High-quality CTE Tools

To bring clarity to the burgeoning conversation around high-quality CTE and help CTE educators and administrators develop and improve the quality of their CTE programs of study, ACTE has created an evidence-based framework defining high-quality CTE across 12 elements:

Learn more about the process to develop the framework. Have questions or suggestions, or need your online self-evaluation instrument results? Contact ACTE Research Director Catherine Imperatore.

High-quality CTE Tools Library

The following online library is one of the resources that ACTE has developed to recognize and disseminate high-quality CTE practices. Follow the links below for strategies, case studies, professional development models and toolkits to help practitioners develop and support success within each element. Additionally, ACTE is incorporating the quality framework into its efforts to recognize and disseminate CTE best practices through the ACTE awards program and CareerTech VISION programming.

12 Elements of a High-quality CTE Program of Study

Standards-aligned and
Integrated Curriculum

Sequencing and Articulation

Student Assessment

Prepared and Effective
Program Staff

Engaging Instruction

Access and Equity

Facilities, Equipment, Technology and Materials

Business and Community Partnerships

Student Career
Development

Career and Technical
Student Organizations

Work-based Learning

Data and Program Improvement

High-quality CTE Publications

High-quality CTE Micro Webinars

  • NEW! High-Quality CTE Programs of Study — Data and Program Improvement
    This webinar discusses the importance of data collection and its use to support student success; investigates ways to provide valid and reliable aggregate data on all students in a program of study; and introduces a formalized data collection model for program improvement and gap closure. Led by Christina Kerns, Curriculum & Instruction Supervisor at Penta Career Center in Perrysburg, Ohio. Watch online seminar.
  • High-Quality CTE Programs of Study — Facilities, Equipment, Technology, & Materials in CTE
    Grand Island Public Schools changed the landscape for CTE in Nebraska by opening the Career Pathways Institute. In this webinar, you will hear how collaboration with industry-led them to a renovated facility, all new industry-grade equipment and a revamped curriculum-ensuring career and college readiness for all students. Watch online seminar.
  • High-Quality CTE Programs of Study — Standards-aligned and Integrated Curriculum
    Join Theresa Cortez and Paula Boughton, as they focus on Standards-aligned and Integrated Curriculum. Specifically, they will discuss how Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES CTE literacy rubrics and tasks align to New York State standards, employability skills and CTE content.​ Watch online seminar.
  • High-Quality CTE Programs of Study — Student Assessment
    Join Candice Mott, CTE performance accountability coordinator from DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education, as she discusses student assessment. Watch online seminar.
  • High-Quality CTE Programs of Study — Sequencing and Articulation
    The Lockesburg Industrial Maintenance Institute in Southwest Arkansas provides an innovative approach to CTE. This webinar highlights ways in which a community of industrial and educational professionals aligned their knowledge and skill with academic standards and existing resources to create a seamless progression of learning that leads to high paying jobs right out of high school. Watch online seminar.
  • High-Quality CTE Programs of Study — Prepared and Effective Program Staff Webinar
    Join Tyra Pilgram, CTE director from Rutherford County Schools in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, as she discusses how to have a high-quality CTE program, regardless of the size of the school district. Watch online seminar.
  • High-Quality CTE Programs of Study — Engaging Instruction
    Join Carlie Harris and Jeffrey Crapper, health science CTE instructors from Beaverton, Oregon, as they share creative methods they have used in order to supplement their instruction, helping make enhanced real-life connections for students. Watch online seminar.
  • High Quality CTE Programs of Study — Business and Community Partnerships
    Join Donna Gilley, director of career and technical education in Nashville, Tennessee, as she discusses business and community partnership structures, how to ensure CTE programs align with the workforce and different ways businesses and communities can partner with CTE programs. Watch online seminar.
  • High-Quality CTE Programs of Study — Career and Technical Student Organizations
    Join Deonna Anderson, an engineering teacher at Franklin Technology Center in Joplin, Missouri, as she discusses the value of career and technical student organizations (CTSOs) in every CTE program. Watch online seminar.
  • High-Quality CTE Programs of Study — Student Career Development
    Career development for all students must connect student personal goals to learning in all courses and experiences outside the classroom. Join Robin Kroyer-Kubicek, Career Pathways Education Consultant in Wisconsin, as she discusses student career development. Watch online seminar. Generously sponsored by Xello.