Updated February 2026
Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month gives us a reason to celebrate programs that prepare young people for meaningful, high-wage, high-demand careers. But the truth is that the work of great CTE can’t be seasonal.
If students are to graduate with skills and confidence, and if we want employers to build real talent pipelines, CTE has to connect to authentic, real-world learning opportunities. That’s where work-based learning (WBL) comes in. And it’s why GPS Education Partners exists: to build the connective infrastructure that brings education, employers, and communities into alignment.
What is Career & Technical Education (CTE)?
CTE prepares students for careers across a wide range of fields, from healthcare to advanced manufacturing and beyond.
CTE can include classroom instruction, credential pathways, and hands-on experiences. It helps students see what’s possible, develop real skills, and graduate ready for next steps—whether that’s employment, a registered apprenticeship, technical college, or a four-year degree.
Why CTE needs work-based learning (WBL) to make school work
Here is the challenge: education and industry are interdependent, yet often disconnected. When goals and systems don’t align, students disengage, employers stay understaffed, and communities struggle to build economic opportunity.
That’s why WBL is no longer an innovation on the fringe. It’s a blueprint for the future, because it creates relevance between school and work through real-world interactions.
What is work-based learning?
WBL connects students to career experiences through meaningful interactions with employers. integrating real work into education so learners can explore, experience, and grow.
At GPS Ed, we see WBL as a continuum, or a journey if you will, that moves students from curiosity to confidence.
This continuum is important because different students and communities may need different on-ramps, and high-quality WBL can’t be one-size-fits-all.
More than placement, high-quality WBL builds the 4 As.
GPS Ed defines high-quality WBL as Authentic learning that develops a student’s Aspiration, Abilities, and Agency to succeed in the world of work—or the 4 As.
Our broader model emphasizes development across these 4 As. The goal isn’t training for a single job, but to help students become effective employees and confident adults.
With high-quality WBL, educators see stronger engagement, students find meaningful careers, employers build better pipelines, and communities strengthen workforce resilience.
WBL and GPS Education Partners
So how do we redesign education to ensure young people are ready for the world they will enter?
At GPS Ed, we’ve spent more than 25 years answering that question by building work-based learning ecosystems that unite schools, businesses, and communities to create experiential learning that’s relevant and connected to economic opportunity.
In other words, GPS Ed serves as an intermediary. We help with the connective infrastructure that brings education and industry together.
Our goal is to transform WBL from fragmented programs into thriving ecosystems through proven methodologies, comprehensive support, and strategic partnerships so all stakeholders succeed together.
Two ways to partner with GPS Ed
1.) Education Center & Youth Apprenticeship Program (Wisconsin)
GPS Ed operates a statewide Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Youth Apprenticeship Consortium, and our Education Center & Youth Apprenticeship program connects high school students to technical careers.
Rooted in rigorous academics and immersive, hands-on learning, the program links graduation requirements with industry standards so students can earn stackable, transferable credentials aligned to technical career pathways.
The program focuses on rigorous academics and hands-on learning, linking graduation requirements with industry standards so students can earn credentials aligned with technical careers.
Why this matters for employers: apprentices build skills that meet evolving business needs and contribute to the employer’s bottom line—making youth apprenticeship a cost-effective investment in a long-term talent strategy.
2.) Work-Based Learning Intermediary Services (national)
Whether you’re building or rebuilding your WBL program, GPS Ed can help you move beyond isolated programs to develop talent sustainably.
What makes our support repeatable is the GPS Ed Approach—a practical six-part framework we use to design, implement, and continuously improve high-quality WBL at scale.
In simple terms, we help communities:
- Clarify the purpose (the “why”) and align partners around shared outcomes
- Identify the right partners (the “who”) and define roles that fit real capacity
- Co-design the experiences (the “what”), so WBL is authentic and high-quality
- Build the operating model (the “how”) with clear structures, responsibilities, and processes across partners
- Measure what matters (the “so what”) to demonstrate impact and guide improvement
- Plan for sustainability (the “now what”) with feedback loops and continuous improvement, so the work lasts
This ecosystem approach aligns students, schools, employers, and communities in a way that creates measurable outcomes—and the capacity to scale without losing quality.
What “ecosystem building” looks like
Many communities already have good CTE and WBL efforts, but they’re often operating in isolation. Ecosystem work is what connects the pieces into a coherent, scalable strategy.
That includes:
- Designing WBL across the student journey, from awareness to development.
- Setting a clear definition of quality using the 4 As.
- Making it easier for employers to engage meaningfully and consistently.
- Navigating regulatory complexity so schools and partners can focus on students.
What to focus on as a district leader, employer, or community funder
District leaders: Focus on easing the burden and boosting student outcomes
When building career pathways, just adding “one more initiative” can seem like a lot. Instead, focus on a model that blends with CTE and graduation requirements, delivers measurable outcomes, and removes overwhelm
Employers: Focus on building talent
WBL is a practical way to build your talent pipeline while giving students authentic exposure to your industry. It also helps you shift from competing for hires to developing future employees with the technical and professional skills you actually need.
Funders & community partners: Focus on system-level change
When WBL ecosystems are disjointed, funding and policy become fragmented and inequitable. Investing in connective infrastructure is how regions move from pilots to sustainable, scalable programs.
FAQ
What’s the difference between CTE and WBL?
CTE is the broader umbrella of career-connected education. WBL is the set of experiences that bring real work into learning—so students build skills in authentic settings.
What is youth apprenticeship?
Youth apprenticeship is a WBL model. It connects high school students to paid, structured workplace learning aligned with both education and industry standards.
What is a WBL intermediary?
A WBL intermediary’s role is to align schools, employers, and community partners. They help with partnership-building, coordination, and structures that make WBL sustainable.
How do we start with WBL?
Identify where you are on your WBL journey, from awareness to development. Then, build a shared vision across stakeholders and design experiences that meet students and employers where they are.
CTE Month is a spotlight. The work is year-round.
CTE Month reminds us what’s possible when we connect learning to the real world. But the best way to make that connection is to build systems, not one-off programs.
If you’re ready to strengthen your CTE outcomes through high-quality work-based learning, we can help you take the next step.
