Career and Technical Education Policy: A Multistate Case Study on Employment Outcomes

Career and technical education (CTE) programs equip students with practical real-world skills to prepare them to succeed in the workforce while they are still in school. Career-connected learning can begin as early as elementary school through exposure to different types of jobs and progress to more advanced work-based learning and internships in high school and beyond. At the secondary level, CTE is often offered through high schools, regional CTE centers, and cooperative programs with community colleges.¹ After high school, CTE is typically provided at community colleges and trade schools, as well as through apprenticeships and on-the-job training with employers.²

In practice, CTE combines classroom learning with hands-on experience, preparing students for jobs in fields such as health care, manufacturing, construction, business, and the skilled trades. CTE offers students the opportunity to explore career options, earn industry-recognized credentials, and develop skills that can lead directly to employment, apprenticeships, military service, or further education after graduation.³

In addition, CTE provides significant economic benefits for students.⁴ Research shows that CTE programs improve employment opportunities and that students who participate in these types of programs can increase their earnings after graduation.⁵ In addition, more than half of CTE students go on to earn a college degree, demonstrating that career-focused education is a pathway to both higher education and employment.⁶ While rigorous research on long-term earnings outcomes remains limited, available evidence suggests that CTE can have positive impacts on income.⁷ For example, a 2014 Florida study found that workers with vocational training and a high school diploma earned at least 30 percent more quarterly than workers with a high school diploma who did not participate in vocational education.⁸

Given the benefits of CTE, it is not surprising that as students navigate a changing economy and increasing anxiety over potential labor market impacts of artificial intelligence (AI), there has been growing interest in CTE opportunities.⁹ Department of Education data show a 10 percent increase in enrollment for K-12 CTE programs between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years.¹⁰ This is consistent with public support for on-the-job training and career-connected learning. According to a nationwide survey of likely voters, 69 percent of respondents believe having “on-the-job experience” is “very valuable,” while 76 percent believe expanding job skills and workforce training opportunities in high school (for example, apprenticeships and internship opportunities) should be a policy priority to improve public schools.¹¹

Likewise, employers see the value of CTE, reporting that they are much more willing to hire high school graduates who acquired “real-world skills” during their schooling.¹² A national survey of more than 300 employers found that 77 percent of employers had hired an individual “in part because of their CTE experience,” while more than 90 percent supported increased public investment in CTE programs.¹³

Despite this interest in expanding career and technical education to more young people, and despite some critical industries, such as health care and education, experiencing worker shortages, the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V), the main law for funding and supporting CTE in the United States—has not been reauthorized by Congress since 2018. Moreover, existing funding has been eroded by inflation and population growth, limiting the ability to scale CTE to meet growing interest and demand.¹⁴

This report examines existing barriers to CTE expansion, identifies major areas for policy solutions, features case studies of states making progress in scaling CTE for more students, and includes recommendations for how federal policymakers can modernize Perkins V to better support CTE across the country.

Despite its popularity, scaling career and technical education has been challenging.¹⁵ Since the “college-for-all” approach has been the primary trajectory of the American public education system since the 1990s, policymakers have struggled to unify the country around vocational education.¹⁶ As a consequence, this has driven more young people to focus on earning academic degrees as a first step to career aspirations and has created a disregard for and neglect of vocational education programs despite their many benefits.¹⁷

Compounding the negative perception of CTE has been the erosion of funding for these programs, including the recent cancellation of CTE grants that has led states to offer fewer high-quality vocational programs.¹⁸ Federal appropriations for CTE are governed by Perkins V, which has not kept pace with inflation, leaving more than a $230 million funding gap between what was appropriated in 2024 and what is needed to keep up with inflation.¹⁹ Center for American Progress analysis shows that CTE funding has not kept pace with inflation and population growth.

