Policy, Advocacy and Research Publications

ACTE has produced a number of resources for CTE professionals to use in local, state and federal advocacy efforts and public outreach for CTE, as well as publications that synthesize state and national policies and relevant CTE research.

• Fact Sheets: Quick facts and research points about CTE.
• State Fact Sheets: These printable one-page documents provide basics on your state’s CTE program, including delivery, funding, enrollment, performance statistics and profiles of exemplary programs.
• Career Readiness Series: This series of publications outlines what it means to be career ready and explores how elements of the CTE system can contribute to students’ overall career readiness.
• Sector Sheets (sponsored by Pearson): Sector Sheets describe CTE’s role in growing the qualified workforce for high-growth, high-demand industries such as advanced manufacturing and healthcare.
• Issue Briefs and Issue Sheets: These publications highlight the role of CTE in a broader issue of national interest, such as urban education, STEM, literacy and secondary-postsecondary transitions. Issue Sheets are short summaries of ACTE’s Issue Briefs.

• State Policies Impacting CTE: Year in Review: This publication gives an overview and a state-by-state summary of CTE-related policies enacted each year, including a chart showing key trends across the country, co-produced with Advance CTE.
  • 2020 Year in Review (view recording from the companion webinar)
  • 2019 Year in Review 
  • 2018 Year in Review (view slides and a recording from the companion webinar)
  • 2017 Year in Review (view slides and a recording from the companion webinar)
  • 2016 Year in Review (view slides and a recording from the companion webinar)
  • 2015 Year in Review (view slides and a recording from the companion webinar)
  • 2014 Year in Review (view slides and a recording from the companion webinar)
  • 2013 Year in Review
• High-quality CTE Tools: A library of reports, guides, toolkits and other resources supporting program improvement in each of the 12 elements of ACTE’s Quality Program of Study Framework.

Additional Publications

• Career Exploration in Middle School: Setting Students on the Path to Success: Research has identified middle school as a time when students can benefit the most from career exploration. This publication from ACTE, with support from Career Cruising (now Xello), describes how career exploration is provided to middle school students and gives recommendations on implementing middle school career exploration practices.
• Connecting Industry-recognized Certification Data to Education and Workforce Outcomes: Measuring the Value Added to Skills, Employment and Wages: This report shares results from ACTE’s Certification Data Exchange Project, which sought to expand and improve data exchange between industry certification organizations and state longitudinal data systems, and discusses lessons learned and recommendations for future data-sharing and -matching efforts.
• Lessons in Collaboration: Principles in the Governance of an Industry Advisory Board: This research-to-practice brief reviews the research on IABs and on organizational development and collaboration, and provides tips on applying these lessons in your CTE program or school.
• Taking Business to School Series: Each installment in this series presents a detailed summary of a partnership between a business and an educational institution that has given students the opportunity to enter work-based learning programs and gain experience that allows them to begin well-paying, engaging careers.
• NRCCUA CTE Works! Research Report: Findings from our annual, nationwide survey of CTE students and educators, conducted in partnership with the National Research Center for College and University Admissions (NRCCUA)/myOptions^TM.
  • NEW for 2020-21! Visit our online dashboard to explore the data collected during the survey. Leave the username and password blank and click “Sign in.” Use the tabs at the top to navigate, then filter by a number of variables.
  • 2016 infographic
  • 2015 infographic
  • 2014 report
  • 2013 report