February is CTE Month!

Posted Date: 02/05/2024

February is Career and Technical Education Month and WWTC is celebrating!

Career and Technical Education (CTE) provides an important pathway to success for high school students and offers each student opportunities to personalize his or her education based on their career interests and unique learning needs. CTE refers to courses and programs designed to prepare students for careers in current or emerging professions. At the high school level, CTE provides students with opportunities to explore a career theme of interest while learning a set of technical and employability skills that integrate into or complement their academic studies. High school CTE is meant to connect with and lead to postsecondary programs of study or additional training after high school, which may include more specialized technical instruction. These pathways can culminate in postsecondary degrees or certificates, apprenticeships, or employment.

A critical workforce challenge in the United States is the skills gap, particularly among jobs that require either a high school diploma, postsecondary certificate, or associate’s degree. Jobs requiring these “middle skills” outnumber the adults in the workforce who possess them, and this gap presents a barrier to American economic competitiveness. There are 30 million jobs in the United States that do not require a bachelor’s degree that pay median earnings of $55,000 or more. CTE provides an important avenue for young adults to gain these skills beginning in high school.

CTE FACT: Eight years after their expected graduation date, students who focused on career and technical education (CTE) courses while in high school had higher median annual earnings than students who did not focus on CTE.

Source: ed.gov