Current federal appropriations also face uncertainty, including proposals to move CTE out of the Education Department and eliminate support for adult learners.²⁰ These policy changes and funding deficits are worsened by a widespread shortage of educators, including in CTE, despite state efforts to relax teacher certification standards.²¹ A key barrier enticing industry professionals to become CTE educators is teacher pay, which has increased in recent years but is insufficient compared with earnings of college-educated professionals in other industries.²²

Nationwide, geographic inequity also severely limits student access to CTE programs, especially in rural communities, where programs are often restricted to specific industries within a given local region.²³ This practice is especially egregious given the fact that once enrolled in CTE programs, rural students have higher completion rates than their urban and suburban peers. Yet even in states such as Nevada, available research shows that rural students, despite their higher completion rates, are less likely to earn a CTE certificate, which often requires passing an occupational competency exam and fulfilling other requirements, creating further barriers to economic mobility.²⁴

Promoting and expanding CTE can also help address economic disparities. Across various U.S. industries, Black and Hispanic workers earn significantly less than their counterparts,²⁵ while globally, workers with disabilities are paid 12 percent less per hour than nondisabled workers.²⁶ These wage gaps underscore the need for high-quality CTE programs that have the potential to connect students, particularly those who are Black and Latino, those with disabilities, and those, from low-income households, with well-paying, high-demand jobs and increase their future earnings.²⁷ Students with disabilities who took four or more credits of career and technical courses in high school as CTE concentrators have higher rates of employment after high school than do their peers who took fewer CTE courses.²⁸

For Black and Latino students, economic and wage disparities start early due to imbalances in CTE programs. Data from 40 states show that these students are underrepresented in high- earning science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and information technology (IT) courses and are instead concentrated in lower-earning tracks such as hospitality and human services.²⁹ To close future income gaps, states and districts must make CTE offerings more rigorous and ensure diverse student enrollment in high-wage fields.

These challenges are compounded by data fragmentation. At least 17 states lack comprehensive statewide longitudinal data systems, leaving K-12 education, higher education, and workforce systems siloed.³⁰ Even across states that do have these systems in place, there is little standardization in how data are collected, maintained, and used for policy development and improving practice.³¹ As a result, families lack the clear data needed to evaluate program quality, and state leaders and policymakers are unable to track long-term student success to properly scale what is working, as modeled in Colorado, Washington, and Washington, D.C.³²

Fragmentation issues are not just limited to data. The lack of alignment between the U.S. education and workforce systems also hampers the success and reach of CTE programs and policy.³³ Many states do not make connections between CTE and other workforce programs, such as registered apprenticeship programs, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) programs, sector partnerships, and other training opportunities that could serve CTE program participants.

Some students have challenges accessing CTE programs due to external factors such as scheduling conflicts, a lack of transportation, and child care, among others.³⁴ This can shut out certain students, lower rates of program completion, and exacerbate equity gaps across some programs. Supportive services, such as counseling and transportation support, can help students overcome these barriers.³⁵

Finally, it is important that CTE curricula keep pace with rapid technological advances, specifically the integration of AI tools, to make individuals more competitive in the modern labor market.³⁶

To help identify solutions to these challenges, CAP interviewed select state leaders and CTE experts who collectively identified policy levers to advance career and technical education. In February 2026, CAP held a roundtable with CTE experts from various organizations and select states. Following the roundtable, the authors held individual virtual interviews with CTE state leaders. Four themes emerged from these interviews. Also incorporated are perspectives from a 2025 CAP event focused on CTE, which featured Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D).³⁷

To ensure a robust workforce of CTE teachers, policymakers must invest in the relevant educator and teacher pipelines. Today, 1 in 8 teaching positions is unfilled or filled by an uncertified professional.³⁸ The need for qualified teachers spans across most subjects but particularly special education, STEM, bilingual education, and CTE. The authors’ analysis of federal teacher shortage data found that 32 states and Washington, D.C., reported a shortage of CTE educators in the past three years.³⁹ Nearly 1 in 3 public schools hiring for a CTE teaching role has struggled to fill their vacancy, with school administrators reporting difficulty filling CTE teaching positions 57 percent of the time, compared with 39 percent for other academic subjects.⁴⁰ This shortage also extends to community college programs with fewer CTE faculty, particularly in health-related programs (49.7 percent), construction (27.5 percent), IT (22.8 percent), and engineering (20.5 percent).⁴¹ Compounding this challenge is an inexperienced workforce. Ten percent of current high school CTE educators have less than three years of classroom teaching experience.⁴² Ensuring a strong educator pipeline will require investments from policymakers in three core areas:

