A Work Experience is a Career Preparation activity in which a student is at a worksite doing real work for pay. The student is held to the same expectations as all employees and is evaluated by the worksite supervisor based on workplace expectations and performance.
Work experiences range from regular, paid employment in summer and/or year-round jobs to subsidized employment and learning-rich work experience. They include both found jobs and those arranged by the school or program. There are also a range of education and training linked work experience program types defined at the state and federal levels (See State and Federal Work Experience Fact Sheet).
Work experiences are one activity in the continuum of authentic work-based experiences provided to all students engaged in career-related programs or course of study in New York City schools.
In a virtual work experience, a student is engaged as an employee with an employer or organization partner. As with internships. many industries and employers have recently shifted to a model where their employees work from home-based settings. Most of these employers have established protocols, communications systems and supports to ensure that work is productive, employees are engaged and connected to each other. These same protocols apply to learners who are working from home. Follow the tips for virtual internships when implementing virtual or hybrid work experiences for learners.
Digital Summer Youth Employment Toolkit 2.0 is our recommended resource for conducting virtual work experiences. https://aspencommunitysolutions.org/report/digital-summer-youth-employment-toolkit-2-0/.
The Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions released the 2.0 version of our Digital Summer Youth Employment Toolkit December 16, 2020. This resource builds on the initial toolkit from June 2020, and is informed by implementation lessons from 2020’s “summer like no other” from communities across the Opportunity Youth Forum (OYF) network and national partners.
Summer Youth Employment Program
https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dycd/services/jobs-internships/summer-youth-employment-program-syep.page
DYCD is partnered with CTE through CareerReady SYEP, a program that offers participating CTE high schools guaranteed SYEP work experience slots and the opportunity to build strong connections between participating students’ year-round academic learning and their summer work and enrichment experience. In addition, the program provides explicit connections to high quality postsecondary counseling and planning for the upcoming school year. Ongoing professional development and technical assistance supports high quality WBL experiences and placements that are aligned with CTE content areas.
*In New York State, this includes certified work-based learning coordinators and others who facilitate, arrange and support work-based learning activities for students.