We are in the midst of an economic revolution: rapid advances in technology are changing the way we live and work, and automation will soon displace 2.5 million workers per year—a labor market disruption far greater than any we’ve experienced in the past. Preparing students to succeed in this economy will require moving beyond the traditional educational construct of study-then-work to a study-and-work career-connected learning (CCL) approach that combines classroom instruction with relevant, real-world experience. While attaining a four-year college degree immediately after high school will continue to be the right ambition for many young people, we need to develop and scale pathways that combine classroom learning with meaningful, on-the-job work experiences that lead to door-opening postsecondary degrees and credentials. This report aims to accelerate these efforts in three ways: by providing a clear view of the good jobs such programs should be targeting, by describing the best practices of effective CCL programs, and by drawing a roadmap for scaling successful programs into highly effective CCL systems at the state and local level.
HERE to HERE leverages Bain’s findings in our Work-Based Learning Labs approach.
Download Bain-Report_Making-The-Leap.pdf