1 Introduction: What Is Career and Technical Education in the United States?

Career and technical education (CTE) is the updated terminology used for what used to be called “vocational education” in the United States. “Vocational education” was used to define traditional training programs in agriculture, homemaking, and trade and industrial education for over 100 years. Today, CTE training prepares students for career success in 16 different career clusters that lead to 79 different career pathways and hundreds of different careers requiring varying levels of education (Advance CTE, 2020). The United States uses the term “career and technical education” and no longer uses the term “vocational education.” In fact, in 2006 the Congress replaced “vocational” with “CTE” in the major federal law impacting secondary and postsecondary CTE programs.

The National Center for Education Statistics defines CTE as courses at the high school level and programs at the postsecondary sub-baccalaureate level that focus on the skills and knowledge required for specific jobs or fields of work (BLS, 2020). The career clusters included in this definition are as follows: Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources; Architecture and Construction; Arts, A/V Technology, and Communications; Business Management and Administration; Education and Training; Finance; Government and Public Administration; Health Science; Hospitality and Tourism; Human Services; Information Technology; Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security; Manufacturing; Marketing; Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics; and Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics (Advance CTE, 2020).

The federal legislation for CTE in the United States is called Perkins V (Public Law 115–224). The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the twenty-first Century Act (Perkins V) was signed into law by President Trump on July 31, 2018 (Public Law 115–224) and reauthorized the 2006 Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins IV). Perkins V maintains a focus on CTE program improvement, flexibility, data, and accountability and provides new opportunities to improve CTE and enables more flexibility for states to meet the unique needs of learners, educators, and employers (Congressional Research Service, 2018).

1.1 Secondary CTE Delivery

CTE at the secondary level is delivered in the United States through various state and local settings including comprehensive high schools, magnet or theme schools, area CTE centers, “schools within a school” often called career academies, early college high schools, and other unique models.

1.2 Postsecondary CTE Delivery

CTE at the postsecondary level is delivered through community or technical colleges or area CTE centers, depending on the state model. At the postsecondary level, the Higher Education Act provides funding that supports CTE students through financial aid, and some other federal programs, including the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, provide funding which benefits CTE programs and students as well (ACTE, 2019).

2 How Are Career and Technical Education Programs in the United States Funded?

According to the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE), funding for CTE programs largely comes from state and local sources with additional federal funds legislated and allocated annually to secondary and postsecondary programs in all 50 states.

Because of added costs of CTE (for supplies, equipment, smaller class sizes, etc.), it is estimated that CTE costs may be between 20 and 40 percent higher than those for general academic instruction (ECS, 2019). To meet the higher cost of offering CTE, state’s appropriate considerable funds in addition to federal Perkins funds. There are a variety of strategies commonly used for funding secondary CTE, and the strategies vary depending on the state funding system. However, according to the Education Commission of the States (Keily, 2020), the four general ways states distribute funds to districts for CTE are as follows:

  • Student-based formulas.

    • Under student-based funding formulas, the amount of state funding a school district receives is based on the number of students enrolled in CTE. At least 19 states use student-based formulas to distribute CTE funds.

  • Unit-based formulas.

    • Unit-based formulas distribute funds based on factors such as the number of instructors or administrators employed by a local education agency or the equipment used to deliver instruction. At least seven states use unit-based funding to distribute funds.

  • Cost-based formulas.

    • States may approach funding for career and technical education programs based on the cost of the programs. In other words, districts receive reimbursement from the state for the costs incurred to provide CTE programs. There are eight states that use a cost-based mechanism to distribute funds for career and technical education programs.

  • Funding for CTE centers.

    • At least nine states fund CTE centers that exist separately from high schools. Districts use funds from the state aid allocations to support these CTE centers where secondary students can attend to complete CTE coursework.

3 How Are CTE Programs Evaluated in the United States?

3.1 CTE Oversight

At the federal level, programs that are related to adult education and literacy, career and technical education, and community colleges are administered and coordinated through the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE). According to a 2019 report by the US Department of Education, almost all public school districts in the United States offer CTE programs of some kind to high school students, about three-quarters of which can earn student dual credit in postsecondary programs (U.S. Department of Education, 2019).

