Colorado leaders are painfully aware that they need to find skilled workers to fill thousands of jobs. And they鈥檙e betting big on their new secret weapon: an apprenticeship program for high school students.
This fall, 116 teenagers from four districts have fanned out to 40 companies in Colorado in the inaugural year of the state鈥檚 apprenticeship program. Three days a week, the junior and senior students are at school, and two days a week, they鈥檙e earning minimum wage or more while they learn the ins and outs of finance, information technology, business operations, or advanced manufacturing.
Colorado has a grand vision for the outcome of this project: By 2026, 20,000 apprentices from all across the state will have finished high school with transferable college credit, at least one postsecondary credential, three years of work experience, and in most cases, an associate degree.
The program fits into an expanding national conversation about how schools can do a better job with the career side of the well-known mantra 鈥渃ollege- and career-readiness.鈥� A changing economy demands a workforce with sophisticated technical skills, and at least some training or education after high school.
Even with low national unemployment, many jobs are going unfilled as companies search for the talent with the skills they need. Searching for answers, policymakers are encouraging schools to use internships, work-based learning, and apprenticeships to expose young people to career ideas and build work experience. President Donald Trump is likewise urging high schools to offer apprenticeships.
In Colorado, the aim is to arm students with general work skills like good communication and time management, which can pay off in a wide variety of jobs, and industry-specific skills like software development or accounting. Each apprenticeship is based on a curriculum developed jointly by business, colleges, and K-12 schools.
The goal is to better position students to save time and money in college and compete for jobs and to supply a bigger pool of skilled workers for Colorado companies.
鈥淲e literally have tens of thousands of jobs every week that go unfilled,鈥� said Ellen Golombek, the executive director of Colorado鈥檚 labor and employment department, which helped shape the apprenticeship program. 鈥淲e鈥檙e taking a look at the entire work-based-learning spectrum to train, retrain, and 鈥榰pskill鈥� the workforce to meet our current and projected needs.鈥�
Colorado officials are also hoping to not-so- subtly make another point: Apprenticeships aren鈥檛 just for young people aspiring to traditional trade jobs like plumbing or electrical work.
Byonc茅 Reyna illustrates that point. The Denver 16-year-old hopes to be an elementary school teacher. But she鈥檚 over-the-top excited about her apprenticeship at an insurance company. Since early August, she鈥檚 been working two days a week at Pinnacol Assurance, which provides worker-compensation policies.
鈥淚nsurance is not exactly what I want to do in my life, but knowing how to take on tasks, how to work and thrive in a business environment, will help me in whatever I do,鈥� she said.
Her apprenticeship has brought a bachelor鈥檚 degree within her reach, the 11th grader said.
鈥淐oming from a single-parent household, college is really a stressful topic,鈥� said Byonc茅, whose mother works at an auto-financing company.
鈥淲ith all the debt, it seemed like a crazy idea. But now that I can get halfway through college with no debt and a paid position, it鈥檚 mind-blowing. It鈥檚 more than I could ask for at such a young age.鈥�
In her first few weeks at Pinnacol, Byonc茅 started with workplace skills, such as learning the Microsoft Office suite of computer tools, and, as she puts it, 鈥渉ow to maintain this young-professional persona and make sure people know we mean business.鈥�
Now, under the watchful eye of a Pinnacol adviser, she鈥檚 rotating through underwriting, claims adjustment, and other departments. Over the next three years, Byonc茅, a junior, will try her hand at various posts, spending more time at work, and less on her high school campus, as she gets closer to graduation.
By her third year, she鈥檒l be taking community college classes and working three or four days a week at Pinnacol, building expertise in one specific area of the company.
Twenty-two other apprentices are working at Pinnacol, too. They all learn the 26 workplace competencies Colorado has built into the program, such as being a self-starter, teamwork, and thinking logically. But beyond that, they will find unique niches in the company as they rotate through various departments.
Some might gravitate toward working with clients over the phone, and others might take a shine to underwriting. Still others might choose to build their technology skills by developing content for Pinnacol鈥檚 website, said Mark Tapy, who is overseeing the company鈥檚 apprenticeship program.
