Career & Technical Education

Read more about classes and programs that are designed to prepare students for work

Explainer

What Is Career and Technical Education, Anyway?
Find answers to eight commonly asked questions about career and technical education here.
Federal Opinion Four Ways to Bring Community Support to Your School
Guest blogger Christine Powell shares four strategies she learned in Singapore for community involvement in schools.
Christine Powell, May 30, 2019
5 min read
College & Workforce Readiness Now There's a National 'Signing Day' for Career Programs
Starting today, students who choose careers in the skilled trades have a nationwide event designed to celebrate their decisions.
Catherine Gewertz, May 8, 2019
2 min read
College & Workforce Readiness Why the High-Achievers Have Moved to 'Shop' Class
Higher-achieving students are flocking to career-technical-education classes, a new study says, and their participation could help erase the stigma that has long dogged old-school “voc ed” classes.
Catherine Gewertz, May 1, 2019
7 min read
College & Workforce Readiness Opinion Should Teachers and Parents Take the CTE Boom Seriously?
Since 1998, the number of U.S. media mentions for career and technical education has increased more than a hundredfold.
Rick Hess, April 8, 2019
2 min read
College & Workforce Readiness Is There a Mismatch Between Career-Tech Ed and Good Jobs?
Though celebrated as a way to funnel young people into good jobs without the debt of a bachelor's degree, career technical education is not matching students with jobs that pay well and are most plentiful, a report says.
Catherine Gewertz, April 3, 2019
4 min read
BRIC ARCHIVE
Illustration by James Steinberg
Reading & Literacy How to Make Reading Relevant: Bring Job-Specific Texts Into Class
If students will need to synthesize and analyze complex information on the job, why not start them early?
Stephen Sawchuk, September 25, 2018
7 min read
College & Workforce Readiness Opinion Four Hard Questions That Will Dictate the Future of Career and Technical Education
Tony Bennett, the former state superintendent of Indiana and Florida, shares four practical questions that help gauge whether today's embrace of CTE is serious.
Rick Hess, September 13, 2018
4 min read
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos testifies before a U.S. Senate subcommittee in June.
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos testifies before a U.S. Senate subcommittee in June.
Carolyn Kaster/AP-File
Federal DeVos' Trip to South America Focuses on Workforce Prep
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her counterparts from around the globe met in Argentina for the first-ever G-20 meeting of education and employment ministers.
Alyson Klein, September 7, 2018
3 min read
College & Workforce Readiness Opinion The Tangled Web: The High School Diploma, College and Career Readiness Standards and Career and Technical Education
Marc Tucker looks at how low bars for college and career readiness standards, career and technical education and high school graduation requirements are leaving U.S. students two and three years behind their peers in top-performing systems.
Marc Tucker, September 6, 2018
10 min read
College & Workforce Readiness How Lemonade Stands Are Teaching Kids 21st-Century Business Skills (Video)
Concerned that schools don't notice or nurture business skills, nonprofits are using the humble lemonade stand to foster entrepreneurship.
Mike Bock, August 3, 2018
1 min read
Hours after signing a reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act on July 31, President Donald Trump arrives for a rally in Tampa, Fla.
Hours after signing a reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act on July 31, President Donald Trump arrives for a rally in Tampa, Fla.
Evan Vucci/AP
College & Workforce Readiness Donald Trump Signs First Major Education Policy Bill of His Presidency
The Trump administration made updating the federal career and technical education law a priority, as its other plans have stalled.
Andrew Ujifusa, July 31, 2018
3 min read
Keaton Turner, a junior at Warren County High School, welds a during an advanced manufacturing class in McMinnville.
Keaton Turner, a junior at Warren County High School, welds a during an advanced manufacturing class in McMinnville.
Joe Buglewicz for Education Week
Federal Congress Sends Career-Technical Education Bill to President Trump
Momentum behind reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act has grown in recent weeks, after a lobbying effort by the Trump administration on Capitol Hill.
Andrew Ujifusa, July 25, 2018
3 min read
College & Workforce Readiness Opinion An Open Letter to Secretary DeVos: How to Create a World-Class Career and Technical Education System
In an open letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Marc Tucker outlines what it would take for the United States to build a career and technical education system on par with those of top-performing countries.
Marc Tucker, July 12, 2018
11 min read
High school seniors Alex Yates, left, and David Romero work on an assembly line machine in a mechatronics class in the career and technical education program at Warren County High School in McMinnville, Tenn., in 2017. The technology skills they learn in the class help prepare them for jobs in the area’s booming automotive industry.
High school seniors Alex Yates, left, and David Romero work on an assembly line machine in a mechatronics class in the career and technical education program at Warren County High School in McMinnville, Tenn., in 2017. The technology skills they learn in the class help prepare them for jobs in the area’s booming automotive industry.
Joe Buglewicz for Education Week-File
Federal Bipartisan Career and Technical Education Bill Approved by Key Senate Committee
The Senate bill to reauthorize the federal law for career and technical education would give states more power over setting goals. The Trump administration backs the legislation.
Andrew Ujifusa, June 26, 2018
3 min read