Under the Perkins Act, states are required to use the funds to help CTE students acquire technical skills and earn an industry-recognized credential, a certificate, or a postsecondary degree. The framework for accountability under the Perkins Act requires state and local recipients of Perkins funds to strive for target levels of performance in a series of core indicators of performance. The actual performance levels for each core indicator are reported by the states and disaggregated by several special populations and subgroups. If a state fails to meet 90% of any of its projected target performance levels, it must implement a program improvement plan for each of the core indicators of performance for which the target performance levels were not met (Gravovskiy, 2018).

3.2 CTE Core Indicators of Performance at Secondary Level

Core indicators of performance at the secondary education level (Section 113(b)(2)(A)), of Perkins V (PCRN, 2020), include:

  • CTE concentrator proficiency as measured by state academic performance standards on the mathematics, language arts, and science assessments, as determined by the state in accordance with Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

  • The percentage of CTE concentrators who graduate from high school.

  • CTE concentrator placement in postsecondary education or advanced training, national service programs, military service, or employment.

  • CTE concentrator participation in CTE programs that lead to nontraditional fields.

  • At least one of the following:

    • The percentage of CTE concentrators graduating from high school having attained recognized postsecondary credentials.

    • The percentage of CTE concentrators graduating from high school having attained postsecondary credits through dual and concurrent enrollment or another credit transfer agreement.

    • The percentage of CTE concentrators graduating from high school having participated in work-based learning.

3.3 CTE Core Indicators of Performance at Postsecondary Level

The core indicators of performance at the postsecondary education level for Perkins V (PCRN, 2020) are:

  • CTE concentrator placement in education or training activities, advanced training, military service, national service activities, or employment.

  • The percentage of CTE concentrators who receive a recognized postsecondary credential during participation in a program or within 1 year of program completion.

  • The percentage of CTE concentrators in CTE programs that lead to nontraditional fields (Section 113(b)(2)(B)).

4 What Are the Policies Related to Students Earning Career Credentials?

States have taken a range of policy approaches to provide opportunities for students to earn industry credentials. The Education Commission of the States’ 50-state comparison on secondary CTE researched state policies permitting secondary students to receive career credentials through CTE courses and found that at least 27 states and the District of Columbia have policies in place allowing students to attain credentials. Examining these states’ statutes and regulations revealed at least four state policy approaches (Keily & Pechota, 2020) to credential attainment through CTE programs, including:

  • Incentives and funding to support district and school programs.

    • In some states incentive funds are provided by the state to encourage districts and schools to develop and support CTE and work-based learning programs that lead to state-approved, industry-recognized credentials.

  • Graduation requirements and areas of study in college career and readiness pathways.

    • Some states include CTE courses that lead to industry-recognized credentials and serve as indicators of college and career readiness as part of their high school graduation requirement.

  • Performance assessments to measure credential progression.

    • States also use academic performance assessment to measure a high school student’s progression in career credentials.

  • Dual credit at community and technical colleges.

    • Some states do not provide opportunities for students to earn career credentials through secondary education but do provide a pathway to earn credit that may be applied to a postsecondary and career credential.

5 What Are the Requirements to Become a CTE Teacher in the United States?

5.1 Certification and Licensure Requirements for Secondary CTE Teachers

The Education Commission of the States performed a 50-state comparison of teacher certification requirements for secondary CTE teachers in the United States and determined that states require a range of qualifications for teachers seeking CTE certification or licensure. In some states, requirements differ by specific CTE subject area or by existing educational or work experience. In addition to meeting a state’s general requirements for becoming a teacher, the comparison identifies five types of requirement areas (Keily & Perez, 2020) for CTE teacher certification or licensure:

  • Education.

    • This may include a high school diploma or equivalent, a postsecondary degree, or a completion of postsecondary level CTE coursework.

  • Work Experience.

    • This may include completion of a specified number of hours or years of work or an apprenticeship experience in the occupational area.

  • Certification.

    • This may include possession of an industry-recognized license or certification.

  • Assessments.

    • This may include the successful completion of testing in CTE subject matter, content area expertise, or another relevant knowledge.

  • Teacher or CTE Training.

    • This may include completion of professional development or training required for teachers generally, professional development or training in the CTE field or in a specific occupational area, mentorship experience, or other pedagogical training.

5.2 Certification Requirements for Community College CTE Professors and Instructors

According to an article from Study.Com (2019), community college teachers are professors and instructors who work at the postsecondary level, teaching in 2-year college settings. Unlike professors, who work in 4-year colleges and universities, the focus for these professionals is more often on teaching, with less emphasis on research and publication. Most community colleges require teachers to have a master’s degree or at least graduate study in the subject to be taught. Certification as a community college teacher is not required by state law, but it is helpful for those who do not have teaching experience.

