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In 2017, author Jeff Selingo came to Episcopal High School (VA) and declared to an auditorium full of college process-focused parents that “students need to start building real-world immersive work experiences now, and it doesn’t matter whether it relates to what they eventually want to be doing for a career—the time to start is now.” As educators, our understanding that the future is our business could not be more evident as we move into a post-pandemic world where many systemic inequities have been laid bare. We spend hours visualizing and debating what will be best for our students as they leave our communities with the hope that we have succeeded in building the skills, content retention, and preparation for the “real world.”But how do independent schools take on this challenge while staying connected to their missions and dedicated to the “traditional” way of school? What if more schools’ teaching and learning goals included creating as real a world as possible? Better yet, what are some of the tested practices that we can rely on when building a connection to real-world and workforce immersion learning? And most important, how do schools look at their workforce training programs through a lens of equity?
The Big Picture
As the final chapter of the high school experience, many schools have capstone projects for their 12th graders. It’s often where innovative teaching and learning live, the container that includes many “progressive” ideas such as student agency, deep immersion opportunities, and reflection on experience. Sometimes these programs include an element of workforce learning with supervisors, deliverables, and new experiences not found in a school environment. But we are at an important juncture: We’ve seen the pandemic both expose gaps and accelerate the need for schools to take a deep and thoughtful look at the reality of what it means to have a career, to be productive, and do, as author and entrepreneur Seth Godin puts it, “work that matters.”Independent school missions vary, but they do have the commonality of preparing graduates for the world after school. There are many innovative ways that independent schools approach their vision of what lies ahead for their graduates. The Wang Innovation Center at Western Reserve Academy (OH) uses design and entrepreneurship as a pathway for students to connect with the world beyond “college prep.” Before the pandemic, the Global Cultural Initiatives Program at St. George’s School (RI) combined immersive global programming with externships in London, Madrid, or Paris. These are programs that go beyond checking the boxes on the final chapter of a student’s experience with unique pedagogy and missions.
And with the rapid rate of change in all aspects of society, schools will need to be thinking more strategically when it comes to workforce preparation. This includes comfort with experimentation, energy toward building new partner networks, and intention to create a curriculum in tune with workforce parameters beyond campus.
In Action
Episcopal High School’s (EHS) externship program, which I oversee with a team of faculty, stems from more than 40 years of intentional connection to the Greater Washington, DC, area. The school has always tried to make the region an extension of the classroom. In the past 10 years, as experiential learning programs have evolved, we’ve developed meaningful and individualized experiences for students, ones that break out of “field trip” or passive learning. In four years of attending EHS, a student can access the DC region more than 100 times through individual classes and the McCain-Ravenel Center programing, which aims to expose young adults to intellectual and moral courage through speakers and other opportunities. And as students approach the 11th and 12th grade years, they are drawing inspiration for their individual externships from a myriad of shorter-term connections with off-campus organizations and partners. The externship becomes the opportunity to take more control of their learning, build the courage to explore, and encounter challenges outside of the classroom in a working environment.And as we’ve built our program, we’ve been aware of how the world of work is deeply connected to the question of equitable access. When people think of Washington, DC, and workforce learning, they immediately consider Capitol Hill as the center of most programs. Historically, we’ve seen externship/internship opportunities centered on students’ family and social circles, which limited many students based on socioeconomic background and race, with a core group of students gaining access to higher-profile externships closer to centers of power. But with the growing tech and nonprofit sectors in the area, we saw an opportunity to change that. In 2015, we started transforming how students pursue leads from the greater EHS community and connect with potential externship partners through off-campus meetings in co-working spaces and at public events. We also expanded our partner network to include more traditionally marginalized individual-led businesses and organizations and moved the externship process away from established networks that follow patterns of increased access for privileged individuals.
Now, with students connected to more diverse leaders, the benefit is twofold: Students of color can see their own identities reflected in current leaders, and white students can work on diverse teams with broad ranges of identities. We partner with parents, alumni, and other stakeholders in the school’s greater network to increase students’ access to all opportunities, forming a “pool” from which we can match interests and opportunities. This also allows the McCain-Ravenel Externships team to design a program that simulates a job search rather than handing the opportunity to students.
Unlocking a Journey
When I started this work, a colleague came to me and declared “only students who earn a B+ or above in the classroom deserve an externship.” On the contrary, immersive learning is for all types of learners, from all backgrounds. What we need to get used to is a myriad of outcomes that may take time to take shape—an early “failure” could be the secret to unlocking a journey that couldn’t be imagined from sitting in a classroom.I challenge schools to look deeply at the 11th and 12th grade year, or better yet, build a four-year curriculum with the vision of preparing students for real-world work. While so much uncertainty has dominated our collective mindset, we can be sure that education needs to continue to explore how to transform the institutions that produce the talent and workforce of the future. The new state of the world of work cannot be ignored in efforts to “return to normal” during the coming year. I have a saying when I work with students embarking on the externship process that is inspired by Selingo’s statement back in 2017: “Whether you think it was a good or bad experience, your first externship will always be a good one.”
Pandemic Learnings
In spring 2020, we were in the process of confirming 120 in-person externships when we quickly pivoted our entire program online—including the externships. With the mission of treating virtual experience as real experience, we found that access was significantly expanded to include global externships, and we leveraged a partnership with Humble Ventures to create a curated course focused on diversity in entrepreneurship and innovation. Humble Ventures is a development firm that helps startups solve problems while realizing that equity and inclusion are essential to innovation. The LAUNCH 2021 course included direct instruction using visual tools and creativity cues to promote social entrepreneurship.In 2021, many COVID-19 restrictions lifted, and we were able to create a boarding school “bubble” that kept students safely on campus. To simulate and model workforce learning while keeping the community safe, we converted the Stewart Student Center into “STEWWORK,” a co-working-style space. This real-world opportunity for students was best reflected in the final deliverable of their high school career: The final presentations provided a glimpse into the state of how we work and how we have disrupted the structure of our days. Outside of the traditional end-of-school-year rituals of a senior class, we designed a curriculum of “life preparation” sessions that supplement the workforce experience. With the support of faculty and outside partners, some of these sessions include the legal implications of turning 18, personal financial management, healthy relationship programming, and a deep dive into landing a first job. The month of May provided the space and time for thoughtful approaches to adulthood based on what seniors learned from their experiences.
Key Takeaways
At Episcopal High School (VA), the 11th and 12th grade externships have been designed to prepare students for the real world. As we’ve continued to build out our programs, we’ve made adjustments along the way.- A longer runway. The fall before graduation, students meet with faculty and outside experts regarding the job search process. They discuss strategies for using LinkedIn and also get one-on-one coaching to help find the balance of challenge and engagement.
- Structure that supports deep reflection. Inspired by a cohort/fellowship model based on higher ed, Leadership + Design, and quality online learning environments like the altMBA, we dig deeply into the pedagogy research-based models of David and Alice Kolb and ISEEN’s current experiential education definition by providing seminar-style reflection on the working experience. This goes beyond what could be considered the “final presentation” model found in most capstone programs.
- The dilemma of assessment. In 2017, EHS replaced percentages and letter grades in assessing the externship experience with a Mastery Transcript-inspired rubric that focuses on wayfinding, professionalism, and agility.
- Growing the network beyond school. We set a goal to increase our new/first-time externship jobs/partners by at least 10% each year. Our school community is a great source of support during the placement process, and we are also dedicating time and energy to building new strategic partnerships each school year.