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Announced in August 2026, Advancing Work-Based Learning Through Quality Coaching is a national initiative including 20 states and territories led by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO). The project is designed to help states build sustainable and scalable approaches to work-based learning and education-to-career coaching.
All participating states begin with a baseline assessment and policy scan examining their current work-based learning models, quality coaching landscapes, funding structures, data capacity, and policy levers. Monthly technical assistance sessions and peer learning discussions bring together national experts, researchers, practitioners, and state teams. SHEEO also visits states to offer in-person guidance aimed to ground policy development in actual progress. These visits include conversations with institutional partners, advisors, support staff, and students.
The 20 states and territories are split into two groups:
The intensive learning community states receive structured baseline assessments, individualized technical assistance and coaching, peer learning, state site visits, in-person convenings, and support in developing state-specific policy agendas. The broader coalition states attend an in-person convening, monthly webinars, and receive technical assistance in work-based learning and education-to-career guidance strategies.
Work-based learning and quality education-to-career coaching have emerged as priorities across higher education policy, with growing evidence that experiential learning improves student persistence, completion, and post-graduation outcomes. Despite this momentum, access remains uneven, particularly for students facing barriers to paid internships, apprenticeships, and other quality work-based learning.
SHEEO's initiative draws on research showing that learners who complete at least one internship are 48.5% less likely to be underemployed after graduation than peers with no internships, while recognizing that most states lack the policies and infrastructure to offer high-quality work-based learning at scale.
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