Experts: Work-based learning in high schools could create better path
As New Mexico schools continue to struggle to ensure students graduate with proficiency in core subjects, they face another challenge — how to help graduates land well-paid jobs in a field they enjoy.
One way to motivate students — particularly those likely to drop out of high school because they feel disconnected from classes — is to develop work-related programs in which kids get paid while learning a trade that might turn into a career, experts told state lawmakers Wednesday.
“People are realizing that engaging youth in work-based learning experiences creates a longer and more intentional runway for their own educational experience and their transition into life,” Mike May, director of workforce learning for the education advocacy group Future Focused Education, told lawmakers on the Legislative Education Study Committee.
According to data collected by his Albuquerque-based organization, only 4 percent of public school students in New Mexico participate in such programs.
More kids would take part if the state supported initiatives with funding and a new high school graduation requirement to enroll in programs allowing them to “earn and learn,” as one expert put it.
Such programs also could help local businesses, nonprofits and government agencies develop experienced workers and fill vacancies brought on in part by the pandemic, experts say.
“Having it as part of the graduation requirements … as a core class that is counted toward graduation will help grow this work-based learning program for students throughout the state,” said Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Hilario “Larry” Chavez, whose district offers a pilot program for about 50 high school students.
The pilot program started out of necessity, Chavez said, when the district’s transportation department fell short seven mechanics in the last school year. The district filled those positions with students from its Early College Opportunities High School, in which kids simultaneously work toward diplomas and professional certifications or associate degrees.
“There would be no way we could service our buses” for the year without those students, Chavez said.
Now, many of the students in the pilot program are working in city and state agencies and for local businesses, including in the hospitality industry, he said.
Lutz Arnhold, managing director of the Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi, said the hospitality industry initially worked with the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation to hire high school students in an array of jobs at four local hotels. Santa Fe Public Schools later got involved in the program, he said.
Of the 21 students who took jobs at the start of summer, seven have “transitioned” into pursuing a career path, Arnhold added.
The idea is not just to offer students a one-summer job, he told lawmakers, but to turn the work training “into something where we can get young professionals interested in the industry and transition from a summer program into something permanent.”
Statewide work learning programs could come with a high cost.
Tony Monfiletto, director of Future Focused Education, said the group’s data shows it would cost New Mexico about $80 million for 10,000 students to take part. If employers agreed to fund part of the program, the cost could drop to about $53 million, he said.
“Those are big numbers,” he said, adding the social and economic cost of students dropping out or failing to find meaningful work might be much higher.
Jessica Hathaway, a policy analyst for the Legislative Education Study Committee, opened Wednesday’s discussion by citing a recent report by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce that found most young workers do not attain a good job — one paying at least $57,000 a year, when cost-of-living factors are taken into account — until they reach their early 30s.
“Workplace learning connects learners to experiences to future careers so they can get exposure [to job paths] before they leave the classroom,” she told lawmakers.
State Rep. Tara Lujan said after Wednesday’s hearing she supports making such programs a part of the required high school curriculum and would like to see the Legislature allocate funding for the initiatives.
During a youth summit she hosted last year, Lujan said, many young people told her they want to see the state “reimagine education,” in part by adding workforce preparation programs to the curriculum.