ACTE's National Work-Based Learning Conference 2026

Whether you are starting a new internship program or revitalizing an existing one, this comprehensive workshop is designed to ensure your success. We will explore the essential components of an effective internship program, emphasizing key coordinator responsibilities and strategies for building strong business partnerships. 
Collaborative support will be provided for crafting training plans, minimizing liability risks, and confidently navigating challenging situations. The workshop balances strategic guidance with hands-on application, including time to network. Gain the clarity and confidence you need to transform your local internship program. 
Attendees will: 

• Sail through foundational program decisions, with dedicated time to apply what you learn. 
• Dive into scenario-based coordinator training and leave ready to manage real internship challenges. 
• Score an internship coordinator guidebook and the confidence to put your learning into action. 

Join this essential workshop to gain knowledge, skills, and a supportive network that will make your internship program a success. 

Students don't sign up for experiences they don't understand. Employers don't return when the process feels like a hassle. Families don't encourage participation in something they associate with "missing school." These are branding problems, and they're solvable.

In this session, you'll learn a framework for strengthening how your program shows up to students, families, and employer partners. Through guided exercises, you'll diagnose stakeholder perceptions that help or hurt participation, define what makes your program the only option worth choosing, and map the decision-making journey your stakeholders go through before they say yes. You'll leave with a clearer picture of how your WBL program is perceived, where friction exists, and what to do about it.

Across Lake County, Illinois, regional partners are expanding work-based and experiential learning opportunities for students. However, these efforts often operate in silos, lacking a clearly defined continuum or coordinated strategy for scaling impact. This session highlights a collaborative initiative to develop a regionalLake County Work-Based Learning (WBL) Resource Hubthat builds and fosters alignment.

Workforce development professionals, regional intermediaries, policy makers, district representatives, educators and partners will all benefit from this session. Understanding how to build scalable systems and aligning efforts across the region to create unified strategies for WBL.

Attendees will leave with how to contribute to and use a WBL. They will have tools to improve communication and and strategies to enhance student access to high-quality WBL opportunities.

Participants will engage in table discussions, surveys and will walk away with an action plan and inventory access to take back to their organization or region leaders. 

Ready to reel in amazing community and industry partners? In this fast-paced, 25-minute session, we’ll show you how to cast your line with confidence—cold calling, connecting, and marketing your school or program’s needs to attract the right collaborators. Using a “catch and release” approach, you’ll see examples, learn best practices, and explore proven strategies for establishing authentic connections, then have a moment to try out your ideas in real time. You’ll leave with a toolkit packed with cold call/email scripts, a partnership prospecting “fishing map,” tips for establishing relationships, and curated resources to keep your network growing. This session is perfect for educators, work-based learning coordinators, and administrators ready to hook meaningful partnerships that expand student career exploration and skill development.

This session will showcase a fun, age-appropriate way to introduce elementary students to careers during a Career Week.  Participates will explore how we took our career week from 1 school to 34 schools in just 3 short years, with a team of 1!
The focus will be on showcasing the Dare to Dream Career week which is a developmentally appropriate, interactive, and inspiring career exploration activity for all elementary schools.


This session is appropriate for anyone who oversees Elementary career exploration or work-based learning, or helps to make decisions around Elementary content.


The Dare to Dream Career Week model, takes a structured format that can be applied in a variety of elementary settings from counselors, media specialists, or classroom teachers.  In this session, we will share how different schools applied Career Week in different structures.  Participants will leave with concrete strategies to make Career Week more impactful from structured classroom lessons and center activities to school-wide events.  


This session will blend discussion, modeling of activities and resources for attendees to create their own tooklit for career week.


Resources Provided:
- Slide deck with sample activities and best practices
- Printable student worksheets and handouts
- Planning templates
- A curated list of resources

"Improving Alignment of Pathways and Courses to Available Student Experiences" will guide teachers, administrators, and coordinators in aligning student experiences with pathway courses to maximize impact beyond the classroom. Are opportunities reaching the right students at the right time? Together, we’ll explore strategies to reduce repetition, strengthen course alignment, and intentionally plan experiences that provide clarity, relevance, and improved student outcomes.

The MAP-IT framework provides a structured approach for using technology tools to support student career exploration and planning. By guiding students through matching their interests, analyzing opportunities, creating plans, implementing actions, and tracking progress, MAP-IT ensures all students graduate with a clear and actionable career pathway. This process leverages technology’s strengths—such as career assessments, labor market insights, and digital portfolios—to make planning both meaningful and future-focused. This roundable unpacks the MAP-IT framework, how it supports career planning through advisory periods and other spaces, and how educators can use technology tools effectively. 

Strong partnerships are key in advancing Career and Technical Education. This session explores how educators can build and sustain effective collaboration with industry, postsecondary, and community partners, all to enrich student experiences while strengthening CTE pathways. Designed for classroom teachers, administrators, and program leaders, this session will provide practical strategies and tools that will help identify, engage, and grow partnerships that align with local workforce needs. Attendees will leave with ready-to-use resources, including a partnership planning template. If you are building a new program or enhancing an existing one, this session offers actionable insights to move your CTE efforts forward. 

This session reveals a model for how WBL coordinators can work with WBL mentors/hosts to facilitate students' autonomy and teamwork in designing and developing solutions to problems or challenges of their own choice, resulting in real products for real audiences. These internship strategies align with the Buck Insititute Gold Standard for PBL and are a great match for post-secondary institutions, government agencies and other large employers willing to tke on a larger number of students. 

King George County Schools (KGCS) located in rural Virginia has less local funding and fewer industries than neighboring districts. In an effort to make its new Work-Based Learning Program sustainable despite inherent challenges, KGCS created CTEats – casual monthly stakeholder dinner meetings held at local restaurants. These events bring together educators, students, business partners, postsecondary institutions, government officials, nonprofits, and community leaders to discuss and collaborate around WBL initiatives. With 26-60 attendees per dinner and an enthusiastic community response, “CTEats” has become a powerful and cost-effective platform for generating buy-in, partnerships, and impactful resource commitments. CTE and WBL leaders will learn through his presentation how to build an ecosystem of collaboration, recognition, and celebration that can inspire partners to do more together than anyone ever thought was possible. Attendees will receive a detailed guide for executing successful “CTEats” dinner meetings of their own.