Colorado’s Answer to Reengaging High School Students after COVID? Let Them Roll up Their Sleeves.

In general, school absenteeism rates remain far higher and grade-level progress far lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s certainly the case in Colorado. Chronic absenteeism (defined as students missing 10 percent or more of a school year) is a major factor in learning loss, and in the Centennial State, it rose more than 13 percent between 2018–19 and 2021–22. District data reveal similar patterns: In 2022–23, 41 percent of Denver Public School students were chronically absent.

After a turbulent four years, we clearly need to reengage students in school and reposition them for future success. Apprenticeships are an increasingly popular solution, with growing state and federal support. For example, in California, Governor Gavin Newsom recently directed education and workforce leaders to use youth apprenticeship as the guiding focus of career education programs. More recently, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed legislation that will help align youth apprenticeship programs with the economic needs of the Beehive State.

But Colorado is widely viewed as a front-runner of the apprenticeship movement. Recent legislation provides $45 million to “support an in-demand career workforce,” which includes, in part, attainment of credentials and completion of eligible apprenticeships. Through a program called the Career Development Incentive Program, school districts and charter schools in Colorado can receive up to $1,000 in bonus funds for each high school student who successfully completes an industry-credential program, internship, residency, or apprenticeship in the building trades, or who earns a score eligible for college credit after completing a qualified Advanced Placement course.

How do apprenticeships engage students and prepare them for later success? Three ways.

First, they address the perennial (and often legitimate) complaint by students that they are bored in school by engaging them with hands-on learning. Results from a national survey of students published by Advance CTE found that 82 percent of those participating in career and technical education were satisfied with their “ability to learn real-world skills,” compared to 51 percent of students not participating in career and technical education (CTE) but expressing interest in it. In The Means to Grow Up, Robert Halpern convincingly argues that youth apprenticeships, in particular, actively fight against disengagement by exposing teenagers to the adult world of work. By situating learning in real-world, applied contexts, youth apprenticeships can support and engage students as they face the difficult transition out of adolescence.

Second, successful programs such as CareerWise Colorado allow students to earn industry credentials—often embedded in apprenticeships—during high school, which paves the way for more positive outcomes in both workplace and college settings. A 2021 study in Chile, for instance, found that students who participated in apprenticeships were more likely to graduate on time and to access higher education compared to their non-apprentice counterparts. Closer to home, a 2022 study conducted by our organization, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, found that high school students in Texas who attain credentials are slightly more likely to be employed after they graduate. And if they choose to go to college, they tend to be more likely to enroll and persist in it. In general, the largest impacts materialize for students who take multiple technical courses and earn a credential in the same field, suggesting that high schools should help them figure out their interests and aptitudes early so that they have time to demonstrate mastery of valuable workplace skills.

Finally, youth apprenticeships are linked to higher earnings. Researchers analyzing Kentucky’s two-year, community-college-based advanced manufacturing program found that the next-year median earnings for manufacturing apprentices was $59,164, compared to the $36,379 earned by matched students in other two-year technical programs. Moreover, in a novel analysis of the skills that employers required in job postings, the Harvard Business Review found that the number of occupations commonly filled via apprenticeships could be nearly tripled if they included the skills required in positions such as tax preparer, claims adjuster, insurance underwriter, graphic designer, and database administrator. New apprenticeships with training in the skills for those jobs could mean more than a 20 percent salary premium for employees compared to occupations that are traditionally filled via apprenticeships (such as carpentry and pipe fitting).

We’ve got a long way to go before we can say that we’re doing our best to position all students for success after they graduate from high school. But thanks to recent legislation, educators and policymakers in Colorado are establishing apprenticeships—and the credentials that come with them—to help combat the student engagement crisis. Utah and California are also doing this work. Many more states should follow them.