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Engaging business and industry partners and providing students with high quality work-based learning experiences are the heart and soul of high-quality career pathways and workforce development programs.
One of the most important forms of business and industry engagement is recruiting and deploying partners to support and sponsor Work-based Learning activities for your students. Even if your state has a narrow definition of Work-based Learning, we encourage our partners to think about Work-based Learning in two broad types:
- Activities that get business and industry partners directly connected with students in specific programs as guest speakers, program advisers, and project coaches and judges, or more broadly as career fair participants or mock interview and resume writing advisors.
- Strategies that move students outside of the classroom or off campus into a workplace experience through a job shadow, short term internship, a cooperative education experience, or a school-based enterprise advised by business partners.
Our tools and training can help you and your team find and engage business partners, work with those partners to create high impact work-based learning experiences, and manage effective business-led advisory committees to continuously improve program outcomes.
Consulting & Professional Development Services
In general, there are three types of services we can provide to support you relating to Employer Engagement and Work-based Learning:
- A single or series of 3-to-4-hour workshops in-person or virtual
- A series of workshops, in-person or virtual, with additional follow-up coaching sessions for small groups leaders and/or instructors
- Incorporating this training and coaching into a larger consulting agreement that includes other consulting and coaching services
Finding and Engaging Business Partners
Partnerships are a critical resource for preparing students for the workforce and all parties involved – educators, employers, and students – can benefit greatly from working together. NC3T supports schools and districts by focusing on the “why” and the “how” of partnerships, helping participants understand the essential principles of strong industry partnerships, how to find and approach business partners, how to change advisory committees from passive to active, and how to leverage eight different partnership models for maximum impact.
Engaging Business Partners within Pathway Programs
Business and industry partnerships are a critical component of successful pathway systems. NC3T shares how regional career pathway systems are supported and led by alliances of educators, employers, and civic organizations, using strategies to transform education. With this knowledge, you will be able to identify the core components of a career pathways system and how to begin action planning for bringing community partners together.
Advisory Committee Training
Advisory committees are one of the pillars of effective CTE and pathways programs, serving as a channel for industry to provide input on their needs along with the kind of guidance and resources that can drive efforts and enhance outcomes. NC3T helps to uncover the essential skills for building and managing an effective advisory committee, including how to recruit the right members, how to structure your committee, how to set the right goals, and how to manage the committee in a way that produces real results for your students and staff.
Creating a Work-based Learning System
Work-based Learning is a cornerstone of effective CTE and pathway programs. NC3T covers all of the elements of a strong work-based learning system, including how to identify and recruit business partners, how to set student and business outcomes, how to structure a high-quality experience, and how to monitor progress and evaluate outcomes. In addition to supporting the development of your Work-based Learning system, we will share with your team how our WBL management platform, Seamless WBL, can support your system long-term.
Work-based Learning Review
Work-based Learning programs should regularly be assessed to understand how well the program is meeting student and partner needs, as well as how well it is supporting your CTE program, pathways system, and regional workforce needs. NC3T can support the review process by guiding data collection and analysis and reviewing reporting mechanisms to inform program improvement.
Creating a Simulated Workplace Program in CTE
Simulated workplace programming is a great way to replicate workplace experiences without leaving the classroom. These interactive opportunities allow students to fully immerse themselves in realistic workplace activities that help to strengthen and deepen their understanding of specific careers or career pathways. NC3T can support the development of simulated workplace programs within CTE programs by working with educators to take into consideration: capacity, tools and facilities, scheduling, partner support, and other Career Connected Learning resources.