Case Study: Building Futures, One Internship at a Time
Eskolta gathered insights from interviews, focus groups, and data across 25 transfer schools to help Learning to Work (LTW) better meet students’ growing needs for internships and work-based learning (WBL). This report highlights key challenges and promising practices for the future.
Quick Facts
New York City’s transfer schools support students who’ve fallen behind in traditional high schools. In partnership with Learning to Work (LTW), transfer schools prepare students for more than graduation—they help learners envision what’s next and build the skills to get there.
- New York City
- 40,000 young people ages 16–21 are two or more years behind in credits.
- 9,000 students are enrolled in LTW citywide
- 46 transfer schools participate in LTW
- 14% of transfer school students participated in an internship or work-based learning experience.
- 19% of Black students and 16% of low-income students participated in internships, higher than other groups. Participation was lower among multilingual learners, male students, and students over 18.
Overview
Opportunity
Transfer schools navigate shifting accountability, changing graduation rules, evolving student demographics, and funding challenges—making them excellent partners in the development of flexible, practical, and engagement education-to-career pathways.
Insight
LTW recognized the need to adapt to its students by listening to them and their communities, building partnerships with aligned organizations, and offering resources that support students with a range of school, work, and life needs.
Intervention
Eskolta gathered insights from interviews, focus groups, and data across 25 transfer schools to understand how LTW can best evolve to best support students. The report highlights current challenges and offers practical recommendations for the future.
Elevating Student Voice Unlocks Lasting Change
Insights from 800+ transfer students revealed what test scores couldn’t: humanizing environments, flexible pathways, and real belonging lead to better outcomes—and longer-term success.
Making a Case for WBL
In addition to offering LTW specific recommendations for its program development, Eskolta’s research shows how students benefit from the power of WBL at large.
%
of students who participated in internships/WBL in 2021–22 graduated with a diploma compared to roughly 62% of students who did not
more credits on average in 2021–22 by students who had internships
increase in odds of earning a diploma increased by a factor of (among students who left the school that year)
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Let Difference Thrive—and Drive Innovation
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