Date of Award

Spring 2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Committee Chair

Prince Bull

Abstract

Employers are experiencing skill gaps when hiring employees. Employability skills are taught in high school through Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses. High school students receive hands-on experience through work-based learning opportunities such as internships with the help of organizations in the community. The partnership between schools and organizations is vital to the success of internships. This study investigated the lived experiences of organizations that offered internships to high school students. The study focused on a school district in the northeastern central region of North Carolina. The primary method of data collection used in the study was interviews. The interviews revealed that organizations want to continue to provide internships to high school students but would like to make improvements in the partnership between schools and organizations. The findings provide recommendations for schools and organizations to maintain communication in providing internships for students by allowing organizations to come into the schools to recruit students for internships and for schools to communicate with students the expectations of the internships so they will be accountable for their part in the internship. The findings also provided ways to eliminate barriers in having internships such as providing public transportation for students and providing virtual internship opportunities for students who do not have transportation.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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