6 What Is the Importance of Industry Credentials for CTE Students?

US employers are struggling to find qualified applicants across a range of career sectors. According to Burning Glass Technologies (2018), 12 career areas – including healthcare, computers, and mathematics – report that the demand for workers exceeded available supply by a total of 4.4 million job openings in 2016. This gap undermines the innovation and competitiveness in many of our leading industries and threatens our economy. This gap is estimated to only worsen as jobs increasingly require candidates to display skills from multiple traditional jobs.

Industry-recognized credentials, issued by a third party, help address this skills gap by documenting a student’s career readiness using a standardized validation of the knowledge and skills required for success in a given occupation or industry. The industry credential can include educational certificates, degrees, certifications, and government-issued licenses (ExcelinEd and Burning Glass Technologies, 2019). In fact, full-time employees with an industry credential earn more than their counterparts without one, and in some cases, the salaries of non-degree credential holders were found to be similar to workers with college degrees (National Skills Coalition, 2018).

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017), certifications and licenses are credentials that demonstrate a level of skill or knowledge needed to perform a specific type of job. Certifications are usually issued by a nongovernmental body that is often affiliated with a specific industry or association, while licenses are awarded by a government agency and convey a legal authority to work in an occupation or complete a specific task. People may earn more than one certification or license; people with a license may also have a certification. Similarly, employers may require certifications and/or licenses for employees to perform certain jobs, which varies by industry and occupation.

6.1 Credential Engine and Credential Finder

A new organization called Credential Engine (2020) provides a suite of web-based services that creates, for the first time, a centralized Credential Registry to house up-to-date information about all credentials, a common description language to enable credential comparability, and a platform to support customized applications to search and retrieve information about credentials. Their database, called Credential Finder (2020), allows individuals to view various credentials represent in terms of competencies, connections with other credentials, assessment rigor, and third-party approval status. The goals are transparency and clarity as well as helping align credentials with the needs of students, job seekers, workers, and employers.

7 What Are the Teaching Competencies Required by CTE Teachers and Faculty?

Two studies provide a list of validated CTE teacher competencies that document the standards required of CTE teachers. The first is a set of standards developed by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (National Board) in Career and Technical Education (National Board, 2014). The second is an updated set of Performance-Based Teacher Education (PBTE) standards originally published by the National Center for Research in Vocational Education at the Ohio State University (Norton, Harrington, & Gill, 1976/2012).

7.1 National Board of Professional Teaching Standards

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (National Board) is a not-for-profit professional organization, created and governed by practicing teachers and their advocates. The founding mission of the National Board is to advance the quality of teaching and learning by:

  • Maintaining high and rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do.

  • Providing a national voluntary system certifying teachers who meet these standards.

  • Advocating related educational reforms to integrate National Board Certification into American education and to capitalize on the expertise of National Board Certified Teachers.

In 1997, the National Board published their first edition of the CTE teacher standards. As a result of the significant changes in the CTE and educational fields, in 2014 the National Board updated their standards for CTE teachers to reflect what CTE teachers should know and be able to do.

Career and Technical Education Standards, Second Edition (2014), describes the standards that are meant to reflect the current professional consensus about the essential aspects of accomplished practice. The deliberations of the Career and Technical Education Standards Committee were informed by various national and state initiatives on student and teacher standards that have been operating concurrently with the development of National Board Standards.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has organized the standards for accomplished teachers of career and technical education (CTE) into the following ten standards. These standards have been ordered to facilitate understanding, not to assign priorities. They each describe an important facet of accomplished teaching and often occur concurrently because of the seamless quality of accomplished practice. The following standards serve as the basis for National Board Certification in CTE:

  • Standard I: Knowledge of Students.

    • Accomplished teachers have a rich, holistic understanding of who their students are as learners and individuals. They value their students’ various learning styles and stages of development, and they create learning environments that differentiate instruction to meet the diverse needs of all students.

  • Standard II: Responding to Diversity.

    • Accomplished teachers create learning environments characterized by fairness, equity, and respect for diversity. They use inclusive teaching practices and advocate that all students receive a quality career and technical education.

  • Standard III: Knowledge of Content.

