role for elite postsecondary programs, but we are equally committed to working with innovative community-focused institutions. 

Government agencies must continue to broaden their measures of accountability to track not just high school graduation rates, college-going rates, or completion data, but more longitudinal and actionable data that allow institutions to make informed and equitable decisions about the needs of their constituents. 

Young people themselves must step up and benefit from the growing opportunities to take charge of their own learning. Of course, they need to learn math, science, and reading. But just as important, they need a career plan. And they need to master durable skills such as problem solving, teamwork, and conflict resolution that will help them in school鈥揳nd in life. 

Apprenticeships are just one of the gateways we鈥檙e providing to young people to build skills and become future-ready. Working with multiple partners, we also support dropout prevention and recovery programs, administer career coaching and job training programs, and deliver a curriculum for young adults to learn durable skills in mindsets, self management, learning strategies, social skills, workplace skills, and launching a career. 

Thanks to the leadership of Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett, we鈥檙e also able to award college scholarships, provide completion grants, and connect teens to summer jobs, among other efforts. The City of Indianapolis has dedicated millions of dollars annually over the last five years to Indy Achieves, which works to ensure that every Indianapolis resident can pursue and complete a postsecondary credential or degree program. We empower residents to pursue careers that put them on a pathway to the middle class by removing barriers and providing a debt-free pathway to a better future. Mayor Hogsett also launched Project Indy as a critical first step in helping young people explore job opportunities and gain valuable experience and skills toward a future career. We鈥檝e connected thousands of in-school and out-of-school youth in Marion County to summer jobs and work-based learning experiences. 

One of our most innovative programs, YES Indy, invites out-of-school youth to play basketball at reengagement centers (RECs) as a first step in building the trust needed for them to reengage with school and work. The Indianapolis area has more than 30,000 such young people. It costs us about $12,500 each to reengage with them鈥攁 smart investment, considering it costs society three times more if they continue to stay out of school or work. As an intermediary working with many stakeholders, we鈥檙e a catalyst, a translator, and a funding go between. We鈥檝e made hopeful progress since our founding in 1983. Our real success, however, will be when we鈥檙e not needed anymore, when businesses and institutions are working together as a matter of course, and routinely engaging students with real-world, hands-on, and creative assignments that help them become the lifelong learners every community needs.

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