Key strategies for expanding and supporting apprenticeships include:

• Increasing apprenticeship opportunities and on-ramps in high-skill, high-growth industries – particularly for under-represented populations – by aligning education, workforce development, and employer-based training systems

• Expanding apprenticeship opportunities to serve adult learners in addition to students

• Encouraging the engagement and expansion of intermediaries (like industry associations, colleges, and workforce boards) to support industry in developing new programs

• Defining apprenticeships as rigorous, high-quality opportunities, which adhere to standards on wages and are otherwise consistent with federal regulations for registered apprenticeships (U.S. Dept. of Labor 29.29)

• Ensuring apprenticeships create on-the-job learning opportunities, mentoring, and related training

• Involving employers deeply at every stage of the process in expanding apprenticeships

• Offering rewards for skill gains, including nationally-recognized occupation credentials and transferable, stackable competencies