Our guest for this episode of College & Career Readiness Radio is Kristy Volesky.

Kristy starts by defining work-based learning and explaining why other definitions might be too broad, limiting the outcomes of a specific WBL experience.

Don’t miss what she says about the “before, during, and after” of WBL that educators and business partners should be clear about to prepare students for the experience.

She says that we ought to implement WBL in elementary schools, and she gives some detailed examples of how to do that.

Project-based learning in schools is a great scaffold for WBL. It’s not just about sending kids to work; they need preparation ahead of time. Kristy describes some of the durable skills that students can learn before they go to work.

She says that anyone who wants to start a WBL program should find the easiest entry point. We don’t need to scale it until some of the partnerships are operating without a lot of support.

Listen to what she says about using a current CTSO to apply a project to a local business.

One of the outcomes that Kristy explains is the social capital that students gain from WBL, including their network that they’re building on-the-job and the growth they experience for further upward mobility in the future.

She talks about missed opportunities associated with “fake” WBL experiences versus real internships and solid placements. We call this “the network effect of WBL.”

Kristy provides examples of how WBL can unfold at every level–elementary, middle, and high school.

She redefines what a middle school career fair can be, providing them exposure before they make their four-year academic plans.

Her final thoughts about the support that schools need to do this work are important. We have to overcome the barriers to WBL to progress the work for students.

If you want to discuss work-based learning with the host of the show, book a time here.

If you want to see a solution for working with business partners and tracking WBL for students, book a demo here.