• Competitive compensation. College-educated professionals with four-year degrees in fields such as engineering and health care have higher median earnings than those with education degrees, making it difficult to consider switching careers to the education field.⁴³ Policymakers should explore competitive compensation packages that provide attractive incentives such as signing bonuses, increased retirement contributions, and other perks to attract industry professionals to consider becoming CTE educators.
• Prior experience. Many industry professionals who may want to consider a career switch may be met with less pay and additional requirements, including more years of schooling and certifications despite the subject-matter expertise they already possess.⁴⁴ Policymakers should explore strategies that have been proved to work in states such as Pennsylvania to offer experience-based teaching credentials that would allow industry professionals to operate under a multiyear, experience-based teaching license. At the same time, these teachers can pursue requirements for full certification.⁴⁵ This strategy ensures that districts can recruit top professionals in rapidly changing labor fields such as technology and health care so that students have access to high-quality instruction.
• Teacher apprenticeships. Some states such as Pennsylvania have begun creating registered apprenticeship programs specifically for the teaching profession to provide an earn-while-you-learn pathway.⁴⁶ This is attractive to candidates who may otherwise be discouraged by education debt and foregone wages while they pursue further schooling.

Engaging employers in career and technical education, and the workforce system as a whole, in a sustained and effective way is a perennial challenge but necessary to establish employment and training opportunities.⁴⁷ A theme across CAP’s interviews and conversations with CTE experts was that a best practice is meeting businesses where they are in terms of their ability to engage with programs and providing various on-ramps for participation in CTE and training programs.

Early engagement could look like inviting employers to meet CTE students to see the potential talent as a stepping stone to creating an internship or short program to ultimately expand to an apprenticeship or more structured opportunity. Experts underscored that businesses are hesitant due to perceived costs, concerns about retention, and a lack of capacity and institutional know-how to design workplace programs for young people. Tailoring solutions and engagement to address these common concerns can help businesses overcome these barriers and ultimately achieve return on investment.

Once some employers come on board, especially larger or more established ones in a community or region, they are more likely to serve as validators and proof points for how these programs can provide talent to benefit other businesses or an industry. This can create a virtuous cycle for CTE, since the more young people who begin opportunities at businesses and gain employment after program completion, the more likely employers are to be able to support, recruit, and mentor other students beginning their journeys in these programs.

There is unequal access to high-quality pathways, and a lot depends on geography, with rural schools facing challenges in implementing quality programs.⁴⁸ Students are also limited to the offerings in their community, which can be industry- and region-specific. Policymakers should focus on levers to expand and align pathways to local and regional needs, while widening the breadth of programs and offerings.

To accomplish this, states must standardize the seamless transfer of academic credits, also known as credit portability, by establishing a statewide framework that defines courses and credits offered and accepted across CTE programs, community colleges, universities, and career and technical centers across the state. Pennsylvania’s Students Occupationally and Academically Ready (SOAR) program offers a promising model for connecting career pathways, institutions, and programs to ensure there are no roadblocks to achieving industry-recognized credentials.⁴⁹ An expanded CTE pathway framework should address any fragmentation and build upon early college and dual enrollment options so that high school students can graduate with portable credits and high-demand credentials that reduce future postsecondary costs.

Lastly, dual enrollment opportunities in high school can help with postsecondary success and affordability for students who continue to higher education.⁵⁰ Policymakers should require high school students to earn at least one college-level credit or career credential to graduate and should ensure the smooth transfer of these credits between institutions.