    • Accomplished teachers utilize their technical and professional knowledge as well as their interdisciplinary and pedagogical skills to develop curricular objectives, design instruction, promote student learning, and facilitate student success within industry.

  • Standard IV: Learning Environments and Instructional Practices.

    • Accomplished teachers design contextualized learning environments that foster critical thinking, creativity, leadership, teamwork, and communication skills while preparing students for postsecondary education and careers.

  • Standard V: Assessment.

    • Accomplished teachers design and implement a variety of valid and reliable assessments that allow students to provide an authentic demonstration of their knowledge and skills and help them establish goals to guide their technical and professional development.

  • Standard VI: Postsecondary Readiness.

    • Accomplished teachers facilitate career exploration and promote the acquisition of knowledge and skills so students can make informed career decisions that match their interests and aptitudes with the needs, expectations, and requirements of industry.

  • Standard VII: Program Design and Management.

    • Accomplished teachers design and promote quality programs aligned with industry demands. They manage materials and resources to enrich their programs and sustain meaningful educational experiences for their students.

  • Standard VIII: Partnerships and Collaborations.

    • Accomplished teachers collaborate with family, education, industry, and community partners to create challenging real-world opportunities and support networks that help students plan, develop, and achieve their career goals.

  • Standard IX: Leadership in the Profession.

    • Accomplished teachers collaborate with stakeholders within their schools and communities to improve instruction, promote student learning, and advocate for their fields of expertise in education and related industries.

  • Standard X: Reflective Practice.

    • Accomplished teachers reflect analytically throughout the instructional process, using multifaceted feedback to increase the efficacy of their teaching, strengthen its impact on student development, and model the importance of lifelong learning.

For elaboration on the context for the ten standards, along with an explanation of what teachers need to know, value, and do if they are to fulfill the standard, the entire document can be accessed at http://nbpts.org/wp-content/uploads/EAYA-CTE.pdf.

7.2 Performance-Based Teacher Education Validation Study

In 2011, Adam Manley conducted a research project (Manley & Zinser, 2012) to create a contemporary taxonomy of CTE teacher competencies by updating the Performance-Based Teacher Education (PBTE) competency profile that was developed by the Center for Vocational and Technical Education at Ohio State University (Norton, 1977). Published in 1977 (ibid) and partially updated in 1987 (Norton & Harrington, 1987), the PBTE profile is segmented into 14 categories. Within the 14 categories are 132 competencies that detail what CTE administrators consider to be important for teachers to understand and practice. After publication, these competencies became the foundation for many teacher education institutions’ curriculum. Additionally, many CTE administrators across the country used the competencies as a rationalization and guide for the improvement of their professional development offerings. This study sought to update these competencies to better reflect twenty-first century CTE in Michigan and thus answer the question: what are the PBTE categories and competencies that are important to the practices of Michigan’s CTE program?

To determine which competencies are rated the most important, the researchers calculated the coefficient of variance (CV) for each competency. This calculation factors in the competency’s mean, as well as the variation within the mean standard deviation, to determine the dispersion of each rating’s distribution. To calculate the CV, each competency’s mean was divided by each competency’s standard deviation. The resulting values provided a method for ensuring that the ranking of the competencies was not solely based on the mean, but also the variability within it. Therefore, the CV values assisted the researchers in identifying which competencies were of higher importance and had a high level of consensus.

The following is the updated list of PBTE competencies. Each category’s competencies are ranked by the CV. The 25 highest ranked competencies (CV = 6.44 and above) are italicized with their ranking in parentheses. The competencies highlighted in gray are ones that the participants failed to form a consensus as to their importance. New competencies are identified by the asterisk next to the competency number (Table 27.1).

Table 27.1 Performance-based teacher education categories and competency ratings
Full size table

8 How Do Teachers and Professors Continue to Improve their Teaching Skills?

The US Department of Education reports that 31 states are currently identifying a critical shortage of CTE educators (2019). Underprepared teachers are two to three times more likely to leave the profession compared to fully prepared teachers contributing to shortages. Fortunately, the Congress responded to this crisis when they reauthorized the Carl D. Perkins Act in 2018. With a renewed focus on teacher recruitment, retention, and professional development, Perkins V prioritizes filling the CTE teacher talent pipeline while ensuring retention by promoting professional development for teachers to remain successful.

