ERIC Number: ED662011
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Sep
Pages: 26
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Participation and Outcomes in Out-of-School Work-Based Learning: Evidence from ExpandED's STEM Options Program. Research Report
Clare Buckley Flack; John Sludden; James J. Kemple
Research Alliance for New York City Schools
There is currently a heavy emphasis on career-connected learning for high school students in New York City. ExpandED Schools' science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) Options (ES Options) program predates the newest of these initiatives. Launched in 2019, ES Options combines a credit-bearing STEM apprenticeship in the spring with a teaching internship in summer, designed to offer students hands-on learning experiences that increase their interest in STEM while exposing them to potential careers. Aspects of this model, including the provision of high school credit for a hybrid learning and work experience, have been adopted more broadly by New York City Public Schools and nonprofit organizations across the City. Insights into ES Options' successes, challenges, and outcomes are therefore valuable to inform the continued development and improvement of local programs as well as broader efforts in the field. In the previous report, "Recruiting and Retaining High School Students in Out-of-School Work-Based Learning Lessons from New York City," the Research Alliance described ES Options' implementation in 2022, highlighting notable challenges with program recruitment and persistence and outlining promising strategies to address these challenges. In this new report, patterns of program participation for a more recent cohort of students (2023) are examined, and analyses to investigate key student outcomes are extended. Building from the findings of those analyses, ExpandED piloted two new program models with the 2024 cohort. The first offers apprenticeships at schools during the school day as part of students' regular schedules. The second folds the apprenticeship into a six-week paid summer intensive, avoiding a key point of program attrition. Initial feedback about the in-school and summer intensive models' changes appears positive, and worth monitoring moving forward.
Descriptors: After School Programs, Work Experience Programs, STEM Education, Student Participation, Outcomes of Education, High School Students, Apprenticeships, STEM Careers, Summer Programs, Student Attrition, Models, Internship Programs, Program Implementation
Research Alliance for New York City Schools. 285 Mercer Street 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10003. Tel: 212-992-7697; Fax: 212-992-4910; e-mail: research.alliance@nyu.edu; Web site: http://www.ranycs.org
Related Records: ED651308
Publication Type: Reports - Research-practitioner Partnerships; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) (ED), Education Innovation and Research (EIR)
Authoring Institution: New York University, Research Alliance for New York City Schools
Identifiers - Location: New York (New York)
Grant or Contract Numbers: U411C180023