Throughout the state interviews, data integration emerged as a top priority for future policy investment. An integrated statewide data system is critical to tracking CTE enrollment, course and credential completion, credit portability, and subsequent workforce outcomes.

To identify and scale programs that lead to high-wage jobs, policymakers must invest in data standardization, including common definitions and shared governance, and cross-agency data systems that bridge the gap between education and workforce. Building an effective longitudinal data infrastructure requires dedicated state appropriations from policymakers to develop a robust technical framework and hire data scientists who are capable of meeting federal reporting requirements. Policymakers must also ensure that states implement formal data-sharing agreements across local government agencies, ensuring data privacy and compliance with federal laws such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a national leader in career and technical education policy. Since 2023, the administration of Gov. Josh Shapiro has invested $65 million to expand CTE, a nearly 50 percent increase since Shapiro took office.⁵¹ This investment has driven significant growth and engagement statewide. As a result of its historic investments in CTE, Pennsylvania has achieved broad reach. CTE is offered at 84 career and technical centers and 145 high schools across the state.⁵² Enrollment has also spiked: There were 62,412 students enrolled in the state’s career and technical centers’ programs as of 2023-24 academic year.⁵³ Of these, 60.9 percent of CTE participants are concentrators, having completed at least two courses in a specific CTE program, nearly double the national average.⁵⁴ The state has also allocated $2.4 million toward its Schools-to-Work Program alone, which prepares high school students for employment through pre-apprenticeships and other targeted training.⁵⁵

Pennsylvania has implemented effective systems to streamline its postsecondary pathways. Through its SOAR initiative, the state has executed articulation agreements connecting high school CTE programs with postsecondary institutions.⁵⁶ These articulation agreements allow students to earn industry-recognized credentials, college credits, certificates, or degrees without duplicating coursework. Overall, CTE programs in Pennsylvania can benefit urban, suburban, and rural communities alike, offering diverse training options, including agriculture.⁵⁷

Pennsylvania’s efforts have also led to the expansion of apprenticeships. The state actively builds intrastate and national partnerships to align education and workforce needs. Notably, it is one of six states participating in the American Federation of Teachers’ (AFT) Education and Apprenticeship Accelerator program.⁵⁸ This collaboration with CareerWise, the AFT, and state and business leaders aims to expand apprenticeships to meet modern labor demands.

Recruiting and supporting CTE teachers remains a priority in Pennsylvania. To attract industry professionals to the classroom, the state is removing traditional barriers to educator licensure. Professionals can now earn an experience-based teaching certificate valid for up to five years by passing a basic content knowledge test.⁵⁹ This accelerated pathway is coupled with mentorship and leads to a permanent teaching credential, reducing the hassle of annual renewing teacher emergency permits.⁶⁰

The state has also partnered with Temple University to support individuals with strong professional and technical expertise in their field who lack teaching experience.⁶¹ Through its Center for Professional Development in Career and Technical Education, Temple University offers preinduction services for career changers before they begin their teaching experience and administers an Occupational Competency Assessment (OCA) to evaluate readiness to teach.⁶²

The city of Philadelphia, home to the state’s largest school district, has launched successful initiatives to complement statewide efforts.⁶³ In 2025, the city council allocated $500,000 from the district’s budget to fund teacher certifications for its CTE program.⁶⁴ Previously, career changers paid out of pocket for classes needed for teacher certification. Now, public funds will cover these costs for individuals transitioning into education to teach CTE courses in fields from construction to health care.⁶⁵

Philadelphia’s success is in part due to its focus on preparing high school students and Philadelphians for careers in local government and city services. Through its City College for Municipal Employment, students participate in hands-on and immersive learning that introduces them to workforce opportunities in city government.⁶⁶

Colorado has made significant investments to expand CTE opportunities for youth. In his 2026 State of the State address, Gov. Jared Polis (D) emphasized the importance of connecting the skills students acquire in school to real-world jobs.⁶⁷ This focus is yielding results: Nearly half of Colorado high school students were enrolled in at least one CTE class in the 2024-25 school year.⁶⁸ CTE concentrators are graduating at higher rates than the state average, and 98 percent are employed, enrolled in postsecondary education, or serving in the military post-graduation.⁶⁹

Colorado has achieved these outcomes in a number of ways.

