Framework for High-Quality Pre-Apprenticeship: Career and Technical Education
At A Glance
This pre-apprenticeship framework outlines the six essential elements of a high-quality pre-apprenticeship program with a focus on CTE.
Challenge
In recent years, employers in the United States have experienced a shortage of qualified workers and a skills gap in the workforce. The disparity between the skills an employer expects their employees to have and the actual skills employees possess makes it challenging for employers to fill open positions. Registered Apprenticeship (RA) is one viable solution to address this shortage. RA provides an opportunity for participants to earn wages while earning a recognized industry credential that validates the skills acquired. Pre-apprenticeship is a program or set of services that offer participants structured training opportunities to prepare them for entry into an RA program.
Approach
Career and technical education (CTE) is a practical, hands-on approach that combines the academic and technical skills participants need in many traditional skilled trades and industries, such as information technology, energy, health care, and manufacturing. CTE can help education and business partners create career pathways that begin in middle school, connect with seamless program credit articulation between secondary and postsecondary education, and ultimately transition learners into the workforce. Pre-apprenticeship programs within CTE can be a foundational learning opportunity to prepare young people for entry into a Registered Apprenticeship.
Results
This pre-apprenticeship framework outlines the six essential elements of a high-quality pre-apprenticeship program with a focus on CTE. It builds on JFF’s existing Framework for A High-Quality Pre-Apprenticeship and provides specific recommendations for utilizing CTE elements to develop pre-apprenticeship programs. It also offers examples of promising practices implemented by pre-apprenticeships that currently operate within CTE programs. Pre-apprenticeships are designed to prepare participants for success in Registered Apprenticeships or other high-quality apprenticeship programs and, ultimately, careers. New or existing programs can use this framework to help guide their growth and development both in creating formal pre-apprenticeships and in strengthening their existing training practices.
Partners:
- Educate Maine Automotive Technology Pre-Apprenticeship at CTE Region 10, Brunswick, Maine
- Syracuse City School District (SCSD) Manufacturing Technology Pre-Apprenticeship Program at Corcoran High School, Syracuse, New York
- West Linn-Wilsonville (WLWV) School District Healthcare Pre-Apprenticeship Program at Riverside High School, Tualatin, Oregon
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