Work-Based Learning

DESE supports meaningful collaboration to provide students with impactful employer engaged work-based learning (WBL) to provide real-world, relevant learning experiences in which students can demonstrate academic and technical skills while exploring their interests and goals for post-graduation. WBL is a learning experience that every high school student can benefit from, and Work-Based Learning is an essential component of Innovation Career Pathways and Career Technical Education.

Jump to a section:

• Massachusetts Career Development Model
• Types of Work-Based Learning in Massachusetts
• Where Work-Based Learning Happens
• Designing for Equity in Work-Based Learning
• Connecting Activities Support
• Additional Resources

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Massachusetts Career Development Model

Work-based learning is the immersive work experiences that prepare students for choices about postsecondary education and careers, and WBL is the culminating experiences of the Massachusetts Career Development Model.

All work-based learning experiences should be guided by My Career and Academic Plan (MyCAP), a student-centered, holistic, multi-year career and academic planning tool designed to support students as they map their individual path to success after high school. MyCAP identifies three key domains for development for every student — Social/Emotional Development, Academic Learning, and Career Development. WBL activities are the cornerstone of the Career Development work and allow students to navigate through the levels of this domain to identify careers of interest aligned with personal skills and interests to develop a pathway to success. The chart here reflects the variety of experiences across the career development spectrum. MyCAP ensures all students gain the knowledge, skills and experiences in each domain to support their pathway choice.

Types of Work-Based Learning in Massachusetts

Work-based learning is an indicator of program quality measured through Perkins V Core Indicator 5S3 Program Quality: Participated in Work-Based Learning. This means that as part of our federal funding for career connected learning, Massachusetts collects and reports student participation in Work-based learning as an indicator of the outcomes of pathway programs.

• A Pre-Apprenticeship is a program or set of services designed to prepare individuals to enter and succeed in a Registered Apprenticeship program. A pre-apprenticeship program, by definition, has a documented partnership with at least one Registered Apprenticeship program.
• An internship or clinical is a paid or credit-bearing work experience of 100 hours or more in a workplace in which structured learning occurs related to the student's program of study, including virtual internships. For example, the practicum that is part of every early education and child development program or the clinical that is part of every health assisting program.
• A work-based learning Capstone (industry-engaged capstone) is a well-designed process for identification of individual or team student project that ensures an alignment with the industry sector of at least one hundred hours of activity by the student outside of the classroom, led by an employer, in the form of research, service learning, or other related activity, that supports the capstone project.
• A work-based learning Simulation engages either employers and/or clients/customers external to the school or district (i.e. school run restaurants or salons or community-based projects that are facilitated by an external organization). as community-based projects that are facilitated by an external organization (for example Habitat for Humanity).
• Cooperative Education is a program of career technical education for persons who, through a cooperative arrangement between the school and employers, receive instruction, including required academic courses and related technical instruction, by the alternation of study in school with a job in any occupational field. Such instruction shall be planned and supervised by the school and the employer so that each contributes to the student's education and employability. Work periods and school attendance may be on alternate half-days, full days, weeks or other coordinated periods of time." Cooperative education is always paid as inherent in the definition's use of the term "employer."

Where Work-Based Learning Happens

WBL within schools, such as Work-based Learning Simulations, offers students contextual learning where the public comes to their environment, providing a unique supportive setting while doing a job with high expectations. Examples of WBL Simulations include a salon operated by a cosmetology program or a restaurant operated by a culinary arts program.

WBL outside of the school offers students the chance to develop in an environment that is both safe and independent. These can be unpaid or it can be paid, like cooperative education. These experiences are valuable for networking and portfolio building. Qualitative data shows that WBL experiences outside of school lead to postgraduation employment, often by the same company where the WBL occurred.