For example, state plans must include “a description of how the eligible state agency will support the recruitment and preparation of teachers, including special education teachers, faculty, school principals, administrators, specialized instructional support personnel, and paraprofessionals to provide career and technical education instruction, leadership, and support, including professional development that provides the knowledge and skills needed to work with and improve instruction for special populations.”

A focus on expanding instructional capacity is also required at the local level, where local applications must describe how they “will improve recruitment, retention, and training of career and technical education teachers, faculty, specialized instructional support personnel, paraprofessionals, and career guidance and academic counselors, including individuals in groups underrepresented in those professions.”

Most teachers and professors consider professional development as continuing to learn and grow within their discipline, not in their “teaching” development. Unfortunately, for college faculty, regular participation in their teaching development is neither a workplace expectation nor a professional obligation (Haras, 2018). Too often professional development focuses on what is taught, not how it is taught and delivered in a workshop format. Many professional development practices focus on delivering information rather than creating experiences for learning that professionals would find relevant or useful to improving their teaching practice. This implies that knowledge about teaching and learning can be acquired through transfer and is primarily a cognitive activity (ibid).

At the secondary level, when teachers earn a state-issued teaching credential, they have typically earned a bachelor’s degree, completed a supervised teaching experience, successfully passed teacher training courses, and received a state-issued license to teach. At the postsecondary level, often a professor’s background does not require previous experience as a teacher nor the earning of a state-issued license to teach. Without adequate preparation, professors then replicate familiar techniques they had observed when they themselves were students. They may develop PowerPoint presentations and read them to students, and some may set unreasonable expectations, assign difficult problems, or fail too many students for the sake of increasing academic rigor.

8.1 Teacher/Faculty Mentors

New teachers are often provided teaching assignments without the benefit of experience while juggling the challenges associated with beginning a new career. At the secondary level, approximately 77 percent of new teachers stay in the profession for the duration of their first 5 years (Raue & Gray, 2015); however, staff attrition costs districts billions of dollars, contributes to low teacher morale, and disrupts student learning. Teachers identify the lack of administrative and instructional support as one cause of attrition. To address this, school districts across the United States have designed induction programs for new teachers. A common element of these induction programs is to assign mentors who guide new teachers’ professional learning. For more information about this, the SREB (2018) published a document with helpful information for mentoring programs – Mentoring New Teachers: A Fresh Look.

8.2 Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs)

At the postsecondary level, many colleges have created teaching and learning centers to focus on faculty/professional development, instructional development, and organizational developers (Kelley, Cruz, & Fire, 2017). CTL staff offer professional development for individual faculty while often supporting broad institutional objectives that might include such decreasing DFW rates (the number of students in a particular course who receive Ds, Fs, or Withdraw), increasing access to the university for disadvantaged groups, and encouraging the use of the university’s learning management system (Chism, Gosling, & Sorcinelli, 2010, p. 249).

8.3 Teacher/Faculty Improvement Plans

Both secondary and postsecondary CTE programs perform some type of faculty evaluations. These evaluations often address classroom performance; course organization and preparation; approachability and availability; and assessment of student learning. Improvement measures are often measured by student feedback or teacher/faculty observations, and/or peer evaluation. Self-assessment techniques are also used to provide data on various aspects of one’s teaching.

Once a faculty evaluation is complete, many schools and colleges develop an individualized faculty improvement plan to address teaching, research and original creative work, service, or some combination of these areas of work. Common elements of improvement plans could include problems that need resolving, strategies for resolving a problem (including learning resources and mentoring), estimated date for completing each strategy, and resources needed to implement strategies (Sampson, Wager, Driscoll, Carroll, & MceIrath, 2010).

8.4 Universities Offering CTE Teacher Training

All states have colleges and universities that offer Career and Technical Teacher Training programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The role of the universities has changed over the last few decades due to the change in Perkins funding for CTE teacher training and research. Additionally, some states are now allowing public schools and organizations to offer alternative teacher certifications. Since states determine their own teacher certification requirements, the degree to which universities impact CTE teacher training varies. In more traditional states that continue to rely on universities for CTE teacher training, there are typically multiple certification levels that may or may not include the need to complete a bachelor’s degree. These states often have multiple universities offering CTE teacher certification options and degrees. In states allowing alternative certification routes beyond the universities, only a few universities, sometimes only one, offer CTE teacher certification routes.

8.5 Professional Organizations

Almost all of the professional organizations related to CTE offer resources for teachers in their content area. These resources often include informational publications, journals, research, seminars and conferences, etc.

