Promoting Work-Based Learning: Efforts in Connecticut and Kentucky

In the summer of 2012, the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) and the Alliance for Excellent Education conducted a survey of State Directors of Career Technical Education (CTE) to gauge state efforts to better connect CTE with a larger college- and career-readiness agenda. Survey questions spanned a range of issues, including whether each state had developed a definition of career readiness, the number of career academies in each state, and what states are doing to formally identify and remove barriers to work-based learning opportunities in policy and practice. This brief includes a short description of efforts from two states—Connecticut and Kentucky—to define work-based learning opportunities for youth participants, educators, and employers, and to create policies that provide greater access to these opportunities.