Adriana Harrington is the Managing Director of Policy for ExcelinEd.
Youth apprenticeships are a rapidly growing, but still an underutilized solution in a policymaker’s toolbox to support learners on their education to workforce pathways. Youth apprenticeships are structured work-based learning programs starting in high school that leverage partnerships across employers, high schools and postsecondary schools to provide paid on-the job training and high school and college credit. Upon completion, these programs allow learners to authentically decide among entering directly into full time employment, full time education to finish their degree, or a hybrid of both working and finishing their degree. High-quality programs represent rigorous and relevant preparation for college and career and are a critical equity strategy that connects the learning needs of youth with the talent needs of industry.
How can states support more learners through youth apprenticeships? How are states utilizing policies to leverage and grow these models? Let’s take a look at two youth apprenticeship programs, both in New America’s Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship (PAYA) network, to see the coordinated approaches that states are taking.
In 2015, Governor Hogan signed House Bill 942, which established Apprenticeship Maryland, a youth apprenticeship program providing a pathway to careers in manufacturing and STEM to high school students aged 16 and up. High schoolers obtain academic and occupational skills that lead to a high school diploma, postsecondary credit and a State Skill Certificate issued by the Department of Labor.
Coordinated jointly by the Maryland Department of Labor and the Maryland Department of Education, the program from its inception took a cross-sector approach. By having K-12, labor, postsecondary and industry engaged in the work it helps to remove siloes and ensure alignment across the sectors.
Maryland also took the unique approach in selecting to integrate the youth apprenticeship within the state’s career and technical education system (CTE) by classifying apprenticeship as a CTE program of study. This was a smart decision as both youth apprenticeships and CTE programs of study integrate academic and technical skills, work-based learning and college acceleration coursework, making them a natural pairing. By folding youth apprenticeship into the existing CTE program of study structure it helped to remove duplication of effort, increased employer engagement, and opened avenues to be able to utilize federal funding and the existing district infrastructure.
As of February 2020, Apprenticeship Maryland is steadily growing and has engaged 140 employers across various industries.
ApprenticeshipNC, a long-standing apprenticeship program established in North Carolina in 1939, has been on a journey to evolve and strengthen since inception.
First among the challenges in doing was addressing the funding structure to help grow the program. Initially, there was no state support for an apprenticeship’s tuition and the state charged an apprenticeship participation fee, creating a disincentive for participation. In 2014, the fee was removed and then in 2016 North Carolina passed the youth apprentice tuition waiver to provide funds for learners. The waiver provides tuition for youth apprentices who begin their program within 120 days of graduating high school, colleges are then reimbursed for the waived tuition out of the ApprenticeshipNC budget. This shift has helped incentivize learner, employer and community college participation to provide more North Carolinians with access to apprenticeships.
This shift in funding is being coupled with two additional approaches to strengthen the work. First, ApprenticeshipNC is developing a Career and Technical Education Pre-Apprenticeship Pilot to utilize CTE curriculum with work-based learning that results in a pre-apprenticeship credential. Second, ApprenticeshipNC has convened a team of core state partners across various agencies and organizations, including the NC Department of Public Instruction and NC Department of Commerce to form state-wide regional collaboratives designed for information and resource sharing.
The multi-progued approach is helping to drive the expansion and strengthen the quality of the program, which has seen as 83% growth in youth apprenticeships since 2016.
Maryland and North Carolina’s youth apprenticeship programs are two examples of the power in thinking across policies (and sectors) when developing high-quality pathway programs for learners. They illustrate how collaborating across systems and coordinating across policies, states can leverage existing programs, resources, relationships and expertise to address learner, community and workforce needs.
ExcelinEd’s Pathways Matter provides a tool for policymakers to strengthen options for learners through intentional integration across sectors and policies. It is designed to help policymakers and system leaders to (1) analyze their current education to workforce landscape, (2) understand that K-12 education college and workforce are all connected, (3) strengthen the quality in implementation and alignment, and (4) prioritize which opportunities to tackle next.
One resource within the tool is for each of the 20 policies in the education to workforce policy continuum, there are three suggested related policies. For example, High-Quality CTE Programs lists college acceleration, work-based learning and industry credential. All three policies that are integral to the success of having high-quality CTE programs. This feature provides a framework for policymakers when they are looking to strengthen one policy to maximize the potential impact for learners.