First, Colorado has had significant buy-in for boosting CTE at various levels of government. As chair of the National Governors Association, Gov. Polis made workforce readiness a hallmark of his agenda.⁷⁰ This made it possible to make progress on aligning the state’s workforce, education, and economic development systems, demonstrating the returns on these investments, and bringing a broad coalition to the table to advance these policies.⁷¹

Reflecting a broader national challenge, Colorado is facing a shortage of teachers and ranks low in attracting educators.⁷² To increase supply, policymakers recently passed legislation to allow out-of-state teachers to receive their teaching licenses.⁷³ Additionally, the state launched a teacher apprenticeship program so that workers can earn. At the same time, they learn and graduate from programs with little to no student debt, therefore creating another pipeline into teaching.⁷⁴ Like other states, Colorado has been struggling to recruit and retain CTE educators.⁷⁵ Some challenges include the lack of reliability of programs and funding, which could turn off CTE educators, and the ability of some in the profession to make more money in the private sector.⁷⁶ Benefits such as guaranteed paid time off and summer breaks can attract workers to the CTE educator workforce.⁷⁷

Like other states, one barrier to successfully expanding evidence-based CTE programs and understanding outcomes in Colorado has been limited data on state education and training systems.⁷⁸ The state recently passed legislation to create a longitudinal data system to track education and training outcomes, as well as workforce readiness.⁷⁹ This new data system should allow the state to track the progress of students from childhood to the workforce. One downside of this lack of data is that students, families, and career counselors do not have publicly available information on programs to aid them in decision-making. Providing easy-to-access data for the public should be a goal of this broader data effort.⁸⁰ Another downside is that policymakers do not have the data infrastructure available to monitor and evaluate which programs have positive returns and for which students.

In recent years, Colorado has also better aligned CTE programs and registered apprenticeships.⁸¹ These changes will help students more easily transition from career-connected learning in high school to high-quality training programs as apprentices and should hopefully prevent some young people from disconnecting from postsecondary opportunities upon graduation.⁸²

Looking ahead, Colorado is also part of the Education and Apprenticeship Accelerator cohort of states organized by AFT and CareerWise, setting the stage for future apprenticeship growth for more young Coloradans.⁸³

Washington state aims to expand CTE for more students and learners, including as a strategy to help fill job openings in critical sectors of the state’s economy and to bolster college and career access.⁸⁴

The state is prioritizing the following policies to achieve these goals:

• Making strategic investments in CTE to target worker shortages in health care. The state recently passed legislation to expand educational opportunities and create a pilot apprenticeship program for home health aides. The pilot program pairs a plan from community and technical colleges with building relationships between employers, community colleges, and labor representatives.⁸⁵ Additionally, the new law establishes a grant program to support high school CTE programs in health sciences and pilot projects where rural hospitals work with high school students training to become nursing assistants.
• Using data to gain a fuller understanding of the state education system, programs, and outcomes. The Washington State Education Research and Data Center (ERDC) already collects and analyzes data on the state’s education system, including longitudinal data.⁸⁶ This information is helping researchers and policymakers make better decisions and understand how policies work at the ground level. The data provided by the ERDC have proved useful in quantifying gaps across various populations and communities, including rural students, and in showing the benefits of college access and completion along with earning metrics.⁸⁷
• Improving students’ postsecondary success by expanding CTE dual enrollment and credit access opportunities. In 2023, more than 1 in 2 high school graduates in Washington completed a CTE graduation pathway.⁸⁸ The Washington State Legislature recently enacted H.B. 1273, a new law designed to increase student participation and credit attainment in CTE dual credit programs through better coordination among high schools, community colleges, and apprenticeship programs.⁸⁹ Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) has advocated for having CTE courses eligible for Advanced Placement (AP) credit, as well as fully funding Perkins state grants.⁹⁰ These efforts should make higher education more affordable for students who pursue it, as well as help learners more seamlessly transition from high school to college and careers.

