Apply for the Success through College Apprenticeship and Learning Experiences (SCALE) Cohort
Now Recruiting Applicants
Format: 2.5-year technical assistance and peer-learning cohort
Number of Organizations Selected: 8 community or technical colleges
College Stipend: $50,000
Application Deadline: November 18, 2026
Online Application: SCALE Cohort Application
Anticipated Notification: By January 11, 2027
Cohort Kickoff: Thursday, February 4, 2027 | 2:00-3:30pm ET (11:00am-12:30pm PT)
Questions? Contact Meghan Wills at AIR
The Success through College Apprenticeship and Learning Experiences (SCALE) cohort is a selective, 2.5-year opportunity for community and technical colleges to strengthen how they attract, support, and improve outcomes for apprentices, particularly learners from low-income and rural backgrounds.
Hosted by the American Institutes for Research® (AIR®) with support from Ascendium Education Group, the SCALE cohort will bring together eight community and technical colleges from across the country to examine the apprentice experience, address barriers to apprentice success, strengthen the use of data for decision-making, and test practical improvements in policy and practice. SCALE is designed for colleges that currently serve as a sponsor or intermediary sponsor for at least one Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP).
Selected colleges will receive individualized coaching, participate in a national peer-learning community, and work with AIR to develop an apprentice journey map and a college-specific Learning & Action Plan, then implement and refine the plan over time. Through these activities, colleges will identify opportunities to improve apprentice recruitment, persistence, completion, and post-program outcomes and strengthen their ability to use data for continuous improvement.
Each selected college will receive a $50,000 stipend in recognition of the time, expertise, and institutional commitment it contributes to SCALE and to support team members’ travel to two in-person SCALE cohort meetings.
The SCALE cohort will launch in February 2027 and continue through fall 2029.
What Is SCALE?
Community and technical colleges are uniquely positioned to connect learners with apprenticeship pathways that lead to credentials, employment, and economic mobility. Colleges also provide the institutional infrastructure, learner supports, employer relationships, and data capacity that can help apprentices enter, persist in, and complete their programs. At the same time, colleges may face challenges understanding the full apprentice experience, coordinating support across departments, tracking apprentice progress, and using data to improve policies and services.
SCALE is designed to help participating colleges move from understanding the apprentice experience, to identifying barriers, to testing targeted improvements, and ultimately to sustaining and sharing practices that improve apprentice success. The cohort will focus especially on improving access and outcomes for apprentices from low-income and rural backgrounds.
Through SCALE, participating colleges will work to:
- Better attract apprentices from low-income and rural backgrounds;
- Support apprentices as they enter, persist in, and complete apprenticeship programs;
- Learn directly from current and prospective apprentices about their experiences, barriers, and sources of support;
- Test and refine policies, practices, and strategies that improve apprentice outcomes;
- Strengthen the collection, reporting, and use of apprenticeship data;
- Expand apprenticeship opportunities, including programs, employer partnerships, and apprentice participation, as appropriate to each college’s context; and
- Learn with and from peer colleges working in different institutional, geographic, and programmatic contexts.
SCALE is both an institutional-improvement effort and a field-learning opportunity. Participating colleges will contribute practical examples and lessons that can inform future research, resources, and guidance for community colleges and the broader apprenticeship field.
What Participation Looks Like
SCALE is an applied learning experience focused on evidence, action, and continuous improvement. Over the 2.5-year cohort, colleges will receive support as they examine apprentice experiences and institutional data, identify priorities, design improvement strategies, implement and refine those strategies, and plan for sustainability.
Each college’s work will be guided by its own context, goals, apprenticeship programs, learner population, and improvement priorities. The experience will include:
- Individualized coaching: College teams will meet with an assigned AIR coach approximately every two months. Coaching will help colleges interpret apprentice and institutional evidence, establish priorities, develop and implement action plans, troubleshoot barriers, and identify next steps.
- Peer exchanges: Quarterly virtual sessions will give participating colleges opportunities to compare approaches, discuss shared challenges, test ideas, offer feedback, and learn from one another.
- Apprentice interviews and journey mapping: Colleges will help identify current and prospective apprentices for interviews conducted by AIR. Interview findings, institutional data, and college-team reflection will inform a college-specific apprentice journey map identifying key entry points, supports, barriers, and potential drop-off points.
- Learning and action planning: Each college will develop and implement a Learning & Action Plan identifying its priorities, strategies, implementation steps, roles, data, and measures for improving apprentice success.
- Data improvement: AIR will help colleges assess their existing apprenticeship data, identify gaps, strengthen outcome measurement, and develop feasible approaches to using data for continuous improvement.
- In-person learning: SCALE anticipates an in-person convening in 2027 and a culminating convening in 2029 focused on collective learning, sustainability, and sharing lessons from the cohort. Colleges can use a portion of their SCALE stipend to pay for travel expenses to attend these two in-person convenings.
SCALE will address three connected areas throughout the cohort:
- Apprentice and employer experiences
- Institutional practices and investments
- Apprentice and employer outcomes
Together, these areas will help colleges better understand apprenticeship experiences, strengthen the institutional conditions that support apprentice success, and use evidence to improve outcomes.
Application Process
Applicants should complete the online application form.
Before beginning the application, applicants are encouraged to:
- Review the eligibility and participation expectations above;
- Confirm support from appropriate institutional leadership;
- Identify a proposed SCALE team lead and initial cross-functional team members;
- Gather a small set of readily available information about the college’s apprenticeship programs, apprentices, employer partners, and student population; and
- Consider the primary apprenticeship challenge or opportunity the college would like to address through SCALE.
Applicants are encouraged to review the application sections below or in the Application Instructions before beginning the online form. Each section will identify the information requested and any applicable word limits. Applicants are not expected to conduct new analyses, complete a full data inventory, develop an apprentice journey map, or create a detailed improvement plan as part of the application. Selected colleges will complete more detailed readiness, data, journey-mapping, and action-planning activities with AIR support after joining the cohort. SCALE’s planned participant experience expressly includes AIR-supported apprentice journey mapping, assessment of the data landscape, and development of the Learning & Action Plan.
For questions about eligibility, participation expectations, or the application process, contact AIR at mwills@air.org.
