There is a “significant mismatch” between the states’ current career education standards and the new Common Career Technical Core, according to a 50-state review by the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium.
The core is a set of voluntary standards for each of the 16 career-education clusters and their corresponding pathways, as well as 12 overarching practices to ensure students are career-ready.
The analysis found existing career and technical education standards are only partially aligned to the new benchmark standards in all 16 career clusters: 46 states (and three territories) have approved secondary career and technical education standards, and 13 states (and two territories) have postsecondary standards.
Only Iowa, Oregon, and Guam have career and technical education standards that fully align between both those sectors.