There are also several exciting teacher training options available:

  • The What Works Clearinghouse (WWW, 2020) is an investment of the Institute of Education Sciences (IE) within the US Department of Education that was established in 2002. The WWC reviews the existing research on different programs, products, practices, and policies in education. The goal of WWC is to provide educators with the information they need to make evidence-based decisions. They focus on the results from high-quality research to answer the question “What works in education?”

  • The ACTE Online Learning Network offers CTE Learn (CTELearn, 2020) which offers continuing education credit courses as well as a wide variety of free resources for both secondary and postsecondary CTE professionals. CTE Learn offers over 150 self-paced courses for CTE professionals including instructional planning, delivery, and assessment courses. Each course provides 4 h of continuing education credits, and participants can enroll in any course at any time to meet their individual learning needs.

  • The Teaching to Lead (T2L, 2020) teacher preparation program helps new career and technical education teachers become great teachers. Developed by the Southern Regional Education Board and the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education, T2L offers intensive, research-based professional development and coaching services that build new and early-career CTE teachers’ capacity to plan instruction, engage students, manage classrooms, create standards-driven assessments, and gain confidence in their craft.

8.6 Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs)

In the United States, there are over two million students enrolled in CTSOs who are integrated into CTE programs and courses across the country. CTSOs extend teaching and learning through innovative programs and essential partnerships with local, state, and national business and industries. Many of the student organizations provide digital curriculum with ready-to-use resources, classroom management tools, and automatic student tracking for the teachers and faculty who serve as advisors for these organizations.

These are the most common CTSOs in the United States:

  • Business Professionals of America (BPA).

  • Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA).

  • Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda (FBLA-PBL).

  • Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA).

  • National FFA Organization (former Future Farmers of America (FFA)).

  • Health Occupations Student Organization (HOSA – Future Health Professionals).

  • SkillsUSA.

  • Technology Student Association (TSA) including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

  • Educators Rising.

8.7 Teaching Online

Learning House, an organization that helps colleges manage their online education programs, and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities found that nearly 40 percent of courses offered by the colleges/universities are in either an online (25 percent) or blended (13 percent) format (Magda, 2019). Many institutions offer incentives to faculty for developing online courses; another 14 percent said they previously provided incentives but no longer did, while 21 percent said they offer no incentive. Major findings of the study included:

  • Training and development of online faculty isn’t consistently mandatory.

    • Many faculty members in the United States have the choice to opt out of online training that provides best practices for online instruction. The most common training is instruction in navigating the online learning technology, whereas only 37 percent of responding institutions require faculty-led pedagogical training. The report overall concluded that required training seems modest given increased enrollment in online courses.

  • Evaluation of online faculty isn’t universal.

    • Over 90 percent of the universities request that online students evaluate their online instructors; only 18 percent of supervisors evaluate online faculty that often (70 percent of supervisors do annual evaluations). Peer evaluations are even less common, as only 60 percent of institutions collect this feedback. The report concluded that a combination of these evaluations could help online faculty improve their techniques and commit to best practices.

  • Faculty engagement with online learners isn’t often defined by policy.

    • The study reported that written policies for faculty-to-student interactions are rare. For example, 74 percent of the institutions surveyed don’t have minimum frequency requirements regarding how often faculty members post topics on message boards, and 71 percent don’t stipulate how quickly student assignments should be graded. The report concludes that a lack of documented policies may tie to faculty freedom and the structure of their contracts; however, this may limit valuable interactions between online faculty and students.

In the career and technical education arena, online learning has presented many new challenges. One of the major issues facing CTE instructors teaching online is the delivery of hands-on experience within their content area as it becomes difficult or impossible for instructors to demonstrate skills up close and students are not able to access campus facilities, equipment, and technology. To help with this issue, the California Department of Education’s Career and College Transition Division partnered with ACTE, CTEOnline.org, and the San Diego County Office of Education’s Office of College and Career Readiness to produce seven weekly publications highlighting sector-specific CTE lesson plans, webinars, and resources for the remainder of the school year (ACTE, 2020).

Most community colleges offer a combination of formal and informal training for online instructors. Instructors can view on-demand tutorials and participate in live webcasts as well as exchange ideas and information on forums. Other institutions provide opportunities for instructor gatherings designed to discuss challenges and share best practices, and most institutions do offer instructional designer assistance on an individual basis and for technical assistance.

