Work-based learning initiatives provide a direct connection between K–12 education and the workforce. They offer students invaluable work experience, hands-on training with experienced mentors, and a chance to apply technical skills and develop soft skills. They give employers an opportunity to bolster talent pipelines and train future staff on in-demand skills. Robust work-based learning experiences are also one of the hallmarks of high-quality career pathways.
For states like Ohio, where expanding and improving career pathways is an economic priority, ensuring students have access to high-quality work-based learning experiences is crucial. But it’s also notoriously difficult, as it requires schools and the business community to work together. To their credit, Ohio leaders have spearheaded efforts to encourage collaboration. But are those efforts enough? And if not, what else should lawmakers do?
A recent report from ExcelinEd, Ohio Excels, and Workmorphis seeks to answer these questions. It does so by examining the current state of work-based learning in Ohio and identifying how state leaders can ensure that all students have access to high-quality experiences.
To start, the report offers a broad overview of work-based learning in Ohio. Student experiences fall into two distinct categories that cross-reference each other but “operate separately in both policy and practice.” The first is career connections, a framework that focuses on career awareness for grades K–5, exploration for grades 6–8, and planning for grades 9–12. The second category—and the focus of the report—is formal work-based learning.
DEW defines the latter as “a coordinated sequence of experiences designed to provide students with real-world learning through partnerships with local business and industry.” These activities should help students explore careers and choose a pathway. They must occur at a worksite,[1] be co-supervised by an instructor and an employer or business mentor, and be formalized by a learning agreement. They can be paid or unpaid, occur during or outside of school hours, offer credit (or not), and be of varying lengths. Internships, apprenticeships or pre-apprenticeships, simulated work environments, and entrepreneurship are all among the approved types.
The report’s authors conducted focus groups and distributed a statewide survey to gather input from stakeholders in four groups: public policy, business and industry, education, and intermediaries like community-based organizations. Findings indicate that, although stakeholders believe that work-based learning experiences are beneficial and should be available to all students, that’s not the case in many places across Ohio. The disconnect between formal work-based learning and career connections was cited as a challenge, with a mere 8 percent of respondents reporting that current state policies and program requirements are easy to navigate. Many stakeholders also identified worrisome gaps in measuring experience quality and student performance.
The biggest challenges, though, seem to be funding, capacity, and transportation barriers. For example, although most stakeholders believe they’ve exhausted all available state funding sources, public policy leaders are concerned that many of the available state programs and funding sources are underutilized (the report doesn’t specify which ones). Meanwhile, nearly 80 percent agree that transportation is a significant participation barrier, especially for students from lower income families and in rural areas.
The bottom line is that, although work-based learning has widespread support and promises many benefits for students and employers, Ohio has some significant issues to address. To help, the report offers four solutions.
- Establish a unified vision and governance. Lawmakers should create a cross-agency, cross-sector work-based learning leadership council. This council would be charged with providing a common vision, strategic direction, and ongoing evaluation of the state’s K–16 work-based learning continuum. As part of its duties, the council could create and codify definitions for work-based learning experiences, set quality standards at the program level and for individual students, and streamline resource and information distribution.
- Provide stakeholders with the data and information they need to make decisions. This means collecting and publicly reporting data on participation, quality, and outcomes. It also means providing resources to practitioners, students, and families. One way to do so would be to create an online work-based learning hub that could provide definitions, a program inventory, best practices, and technical assistance.
- Invest in strategies that build local capacity to expand high-quality experiences. Lawmakers could accomplish this by providing funding for work-based learning coordinators and/or coaches who are responsible for ensuring consistent communication and coordination between schools and employers. Given that more than 90 percent of survey respondents agreed that mentorship is an essential element of successful work-based learning experiences, lawmakers could also consider strategies to cultivate a pipeline of high-quality mentors.
- Address common barriers to work-based learning. Providing scholarship accounts for students that cover state-approved expenses like transportation to and from worksites or required equipment and uniforms could help remove participation barriers. Streamlining licensure requirements to help industry experts become teachers and scaling up initiatives like the state’s teacher boot camps would help providers and educators. As for employers, collaborating with chamber and industry associations to develop and distribute clear information about available programs, partners, and resources would go a long way toward eliminating confusion and increasing engagement.
***
Ohio leaders are investing significant time and funding into expanding and improving career pathways. These efforts include a renewed focus on work-based learning experiences, which benefit both students and employers. To capitalize on the potential of these experiences in the coming budget cycle, Ohio lawmakers should heed the report’s recommendations and establish a clear governance structure for work-based learning, improve data collection and transparency, invest in capacity building, and address common barriers.
