What is CTE?

Career technical education (CTE) provides students and adults with the academic and technical skills, knowledge and training necessary to succeed in future careers and develop skills they will use throughout their careers.

CTE programs have been organized into 15 industry sectors that identify the knowledge and skills students need as they follow a pathway to their goals.

CTE prepares students 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.

Why CTE?

• CTE provides students with real-world 21^st century skills that make students career and college ready.
• CTE provides students with not only career and academic skills, but soft skills that are needed for the modern workplace, such as: critical thinking; communication; team work; citizenship, integrity, and ethical leadership; research tools; creativity; and innovation.

CTE has also been proven to help students become college and career ready. Specifically, CTE does the following:

1. Improves success in college

• More likely to go to college or postsecondary program — 79 percent go within two years
• Maintain a higher GPA
• More likely to stay in college

2. Improves success in work and life

• 95 percent of CTE students who did not go to college worked for pay within two years of high school graduation.

3. Increases Career Readiness

• Experts project 47 million job openings in the decade ending in 2018. About one-third will require an associate’s degree or certificate and nearly all will require real world skills that can be mastered through CTE.