CTE Teacher Pipeline

In 2024, there were about 240,000 K-12 and postsecondary CTE teachers nationwide equipping students with the knowledge and skills to pursue occupations across the Career Clusters.

Compared with teachers in other subject areas, CTE teachers are more likely to have prior industry experience and enter the profession through an alternative licensure pathway (National Teacher and Principal Survey).

CTE teachers are motivated to prepare the next generation of skilled workers and give back to their community (Davis, Chen and Aviles 2024).

Despite these rewards, CTE teaching is also a challenge. Thirty-three states or territories reported CTE teacher shortages in 2025 or beyond (U.S. Department of Education). Novice CTE teachers are more likely to leave the profession than novice teachers in other subject areas (Annenberg Institute) and can often make more in industry (Brookings Institution).

CTE Educator Pipeline Toolkit: This toolkit contains various resources to help CTE practitioners raise awareness of the CTE educator shortage with their students and other CTE stakeholders. Resources include social media messages, graphics, relevant data points and promotional videos.

Staffing Outside the Box: Strategies for Addressing CTE Teacher Shortages (August 2024): This report, sponsored by eDynamic Learning, explores considerations and provide examples for addressing CTE teacher shortages in the short and medium term through such methods as bringing industry experts into the classroom, sharing faculty across subject areas and institutions, and providing virtual learning opportunities.

Career and Technical Education Leadership Series: Landscape of CTE Leaders (December 2021): This publication shares data on CTE leaders, such as numbers of administrators, preparation and responsibilities.

State and Local Strategies for Diversifying the CTE Educator Workforce and Recruiting Diverse Educators: A Database of Organizations Representing Underserved Populations (January 2024): This report, created in partnership with Advance CTE, presents common challenges to diversifying the CTE educator workforce, identifies promising practices to overcome these challenges, and provides actionable strategies and recommendations for local and state leaders. Read the full report or the executive summary and explore the companion database of organizations that CTE leaders can connect with to recruit educators from under-represented populations to teach in CTE.

Teach CTE Repository: This repository continuously highlights promising programs and practices around the CTE educator pipeline. The entries are collected from reports, articles and other resources that provide background about this critical issue and reveal promising programs and practices. We hope to share more about proven strategies as that knowledge becomes available.