The Modern Youth Apprenticeship
A scalable strategy for work-based learning that leads students to effective careers and social mobility

Noel Ginsburg, founder and CEO of CareerWise in Denver, Colo., meets with high school students about resume preparation as part of the apprenticeship application process. PHOTO COURTESY OF CAREERWISE COLORADO

In June 2015, I attended the CEMETS Institute in Switzerland, which focused on that country’s youth apprenticeship system. I was there both as the founder of Intertech Plastics in Colorado and as chair of the Denver Public Schools’ College and Career Pathways Council, one of my volunteer roles to improve students’ education outcomes and create more paths to career success.

One of the most impactful of those roles was with the I Have A Dream Foundation. Through the foundation, my wife and I sponsored 42 young people who lived in a neighborhood with a high school dropout rate of more than 90 percent. When we adopted our class of “dreamers,” most of them 3rd graders, we embarked on a 10-year journey that ultimately turned a 90 percent dropout rate into a graduation rate of more than 90 percent.

For the next 15 years, I searched high and low for a solution that could replicate that kind of impact at scale. I found that solution in youth apprenticeship on that trip to Switzerland.

Learning From the Swiss

The Swiss system is widely known as the gold standard of apprenticeship. It’s not an ancillary program. Rather, it is so fundamental to Swiss education that nearly 70 percent of students participate in apprenticeships.

The permeable dual-education system in Switzerland enables students to move between a traditional education model and a professional education and training model. As a result, Swiss students outperform students in the United States, according to comparative data maintained by the Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA.

Further, the country credits its innovative economy, low youth unemployment and low levels of income inequality to the apprenticeship model.

U.S.-Style Apprenticeship

Only a little more than a third of Americans attain a four-year college degree. Yet if the predominant narrative in America is to be believed, a college degree seems to be the only dignified path to a career, leaving most of our young people with limited prospects and our industries with a workforce shortage.

Youth apprenticeship can be an options multiplier, creating more postsecondary opportunities before students meet traditional barriers to a middle-class career.

Some of these programs, including CareerWise programs in Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, New York and Washington, D.C., and programs such as Career Launch Chicago and Texas Youth Apprenticeship Partnership, are beginning to gain more traction.

An internship is the work-based learning model with which people are most familiar. Internship is key for young people to learn about work, but during an apprenticeship, students learn through work. In a modern youth apprenticeship, an American apprenticeship, students are hired by an employer in high-growth, high-pay fields such as informational technology, financial services or business operations. During the apprenticeship, students work alongside seasoned professionals, being trained to step into full-time roles at the conclusion of the program. 

Employers agree to pay for related higher education coursework (CareerWise employers commit up to $4,000 in college credit) and pay for industry certifications. The employer-funded college credit and industry credentials truly make apprenticeships an options multi-plier. As I often say, apprenticeship can lead to a corner office, a Ph.D. — or both!

The employer-funded credit makes additional schooling more affordable and the apprenticeship provides the added benefit of perspective to help focus higher education and boost persistence. The certifications signal to potential employers that the apprentice is ready to work.

Networking Assets

In addition to the tangible benefits of the program, one of the most important aspects of apprenticeship is the professional network a student develops. Apprentices work alongside other professionals for years, allowing a true relationship to be built. A powerful network isn’t just about who you know, but who knows what you know. Apprentices complete the program with a resume that proves they’re job-ready and with a network of people who can authentically amplify its reach.

Typically, high school students are recruited into a modern youth apprenticeship program during their sophomore year to begin work-place training and start work with their employer the summer before their junior year. Elective credits and work-based learning credits are applied to graduation, so students spend part of the week in class and part of the week in the workplace.

It’s important that the second or third year of the apprenticeship be post-graduation. It’s during this time that the apprentice is applying learned skills and competencies to increasingly higher-value work with the employer and taking the related certification training and employer-funded college coursework.

The youth apprenticeship movement in the United States is in its infancy. But based on pilot successes across the country, demand is growing quickly and there are excellent resources available for creating a program of your own. 

Noel Ginsburg (right), CEO of CareerWise, consults with U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper at a CareerWise Colorado youth apprenticeship event. PHOTO COURTESY OF CAREERWISE COLORADO

Grow Your Own

Your first apprentice-employer partner should be yourself. Mutual benefit between employer and apprentice is a hallmark of a well-designed program — and in few pathways is that as true as in a future-educator apprenticeship. Education apprentices fill the need for a more robust pipeline of teachers and provide a clear path for your own students to work in your schools.

In addition to education pathways, district administrative and operations positions make great apprenticeship opportunities. Identify roles you have challenges filling and then map out career paths for them. For example, how might an apprentice training to be an entry-level IT support specialist become the manager of the department some day? What are the intermediary positions and additional education required along the way?

Next identify the competencies an apprentice will need to master to step into the entry-level position. Work with your subject-matter experts in the various departments to create a development plan or borrow from existing resources (through organizations such as CareerWise or New America) to ensure apprentices are completing the program with valuable, portable and, most importantly, employable skills.

While developing your own in-house apprenticeship program, connect with the employers in your community. Talk to them about what their hiring challenges are and how youth apprenticeship might help in the short term by creating capacity. And find those partners that believe in the long-term value of creating a new talent pipeline outside of college-graduate recruiting.

Discussing hiring challenges with employers is also the first step in creating a feedback loop between industry and education. If we better understand what businesses need their employees to know when they walk in the door, the better we can equip our students — whether they are apprentices or not — to succeed in the workplace.

Impact at Scale

When I flipped the script for those 42 students through the I Have A Dream Foundation, I was proud of them. I was thrilled with the impact that the program had on their lives. The data said nine out of 10 of those kids wouldn’t finish school, yet nine of 10 did. I knew, however, it wasn’t realistic to take that model and impact an entire school district. I believe youth apprenticeship can do that.

Recently, I was talking to an apprentice at Pinnacol Assurance here in Colorado. She told me that before her apprenticeship showed her a future, she didn’t think she had one. College seemed out of reach, and she couldn’t see a path forward after high school. Her apprenticeship gave her the opportunity to earn money, develop professional skills and create a network that is helping her connect the dots between education and career. Now, she not only dreams big about her future, but she knows exactly what steps to take to achieve those dreams.

That same story can repeat itself over and over again because youth apprenticeship isn’t philanthropy. Youth apprenticeship is smart business for employers. Youth apprenticeship is a meaningful education with a clear path to career and social mobility. Youth apprenticeship is scalable.

NOEL GINSBURG is founder and CEO of CareerWise in Denver. Twitter: @CareerWiseCO