9 How Do CTE Programs in the United States Partner with Business and Industry?

Employer partnerships have been integrated into CTE programs since their inception. Over the years, national, state, and local CTE leaders have integrated more systemic and diverse partnerships with business and the community. In addition, these new partnerships have been supported by federal policy, including various iterations of Perkins legislation and other policies. For instance, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 directed that all students have access to work-based learning tied to school-based learning, supported by business-education partnerships (Gordon, 2014; School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994, 1995). The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins IV) introduced the concept of programs of study and directed the inclusion of a wide variety of participants in the “development, implementation, and evaluation” of CTE programs (Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006).

The new Perkins V has continued to emphasize more systemic partnerships, particularly with business and industry, incorporating labor market alignment into the definition of programs of study and requiring increased stakeholder engagement at the local level. Enhanced coordination with the workforce system, through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, and the recognition of the value of career readiness within the Every Student Succeeds Act have also fostered cross-agency cooperation on the federal, state, and local levels.

Also, states have increasingly encouraged, incentivized, and required partnerships with industry, education stakeholders, and the community. ACTE and Advance CTE have been tracking and categorizing state CTE policies for the past several years, and the policy category “industry partnerships and work-based learning” is frequently high on the list of topics addressed in state legislation, state board of education actions, and executive orders (Advance CTE and ACTE, 2018). State sources of funding for CTE are often based on the ability to engage stakeholders. These high-level policies and the perceptions of the local schools to value partnerships have resulted in business and community partnerships assuming a key role in the development and implementation of quality CTE programs of study.

Sustained engagement with a variety of partners is highlighted in Perkins V, which requires initial and ongoing consultation among the following stakeholders for the comprehensive local needs assessment and local application (Hyslop, 2018). This requirement allows CTE programs of study to enhance their partnerships with stakeholders with whom they already engage and forge relationships with new partners:

  • CTE program representatives at the secondary and postsecondary levels, including teachers, faculty, administrators, career guidance and advisement professionals, and other staff.

  • State or local workforce development board representatives.

  • Representatives from a range of local businesses and industries.

  • Parents and students.

  • Representatives of special populations.

  • Representatives from agencies serving at-risk, homeless, and out-of-school youth.

  • Representatives from Indian tribes or tribal organizations, where applicable.

Partners who are part of a broader career pathway system may work with CTE programs in many ways including:

  • Industry-validated curriculum.

  • Industry credentials recommended by partners.

  • Reviews of facilities, equipment, technology, and materials.

  • Equipment donated by partners.

  • Work-based learning provided by partners.

  • Teacher externships offered by partners.

  • Mentorship and judging for CTSO competitive events.

  • CTSO service-learning activities organized with partners.

  • Metrics on time and money contributed by partners.

  • Op-eds and presentations by partners about the programs of study.

  • Participation in career fairs.

  • Participation in community events that educate the public about the program of study.

  • Participation in surveys, interviews, and focus groups for program evaluation.

Partnerships with employers, industry groups, economic and workforce agencies, community organizations, and others are fundamental to CTE program quality and student success. Strong business and community partnerships require active, intentional outreach; a diverse range of stakeholders who represent different local perspectives and needs; a formal structure, with processes that help each participant understand their roles and responsibilities; and a range of activities and opportunities for partners to contribute to the program of study and realize the success of their efforts (ACTE, 2019).

10 CTE’s New Image

Business leaders and policy makers have focused on career and technical education (CTE) as an important part of college and career readiness. This new change from the past, when any coursework focused on workforce preparation (as opposed to college preparation), was usually relegated to the students deemed not ready or not smart enough for college. The previous image of CTE has thankfully transformed CTE, and now most people – including educators and parents – seem to agree that there is value in emphasizing both academic knowledge and career preparation in schools. The 2017 PDK poll made it clear: 82% of Americans expressed support for classes that teach job or career skills, even if that means students might spend less time in academically focused classes (Ferguson, 2018). This is a new time and new image for CTE. It is an exciting time to be involved in CTE training in the United States.

As society progresses further into the twenty-first century, CTE will continue to play an integral role in the preparation of both youth and adults. CTE programs in the United States will be constantly challenged by the ever-changing technological landscape of the modern work world. However, with continued support, CTE seems to be positioned to continue the 100-year commitment to preparing the workers of today and tomorrow.