Work-based learning is often integrated into Industry Recognized Credentials (IRCs). Industry Recognized Credentials demonstrate standards and skills that strengthen students' access to careers upon graduation. See the specific IRCs for each program in the Frameworks. In some Pathways, program-specific integrated WBL provides students with the hours needed to be certified or sit for licensing exams. Examples include clinicals for students in health assisting programs and practicums for students in early education and care programs. These integrated immersion experiences are a credited component of the program of studies, where every student enrolled in the program participates.

Designing for Equity in Work-Based Learning

Student Supports: As an extension of the classroom, all students must have equitable access to WBL, be prepared for WBL, and be provided support for success in WBL. In this way, student supports are a continuum from awareness of WBL opportunities, as part of MyCAP, and subsequently as part of secondary to postsecondary transition.

Examples of student supports:

• provision of accommodations identified on an IEP
• language support during interviews
• accompanying a student on a practice run of their route to a work placement
• engaging guest speakers who reflect the diversity of the student body
• providing a confidential means for students to obtain work attire or Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) necessary for them to participate
• establishing policies and procedures that eliminate barriers based on, for example, economic status
• norming the expectation that all students access WBL

Student Voice: Most WBL is designed for students to take ownership of their experiences, including reporting back and linking their WBL to their program competencies. Students can be valuable spokespersons and provide a unique lens that encourages peers to engage in WBL. Student voice can also offer insight into the specific WBL environment to strengthen and improve partnerships. Schools should consider how to intentionally include students in the development, messaging, and evaluation of WBL experiences.

Partnerships: WBL is based on community and business partnerships and raises awareness and support for CTE pathways in schools. The MassHire Workforce Boards, through the Connecting Activities network, further connect employers and schools to support work-based learning and other career development education activities for students. Schools should strive to offer as many WBL opportunities as possible. Students and families should have transparent information on each WBL opportunity, how they differ, and what each offers.

Equitable Access Partners: As school programs, WBL must be equitably accessible to all students. This requires awareness of bias and stereotypes that may limit access to specific student groups. This includes use of data to review, discuss, and focus on opportunities for students from historically underserved communities. Schools need to work closely with employers for a common understanding of expectations and supports to make every WBL opportunity accessible and help every student be successful. Does your school have a comprehensive and documented process for onboarding new WBL partners? If so, consider using Recommend a Resource to share with colleagues across the state.

Connecting Activities Support

The MassHire Workforce Boards provide a regional system of support for high schools and high school students, to engage in career immersion learning opportunities for career readiness through Connecting Activities. Programming exposes students to a variety of career opportunities based on labor market research and allow for targeted workforce and career skills development, career counseling, and elements of experiential and work-based learning. Additionally, through Connecting Activities each MassHire Board offers at least one annual regional convening open to all schools in the region to provide school and district staff with updated regional workforce data, reflection on regional work-based learning opportunities, opportunity to learn of resources and best practices related to providing high quality career immersion activities.

Connecting Activities Priorities include:

• Increasing the number of students placed in work-based learning immersion experiences (e.g., internships, whether paid or for school credit, pre-apprenticeships, career capstones, etc.) and youth employment aligned to student interest and planning, including where schools have implemented MyCAP, documented and aligned in student MyCAP.
• Increasing the number of employers partnering with districts/schools to provide career development opportunities to all students. A deliberate focus should be on WBL opportunities in high wage, high demand and other fields identified as growth areas that will provide family sustaining wages in the Commonwealth.
• Supporting the efforts of Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), the Executive Office of Education (EOE) and the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD) to improve equity and access to career development education opportunities for underserved student populations. (Including underserved racial/ethnic populations, low-income students, English learners and students with disabilities as well as students from cities and towns with high youth unemployment)
• Supporting school and districts' efforts to increase MyCAP implementation for all students.

For more information about Connecting Activities, contact your regional MassHire Workforce Board.

Additional Resources

The resources listed here will be updated as necessary.

• MassGrad Evaluation Brief: Service-Learning and Work-Based Learning (July 2016)
• Work-Based Learning (WBL) Tool Kit put out by the Perkins Collaborative Resources Network.

Last Updated: August 30, 2024