Career and technical education programs have taken on many different forms, but one that has been gaining in popularity is apprenticeships. Colorado is at the forefront of this emerging apprenticeship movement. Inspired by the Swiss model of apprenticeship, the CareerWise Colorado initiative seeks to enlist hundreds of employers from many sectors to employ thousands of high school students in the nation’s first large-scale youth apprenticeship program. If a two-year pilot test goes well, the plan is to expand the model to a statewide scale, and eventually to expand it nationwide.

Join Katie Beal as she talks to Noel Ginsberg, CEO of CareerWise Colorado, and Gretchen Morgan, former president of CareerWise Colorado, about how the program works; the conversation touches on how they recruit employers, what students learn, and how the initiative is different from other apprenticeship models. MDRC is currently working with CareerWise Colorado to help its leaders understand the factors that either impede or promote the smooth implementation of this complex initiative, so that the program can continue to improve.

This is the second podcast of a two-part series on career and technical education.