How Career and Technical Education Can Help Students Be College and Career Ready: A Primer

“High-quality CTE addresses the goals of college and career readiness and provides learning options that are appealing for students who might otherwise be at risk of leaving high school. High-quality CTE programs and pathways ensure that coursework is simultaneously aligned to rigorous academic standards and postsecondary expectations and informed by and built to address the skills needed in specific career pathways. CTE pathways and programs use applied, contextual learning to help students see the relevance of what they are learning and its connection to career opportunities and life goals. These pathways and programs also can provide innovative options for supporting students with different learning styles. The evolution of CTE is making it a more popular and viable option for students of all abilities” (p.2). (Abstractor: Author)

“Though CTE still faces many challenges, it also is an integral strategy for preparing students for postsecondary success. As CTE continues to evolve into an academically rigorous pathway that offers students an opportunity to learn in context, it has become a viable approach to ensure that students are ready for both careers and college. In an economy that requires well-trained and highly skilled professionals, it is a proven method for endowing young people with the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful members of the workforce. If educators and policymakers are to make good on the national commitment to graduate more students from high school prepared to face postsecondary challenges, schools must continue to improve CTE, ensuring that students have access to high-quality pathways to success. States can help schools and districts implement successful CTE programs by: • Sharing research and data on the value of CTE as a college- and career-readiness pathway. • Providing alternative certification options for well-qualified industry experts to become CTE instructors. • Providing high-quality professional development to aspiring and current CTE teachers. • Aligning rigorous content standards with high-quality Career Clusters standards. • Soliciting feedback from workforce stakeholders on statewide college- and career- readiness expectations. • Encouraging districts to provide flexibility for collaborative learning communities of CTE and general education teachers. • Fostering relationships between schools and districts and institutions of higher education. • For more information on CTE, please see the additional resources provided below” (p.12). (Abstractor: Author).

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2013
• Author(s): Brand, Betsy; Valent, Andrew; Browning, Andrea
• Organizational Author(s): American Institutes for Research
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Melissa Mack
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies