Several members of our Maia team recently gathered at ACTE’s CareerTech Vision 2025 conference in Nashville, and we were able to attend breakouts and keynotes as well as network with college and career ready-focused teachers and leaders from around the country. Much of what we heard was affirmation about the work we do to support college and career readiness in schools and districts, but we also discovered a few new key insights about the landscape in terms of what people are thinking about in the world of career and technical education (CTE). The following are our reflections and takeaways from our time at the conference. We hope that they initiate thoughtful dialogue for your school teams even if you didn’t get a chance to see us in Nashville. 

The Importance of Internships

It’s clear that CTE teachers and work-based learning (WBL) coordinators are working hard to ensure that as many students as possible have an internship experience that’s connected to their career interests. Unfortunately, there’s still a challenge in the field with connecting schools to viable industry partners, which means that the “internship for all” conversation is still in its infancy. There are a number of reasons for this, including rural areas across the country that struggle to find enough industry partners for their students. 

Even in suburban and urban areas, industry partnerships are often hard to solidify. What’s happening instead of real internships, in some cases, is that students are logging “work hours” from a part-time job, but the CTE experts know well that “work experience” doesn’t necessarily propel students the way that real internships do. The takeaway is to build more partnerships and find innovative alternatives, like the use of technology, to provide micro-internships and other industry recognized projects to satisfy internship requirements. 

The Power of Student Networks

Alongside the internship focus of the conference, there were many sessions that centered on work-based learning strategies and outcomes. As states and districts continue to build their portrait of a graduate and college and career readiness indicators, WBL becomes more-and-more important nationally. That said, WBL leaders place a significant emphasis on the power of WBL to help students build their network, but they warn that this has to be intentional because it doesn’t always happen naturally, even in quality placements. 

A high priority among WBL professionals is to ensure that students are building their network, which starts with explicitly teaching students about the value of a network and how to build and leverage relationships to support their career interests and life goals. The takeaway is to build lessons in advisory periods, CTE, and other courses that set students on a path to build their network before we establish their WBL placement rather than assuming that they know how or that it will happen on its own. 

The Future of AI Integration in CTE

AI integration was a huge theme at the conference. Tons of sessions included something about the use of AI in the title. From AI specific pathways to using AI to help with lesson plans, AI is taking a position as front-and-center in the CTE space. We recalled a few AI-related sessions at the 2024 conference; that has exploded at this point. Lot’s of the AI conversations were about how teachers can use it and what students will need to know as they enter the workforce, but there was a keen reality in that the use of AI in the classroom is not going to completely take the place of on the job training.

Of course, we need to embrace AI and use it effectively in education, but finding opportunities for students to experience work–such as guest speakers, job shadowing, internships, and more–is as important as ever. The takeaway is that AI will continue to be integrated into career exploration, classroom practices, and student programming, but this won’t ultimately replace the need to truly work off campus in their fields of interest. 

The Need for Classroom Engagement 

Several session descriptions noted that they would be sharing information about the use of engaging teaching strategies in the CTE classroom. Additionally, several sessions that we attended included the theme of student engagement. Across the spectrum of comprehensive schools and CTE-only facilities, educators are working to harness deep engagement through classroom instruction. Because CTE teachers are often second-career instructors, it’s important that they get training in specific ways to engage learners. 

Embedded within the sessions that focused on classroom instructional practices was a clear emphasis on the inclusion of special needs students in CTE coursework and how teachers can support neurodiverse populations. Accessibility is obviously top-of-mind as we create programs and schedule students, and it starts with our teachers’ ability to engage all learners. The takeaway is that CTE teachers–all teachers for that matter–need continuous development and support in highly engaging practices for teaching and learning, including and specifically for students with special needs. 

The Continued Development of Pathways

It wasn’t much of a surprise based on the work we do throughout the country, but school systems are continuing to build out and innovate their pathways. The question isn’t about the value of pathways anymore, but rather how to schedule all students into a pathway sequence, CTE or otherwise. It’s unfortunate that many CTE programs have waiting lists and many comprehensive schools don’t offer pathways (often called academies). The good news is that more-and-more districts are starting to build pathways, and lots of folks were at the conference to learn about how to do so. 

Pathways that follow a state-approved program of study seem to be the easiest to build, but pathways that satisfy a local industry need are not always funded. Based on a few presentations, the schools and districts who are figuring this out the fastest are using grants, partners, and models that they’ve researched on their own. As we’ll note later in the article, one of the key stakeholders are the nearby institutes of higher education. The takeaway is that pathway design and development must be intentional, and we need all students to have access to a pathway that’s related to a career cluster of their interest.  

The Value of Middle Level CTE

It was refreshing to see the number of sessions that focused on middle school students, and even more so when elementary students were highlighted. Typically left out of the equation, CTE has been mostly a 9-12 initiative, and that’s changing rapidly. From career exposure to actually planning, schools and districts are becoming far more strategic about bringing CTE into middle schools. Again, we heard about the use of guest speakers but also the use of assessment data for teachers and students to reflect on as lessons within middle school advisory periods. 

This means that middle school leaders were at the conference whereas in the past we mostly see high school folks in attendance. It also means that advocacy work is important in terms of garnering funding and building programs at the elementary and middle school levels. Based on the expo, we also see more middle and high school products emerging. The takeaway is that CTE is becoming more of a K-12 and beyond initiative than it has been in the past. 

The Overlap between CTE and Higher Education 

It’s exciting to see the growing overlap between career and technical programs and institutes of higher education (IHE). In fact, there seemed to be more folks from higher education in attendance at the conference than ever before, and there were a number of presenters that linked their CTE programs to their local IHE. As pathways are formed or revitalized, there’s an opportunity for high school courses to lead to stackable industry certifications and college credit. One program of study boasted 16 credits from one community college and 9 from another plus an AP course embedded in the sequence. 

It’s not just that IHEs can award dual credit. We’re seeing a number of variations of advanced standing courses through the creation of new pathways, including articulated agreements, certifications, credentials, and more. As the relationships grow between K-12 and higher education, the innovation increases, and students benefit by saving time and money. The takeaway is that career and technical education students aren’t just career-bound (although some are) but have college and university options that they’re learning about before graduation. 

Conclusion: The Importance of the Data 

A final takeaway is the importance of data collection and analysis regarding all of the college and career readiness initiatives. In one session, a researcher shared that students who take CTE courses graduate at higher rates, the graduation percentages increase with the more CTE courses they take, and the data are strongest when students earn credits that are sequenced within a single pathway. Tracking systems are critical in terms of understanding everything from students’ interests to how many work-based learning hours they’ve earned. This helps schools make critical decisions about which pathways to offer, and it allows for better reporting mechanisms for state mandates and other inquiries. 

ACTE’s CareerTech Vision 2025 conference was both enlightening and fun. We look forward to ACTE’s Work-Based Learning conference in April. 

If you want to discuss any of the items in this blog to go into greater detail about how to implement these strategies in schools and districts, schedule a time here.