GPS Education Partners Continues to Prioritize Youth in Economic Recovery Strategy

For many communities, youth apprenticeship is a new strategy to connect the learning needs of students with the talent needs of local employers. This landscape of start-up youth apprenticeship programs across the country today is confronting a historic moment as employers, schools, and colleges cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. But for some programs, this is not the first time that they have weathered uncertainty in the economy and our education systems. In Wisconsin, the youth apprenticeship program led by GPS Education Partners (GPSEd), has withstood many storms over the years through their strategic partnerships and creative flexibility with education and employer partners alike. This year is certainly no exception.

This year, GPSEd, located just outside the Milwaukee area, will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its youth apprenticeship program. When GPSEd launched in 2000, it started with five students from a single high school and one manufacturing company, Generac Power Systems, which was interested in creating an apprenticeship that was closely modeled after the traditional apprenticeships in Germany. Since then, GPSEd has expanded its flagship manufacturing youth apprenticeship program throughout the southeast and northeast regions of Wisconsin, enrolling hundreds of youth apprentices by partnering with over 100 businesses and 45 school districts to develop 13 career pathways. These strong partnerships have allowed GPSEd to anticipate challenges and work with employers and other partners to create alternate action plans when necessary. This spring, GPSEd was able to move much of their blended learning curriculum to a fully virtual format with minimal disruption.

For two decades, GPSEd has run a two-year youth apprenticeship program in which high school students complete at least 900 hours of work-based learning and four semesters of classroom instruction in core academic subjects, career and technical education, and personal and professional development. Through GPSEd, apprentices typically complete the two-year program by the time they graduate high school and earn a youth apprenticeship certificate from the state Department of Workforce Development, as well as a Certified Production Technician (CPT) certificate, a national credential from the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council. While GPSEd serves all students, many of the students in the program are those who are disengaged from their current learning or are struggling with credit deficiency but want to pursue a career in a technical trade. GPSEd provides those students with connections between their academics and the real world of work.

In addition to being anchored by a clear intermediary that can adjust programming as needed, core to the sustainability of the GPSEd program is in part linked to its participation in the broader Wisconsin Youth Apprenticeship system, which has been in continuous operation since 1991 and is now housed in the state Department of Workforce Development (DWD) alongside the state’s Registered Apprenticeship System. This means that GPSEd follows the state’s guidelines and definitions for youth apprenticeship and works with its employer partners to structure their program to align with baseline standards set by DWD across multiple career pathways.

As a designated regional intermediary, or “consortia lead”, GPSEd receives funding from the state to serve as the youth apprenticeship program intermediary in their region. Since the program is authorized and funded by Wisconsin’s state legislature, the DWD sets program standards for GPSEd and the 32 other regional consortia, which include expected enrollment levels, completion rates, high school diploma rates, apprenticeship certificate attainment, and the expectation that at least 60 percent of students who complete the program will be offered employment in their career field.

In addition to the outcomes and participation measures that are reported to the state, GPSEd also collects additional data as an intermediary that maintains accountability with its local partners. For example, regular assessments of student performance, which are evaluated against shared academic, technical, and employability standards, ensure alignment of youth apprenticeship experiences with a formal career pathway and training plan. This is achieved through the collaboration of GPSEd instructors, employers, and students.

The resilience of GPS Education Partners’ youth apprenticeship is linked to both its clear regional intermediary strategy, and its linkages to a broader state system in the Wisconsin Youth Apprenticeship Program. Roles and responsibilities are clear across local partners, and between GPSEd and the state program, to deliver an effective youth apprenticeship model. Youth apprenticeship is always about building a partnership across local education and industry partners where students learn and employers hire, but GPSEd demonstrates that a clear local and state partnership is core to the sustainability of youth apprenticeship programs.

No doubt, GPSEd and all the regional consortia across the state of Wisconsin are being put to the test yet again. But even in this unprecedented moment, GPS Education Partners remains committed to staying the course. According to Andy Hepburn, Chief Innovation Officer at GPSEd, “Although much of our own planning to mitigate any risk of delayed programming is always subject to many factors, we do tend to see a small dip in enrollment if the manufacturing industry is struggling. However, in the past, those numbers have come back up when things improve, so we like to believe it has to do with businesses seeing the value of working with us to build their own workforce.” For GPSEd, this is but another storm that they plan to weather as they continue to chart a path to economic recovery, that is inclusive of youth, in the region.

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