Our guest for this episode of College & Career Readiness Radio is Jan Jardine.

Jan Jardine explains how work-based learning helps students connect classroom learning with real-world careers through internships, apprenticeships, and CAPS-style industry projects, often revealing both what students love and what is not a good fit before they invest in postsecondary education.

She describes how CAPS programs “bring industry to students” by embedding them in professional environments where they work in teams on authentic client projects, practicing skills like communication, project management, and handling iterative feedback instead of just observing adults at work.

She emphasizes the importance of starting career-connected learning earlier, moving beyond a 9–12 or “just CTE” model by integrating projects and industry connections into middle school courses like College and Career Awareness and even elementary-level career exploration, so students do not “meander” through pathways without direction.

Jan also pushes for breaking down silos between core academics and CTE, sharing examples of engineering students who independently applied calculus to design a moving staircase prototype, illustrating how interdisciplinary, project-based work makes academic content meaningful.​

For rural and under-resourced communities, Jan urges educators to treat the school system itself as an industry partner—leveraging child nutrition, IT, transportation, HR, and other internal departments, as well as nearby community colleges, to create rich work-based learning experiences even where external employers are scarce.

She reflects on the 2025 ACTE CareerTech Vision conference (in New Orleans this year), noting growing national momentum: more conference sessions on rural innovation, younger grades, and postsecondary collaboration.

Jan highlights the upcoming National Work-Based Learning Conference in Rhode Island (April 29–May 1), where sessions will range from foundations for new coordinators to advanced topics for experienced leaders looking to “level up” their programs, with special attention to business partner engagement and rural models.

She also shares details about the ACTE-sponsored Leadership Alliance for Work-Based Learning, a new cohort for 10 practitioners that includes in-person learning at the conference, five virtual sessions, and a capstone project to be presented at the 2027 conference, designed to help leaders tackle real challenges in their own contexts.​

Her call to action for educators is simple but powerful: share your story—do not assume your work is “no big deal,” because when you consistently tell students’ success stories, communities, industry partners, and policymakers better understand the impact and begin to advocate for and invest in this work.

Our guest for this episode of College & Career Readiness Radio is Thomas Murray.

Tom Murray says that strong leadership is the foundation of any innovative, student‑centered district and that every major initiative will rise and fall with the quality of its leaders.​

Tom explains that the best leaders are learners who empower others, adapt, delegate to build capacity, engage their communities, reflect on their work, and ultimately lead as servants.​

He emphasizes that leadership is not about titles and that some of the most influential leaders in schools are classroom teachers, support staff, or bus drivers who care deeply, solve problems, and earn others’ trust.​

Murray points out that a healthy culture cannot coexist with toxic leadership and that every interaction in a school system is either building the culture up or tearing it down.​

Tom says that districts must be intentional about leadership development through coaching, mentoring, and clear pipelines for aspiring leaders, instead of expecting people to figure it out alone.​

He argues that “college and career readiness” must truly mean college and career, treating four‑year college as one important option among many pathways.​

Tom Murray notes that giving students access is not enough and that real success depends on creating a sense of belonging where students feel the space was designed with them in mind.​

He believes the ultimate purpose of pathways work is to ensure every student has enough exposure and support to graduate ready to live life on their own terms.​

Tom says that pathways work should start in elementary school so students can learn who they are as learners and see a wide range of careers beyond what they encounter at home.​

Murray shares that Future Ready Pathways offers free, research‑informed resources to help districts design pathways that expand access, opportunity, and belonging for all students.Tom Murray says that strong leadership is the foundation of any innovative, student‑centered district and that every major initiative will rise and fall with the quality of its leaders.​

Learn more at FutureReadyPathways.org.

Our guest for this episode of College & Career Readiness Radio is Brandon Busteed.

Brandon says that work-integrated learning connects traditional academic study with learning that happens on the job and includes not only internships, but also co-ops, apprenticeships, job shadowing, and long-term classroom projects designed with industry input.​

Brandon points out that internships are a game changer: students who have an internship in college are about twice as likely to secure a good job at graduation and remain engaged in their careers, but under a third of graduates actually have such internships with real classroom applicability.​​

He emphasizes that the biggest problems are scale and equity, noting that while 8.2 million college students want internships, only 3.6 million receive one; access skews toward students with more resources and social connections.​

Brandon argues that the internship supply-demand gap could be closed if every employer devoted 5% of their jobs to interns, and that even paying all interns fairly would be comparable in cost to other large-scale federal investments.​

According to Brandon, the quality of internships matters as much as their availability: longer internships yield better results, but any length is valuable if there’s a meaningful project, feedback, and structured reflection alongside clear learning goals.​

He believes that high-quality, work-integrated learning can and should be embedded into classrooms through real-world, project-based work that exposes students to a variety of industry roles.​

Brandon’s work at Edconic includes “industry immersive” programs, which partner with well-known organizations so students can experience hands-on projects, receive direct feedback, and learn about multiple types of jobs even if traditional internships aren’t an option.​

He insists that co-designing and co-teaching these experiences with educators and industry leaders is critical, as educators bring assessment and pedagogical skill while industry partners provide real-world context and mentorship.​

Brandon says that parents and educators often focus too much on grades and test scores, undervaluing work experience even though it’s vital for career success.​

Lastly, Brandon calls for a culture shift: he believes that policymakers, schools, parents, and employers need to treat paid, quality work experiences as a fundamental part of education, not just an option for a privileged few.