How Can States Boost High-Quality Work-Based Learning Opportunities? A Conversation with Kelly Robson Foster

Work-based learning seems like a nice intersection of classroom learning with on-the-job training.

But what is it exactly, and how should policymakers think about expanding high-quality work-based learning opportunities?

To find out, I reached out to Bellwether Senior Associate Partner Kelly Robson Foster. Robson Foster co-authored a comprehensive review of state work-based learning policies back in 2021, and earlier this year worked with David Casalaspi and Lynne Graziano on an update. In “Making It Work: Ten Stories of Promise and Progress in High School Work-based Learning” they took a deep dive into different ways states are expanding opportunities for students.

What follows is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation.

Aldeman: For those who are unfamiliar with the term “work-based learning,” can you describe it?

Kelly Robson Foster: Generally, career development sits along a spectrum that starts with career awareness. That can happen as early as kindergarten, through career fairs and field trips and guest speakers and things like that.

At the other end of the spectrum is formal career training, like apprenticeships and clinical experiences. Work-based learning sort of sits right before that career training. You can think about it as career preparation or opportunities to learn through work, such as entrepreneurial experiences, internships, service learning, pre-apprenticeships, or project-based learning, anywhere where students are actually getting in to workplaces and learning real skills that are applied to real jobs that they could potentially have one day.

Chad Aldeman: You’ve been following work-based learning policies for a few years now. As you reflect back on that work, what stands out to you?

Foster: One of the biggest thing that stands out is the disparate nature of work-based learning. Every state is taking a different approach. Even within states, districts and communities are often doing very different things. On one hand, that’s super exciting. It means there’s no shortage of ideas to meet a wide variety of local needs.

But that can also make it hard for people to wrap their heads around what exactly we’re talking about. Depending on where someone lives or what they’ve seen in their local community, work-based learning could be very different from what’s happening somewhere else, just across town or in a different state. So that’s one of the biggest things that I’ve learned, that there’s not one standardized way of doing this, and it is dramatically different from place to place.

Aldeman What does a “good” version of work-based learning look like, and what might a “bad” version of it look like??

Foster: A good version of it looks like students who are actually in the field, in a workplace. They are getting guidance and mentorship from people in the industry. There’s a well-defined partnership between the education institution, the K-12 school, and whatever the industry or the businesses that is facilitating the work-based learning. There needs to be really clear learning outcomes that are closely tied to each student’s academic and career goals. There needs to be lots of communication between the school, the student, and business partner to make sure that students are getting what they need, that they’re having opportunities to learn and grow, and that there’s kind of like a cycle of continuous improvement and communication there

A bad version of work-based learning looks like kids just showing up at a workplace and not doing a lot, not actually engaging in what real work would look like in that place. Or maybe they’re engaging in work but they’re not getting any real feedback, or it’s not connected to anything that is tied to their educational goals or career goals.

Aldeman: What are the biggest barriers to expanding work-based learning opportunities?

Foster: One of the biggest barriers is that work-based learning experiences are often very bespoke. When they’re done well, they’re often unique to the business and economic needs of a particular community. They’re also very relationship-driven, which is really hard to scale or standardize.

Another big barrier is getting businesses engaged. Businesses need employees. They need employees who have a certain set of skills. But then it can be hard to translate those specific skills into training opportunities for young people. For a business, they need to think about what has to change in order to have a 15- or 16-year-old in their workplace. Then, they need to design and build the right support structures to guide those young people through the learning process. That can be really hard.

Another common barrier is transportation, especially in rural communities where there’s no public transportation. The students may not have access to a car. And even if they have access to a car, they may or may not be old enough to drive it.

Aldeman: Let’s talk about the coordination challenge, between schools, employers, and other intermediaries. Are there any shortcuts there? Or how could a state policy maker sort of significantly scale up work-based learning opportunities?

Foster: Some states have used funding or other mechanisms to require that districts have a person who is in charge of developing and coordinating work-based learning opportunities, and that becomes part of their job. It can’t just be the tech ed teacher using their own personal connections with the guy who lives down the street. It has to be very deliberate.

These coordination tasks need someone in charge, someone whose job it is to go out to build relationships with the local community members and business owners and employers, figure out what’s needed on both the business and the school side, and then make it work.

One thing that that seems to work well is when there’s some sort of state requirement behind these coordinating activities, and if there’s money to support that person’s position. Those are things that state policymakers can support.

Aldeman: Let’s dig in to your latest work. What has changed in work-based learning policy over the last few years?

Foster: We went back and looked at 10 states that told us in 2021 that they had planned or in-progress work-based learning activities that weren’t fully captured in the analysis we were doing. We went back and followed up to see how those efforts had progressed.

One of the biggest things we heard is the influx of federal pandemic dollars supported the expansion of work-based learning opportunities. In several states, they used that money to forge new partnerships and built some of the coordinator roles that I was talking about. A couple of states used federal dollars to do that. Others used it to address transportation or other kinds of practical barriers.

The influx of dollars was big, but those funds were time-limited and are now expiring. So states are now grappling with what this will look like moving forward. A couple of states have decided to make that funding permanent through state funds.

Aldeman: Are there any other creative or innovative solutions in the work-based learning space that you think are interesting worth calling out?

Foster: West Virginia is really diving into data collection efforts and tying some funding to those outcomes. There are two aspects to that. One is clearly defining the different types of work-based learning opportunities, so that everyone is talking about the same thing when they say “pre-apprenticeship” or “internship” or “co-op.” It’s really important to have clear definitions of what the student opportunities are.

And two, West Virginia has also created financial incentives in state law for districts to provide these opportunities to kids. That has actual teeth and serves as a way to nudge districts to make these things happen.

Aldeman: It seems like work-based learning is having a mini moment right now, perhaps because of a pushback against the “college for all” mindset, but it’s also a potential bipartisan policy in a very political time. So what are your hopes and fears for work-based learning going forward?

Foster: Regardless of where the moment is coming from, I do think work-based learning is really important. It’s a great way to get and keep kids engaged in education. It’s good for young people who may be over-age and under-credited, but it’s also a great opportunity for a kid who is on the traditional trajectory to a four-year college to understand what it means to work.

In terms of fears, I would circle back to where we started the conversation. There are hundreds of different work-based learning models happening in communities across the country. But I worry about the places where the “learning” aspect of work-based learning is not meaningful. I want to make sure that kids understand what they’ll get out of a work-based learning experience, and that that knowledge and those skills are actually useful for them.