Partnerships

A proven element in the success of CTE programs is an active and well integrated connection to the world of work.  Properly managed partnerships between educators and industry can ensure the continued relevancy of CTE programs, assist in the recruitment and development of a well-motivated and prepared corps of CTE teachers and provide work-based learning opportunities and resources for students and their schools. 

Strong and sustained industry partnerships will connect students to adult role models and signal to students the eventual return on the investment of time and effort in their high school studies. Work-based learning experiences will extend learning beyond the classroom, allowing students to understand the demands of the workplace and see how their academic course work relates to their future goals and opportunities.

• Partnership Opportunities
  By expanding learning opportunities within authentic workplace settings, next generation CTE programs are able to better respond to shifts in demand for specific work, thereby ensuring that graduates are prepared not just for the work they are learning to do, but prepared to learn again and again for the work in their career areas that have not yet been created. Moving more learning into the workplace also has the complementary benefit of sharply reducing the need for maintaining and updating expensive equipment and materials in the schools.
• Information and Resources on Work-Based Learning
  Quality work-based learning makes school-based learning more relevant by providing an opportunity to apply knowledge and skills learned in the classroom to structured work outside the classroom, and thus helps students to see the connection between learning, future employment and post-secondary education. 
• CTE Advisory Committee
  The Advisory Council for Career and Technical Education is charged by state law with the task of advising the Department of Education on the development, administration and evaluation of policies and programs relating to Career and Technical Education. It is composed of volunteers from industry, labor, colleges, as well as the non-profit sector and defines its mission as assisting the Department of Education to provide all students with relevant and meaningful programs where they will acquire high-level academic and workforce preparation skills.