The District is exploring new ways to promote student success during and after high school, whether they enroll in college or transition directly into the workforce after graduation. Research suggests that paid internships in high school can keep students engaged in school and connect students to jobs after they graduate.1 In the 2021- 2022 school year, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) launched the Advanced Internship Program (AIP) for high school students in career and technical education programs.2 AIP connects students with school-year internships in their fields of study. Students are paid and receive school credit. In the 2022-2023 school year, 198 students were successfully placed in internships. The Lab and OSSE are working together to study how students who participate in AIP succeed during high school and after they graduate.
Two students work on lab experiment.
(Credit: Office of the State Superintendent of Education.)
Why is this issue important in DC?
In 2021, only 51 percent of DC high school graduates went on to enroll in college or another post-secondary program. OSSE created AIP to give students practical experience in an industry aligned with their studies. The experience is designed to help students understand whether the industry is the right fit for them. It also aims to prepare them to be successful in college and the workplace.
What did we do?
The Lab and OSSE are studying how well AIP prepares a student for college and the workplace. We will compare students who participated in AIP to a similar group of students who did not participate in AIP to see how their outcomes differ during school and after they graduate. We will focus on measuring how the program impacts whether students enroll and stay in college and whether they find jobs after high school. We are also using a survey to measure if the program affects how prepared students feel for college or a career.
What have we learned?
We expect to share initial results from our analyses on how AIP impacts preparedness and college and work outcomes in 2026. We also studied how the program was rolled out and ways to improve it. We learned that 91% of students who participated in AIP said it helped prepare them for college and work. We also learned that students and employers valued how AIP provided students hands-on work experience, mentorship, and networking opportunities. We identified some small changes to help the program run better, many of which OSSE has already made or plans to make soon.
What comes next?
We will continue to work with OSSE to use the information we are learning to strengthen AIP and other government-run internship programs.
“The Advanced Internship Program will launch careers for hundreds of DC high school students who will have a chance to hone their skills through high-quality internships in competitive career fields that pay well”
What happened behind the scenes?
In 2022, The Lab worked with OSSE to draft surveys for students, employers, and school staff to learn their opinions about how recruitment and orientation for AIP went. The survey also asked what outcomes from AIP matter most to them. This information helped us decide which outcomes to study.