Wading into the program is no small matter for companies. Pinnacol has agreed to pay 23 apprentices $9.60 per hour for two full days a week and as much as $12 or $15 per hour, three days a week, as they progress through the program.
Participating companies also pay $2,000 to $5,000 per apprentice for their courses at community colleges and other training providers.
There鈥檚 also the time and effort of writing the curriculum, which lays out specific weekly goals, and supervising teenagers as they learn. Pinnacol鈥檚 is a blend of general workplace competencies agreed upon by business, K-12, and higher education, and an insurance-specific course it developed with , an organization that confers credentials for the insurance industry.
The way Pinnacol sees it, the effort is worth the payoff. The company and the industry nationwide anticipate a big wave of retirements in the coming decade, Tapy said, so Pinnacol can鈥檛 just wait around to see what happens.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to create a new talent-acquisition strategy for our organization, and our industry, to ensure that we retain some of the institutional knowledge we鈥檝e had,鈥� he said.
These kinds of economic shifts were on the minds of leaders in Colorado鈥檚 business and education sectors as they started to explore the apprenticeship idea last year. Led by Gov. John Hickenlooper, they , where 40 percent of companies offer apprenticeships in more than 200 professions. About 70 percent of Swiss students participate in the world-renowned program.
They learned that companies make a net profit on their apprenticeship investments. Over three years, a Swiss economics professor told the delegation, companies spend $86,000 on average on each apprentice but get contributions valued at $95,000.
Research shows that Swiss students who take part in apprenticeships have lower unemployment and higher earnings than peers who stick to the exclusively academic track. Apprentices don鈥檛 end up stuck with their early job choices, either; Swiss research shows that later occupational changes are common.
With the Swiss system as a model, Colorado began planning its program as a way to keep students in the school pipeline, set them up for good jobs, and serve industry鈥檚 need for a skilled workforce. It decided to put businesses in the driver鈥檚 seat, using their needs as a starting point.
鈥淚f they鈥檙e not at the table, if they can鈥檛 tell us what they need, we鈥檙e flying blind鈥� in trying to provide it, said Golombek, the state labor and employment director.
The state chose four focus areas for the apprenticeship program鈥攆inance, information technology, advanced manufacturing, and business operations鈥攂ased on which businesses expressed interest in being part of the new system, she said. But they also had to be areas with high growth potential in Colorado鈥檚 economy.
A nonprofit organization, , coordinates the many moving parts of the system. The organization convenes conversations with business and education to define apprenticeship competencies and figure out how to monitor and assess students鈥� progress.
It works with K-12 schools to infuse career exploration and specific career skills into coursework.
And it鈥檚 working with the state鈥檚 two- and four-year colleges to create articulation agreements that guarantee that students can transfer the credits they earn in the program.
鈥淭his requires new thinking, new models, and new partnerships, but this is a new economy,鈥� said Kim Hunter Reed, the executive director of Colorado鈥檚 department of higher education.
The project has pushed education and business into a new, positive kind of relationship, said Gretchen Morgan, CareerWise Colorado鈥檚 president.
鈥淚n the United States, it鈥檚 hard for business and schools to have a practical way to be connected to each other to ensure that schools know enough about changing industry to be responsive,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen they share responsibility for apprentices, they have this very practical way to be in touch about the relevant competencies.鈥�
Colorado has set ambitious goals for its initiative, and national experts are watching to see how it unfolds. One such expert sees big challenges ahead.
鈥淭he biggest challenge is getting employers to seriously play in this game,鈥� said Robert B. Schwartz, who leads the , a group of states that work on career-readiness policies with Harvard University and Jobs for the Future.
In the United States, employers tend to 鈥渨ait around to see what shows up on their doorstep,鈥� while Swiss companies 鈥済et in at the front end鈥� and help shape the education system so it produces the talent pool they need, said Schwartz, who has .
Creating a nationwide Swiss-style apprenticeship system would require that big shift in thinking from U.S. companies, he said.
And it would demand a radical restructuring of high schools that Schwartz said he doubts most schools would embrace: a 鈥渓ower secondary鈥� and 鈥渦pper secondary鈥� model, in which students spend the first two years on academics and career readiness, and the second evenly divided between work and study.
