Career Technical Education (CTE)

Career Technical Education (CTE) provides students of all ages with the academic and technical skills, knowledge and training necessary to succeed in future careers and to become lifelong learners. In total, about 12.5 million high school and college students are enrolled in CTE across the nation. CTE prepares these learners for the world of work by introducing them to workplace competencies, and makes academic content accessible to students by providing it in a hands-on context. In fact, the high school graduation rate for CTE concentrators is about 90% – 15 percentage points higher than the national average.

Foundational to CTE are rigorous program standards. This section will help define what high-quality CTE looks like in the 21st century, with extended resources on the Common Career Technical Core and end of program of study standards, built on the National Career Clusters Framework®.

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