Middle School Enterprises
Empowering students to design, lead, and succeed
The Middle School School-Based Enterprise Project is a year-long initiative that supports educators in helping students with disabilities design and launch student-led enterprises. Through monthly professional learning sessions, regional teams across the commonwealth collaborate to build workplace readiness skills and career development opportunities. Start-up funding is provided to support each business launch.
From classroom to career: leveraging school-based enterprises for career development
School-based enterprises are like real workplaces, giving students a hands-on approach to practice and develop important work skills and behaviors that are crucial for a successful career. Students run the business and learn skills like professionalism, customer service, teamwork, and leadership. By carefully planning, schools can create high-quality, school-based enterprises that empower students, provide relevant work experiences, and enhance their readiness for the future.
Explore school-based enterprises resources
School-Based Enterprises
This Fast Fact describes the benefits of and tips for starting a school-based enterprise.
View Fast FactStudent-Led Strategies to Design Middle School Enterprises
This Fast Fact summarizes several strategies to design middle-school based enterprises that ensure students are at the center of every stage of the design process.
View Fast FactSchool-Based Enterprises: Steps for Successful Implementation
Refer to this Fast Fact to learn steps for implementing a successful enterprise.
View Fast FactTeacher reflections
"Professionally, it was very valuable to be able to work alongside these students and put practice into implementation."
"Thank you for the opportunity, this was such a meaningful project for my class to be a part of. We can't wait to see how much our business will grow."
"The project encouraged greater collaboration, problem-solving, and communication among students, while also allowing me to take on a more coaching and mentoring role."
Student success stories
"One of the participants in the project was in charge of creating all of the fliers. During this assignment, I noticed a confidence he had never shown before."
"One specific student became really self-aware about her lack of communication skills. This student was able to further develop this skill through the use of scaffolding such as scripts to help learn how to begin conversations with adults."
"One student loved to deliver coffee. He was able to make the coffee and independently push the cart and deliver. He was able to start doing it without his communication device."
"Many students demonstrated significant growth in social independence this period, particularly when interacting with unfamiliar school staff."
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