Federal policymakers should scale CTE and further support states working to provide career-connected learning opportunities for more young people by reauthorizing Perkins V. CAP recommends the following solutions.

Inflation has eroded Perkins V funding, and investments have not kept pace with population growth. (see Figure 1)⁹¹ Additionally, the structure of formula funding means that states must optimize the funding they receive to maximize the impact of resources to benefit students.⁹² Recently, there has been ongoing uncertainty about federal appropriations, including proposals to restrict Perkins V funding to K-12 education, which would prevent some learners from accessing CTE.⁹³ CAP recommends robust funding for CTE programs, as well as policies that increase access for more students and learners, including those in or outside the K-12 system.

There is a crucial need to retain high-quality educators with deep content expertise, as well as attract and reduce barriers for experienced professionals to enter the teaching workforce. To be ready to prepare future students, CTE educators should also receive AI training and upskilling. CAP recommends that Congress establish additional federal resources to support states in the recruitment and retention of CTE educators and reduce barriers to entering or remaining in the profession.

The structural fragmentation between America’s education and workforce systems negatively affects student outcomes.⁹⁴ Policymakers should strengthen dual enrollment, expand pre-apprenticeships and youth apprenticeships, and link them to registered apprenticeships and WIOA and other workforce programs. Policymakers should also consider how to connect CTE to regional workforce and economic development strategies, such as sector partnerships. Aligning CTE programs with in-demand, high-wage industries will improve student outcomes. Reauthorization efforts should ensure continuity from K-12 to postsecondary education, align CTE with apprenticeships and other relevant programs, and clarify funding structures across the relevant agencies.

To increase employer engagement, it is important to highlight the way CTE delivers value and talent to employers. A reauthorization of Perkins V should incorporate input from employers to align their policies, needs, and the opportunities they provide students. Policymakers should also design effective incentives to expand these opportunities to more young people. Congress should allocate dedicated federal funding for workforce programs, such as sector training partnerships, that successfully engage employers in a reauthorization of WIOA.⁹⁵

To prepare young people for an evolving changing labor market and employer needs, CTE curricula should be designed with AI training and digital literacy skills in mind. AI integration should foster critical thinking and address fast-moving industry changes. Policymakers should leverage reauthorization to advance these changes and support community and technical colleges leading this effort.

Vocational education offers positive economic benefits for students, particularly by enhancing employment prospects immediately after high school.⁹⁶ However, limited data and research on the long-term earnings effects of CTE participation remain a barrier.⁹⁷ Policymakers should prioritize improving the collection and use of data in a reauthorization of Perkins V to strengthen and sustain these programs and support states in developing or improving their data systems.

Further, a reauthorization of WIOA should include increased federal Workforce Data Quality Initiative (WDQI) funding to support more integrated and comprehensive data collection and clinical studies to evaluate the efficacy of CTE programs, scale the ones that have strong outcomes, and provide targeted support to the ones that need improvement.

There is unequal access to high-quality pathways, and a lot depends on geography, with students in rural communities facing unique circumstances that necessitate tailored interventions.⁹⁸ Students are also limited to the offerings in their community, which can be industry- and region-specific. Policymakers should focus on levers to align pathways to local and regional needs, while expanding the breadth of programs and offerings.

In the United States, CTE and registered apprenticeships operate as separate systems. However, pre-apprenticeships and youth apprenticeships are becoming increasingly popular in equipping young people with practical real-world skills.⁹⁹ Congress should reauthorize and modernize the National Apprenticeship Act to increase investments and alignment to scale these opportunities for more young people. Policymakers should also explore ways to cover training costs for pre-apprentices and apprentices to make these opportunities more affordable for students and workers.¹⁰⁰

Community and technical colleges are a key part of the CTE ecosystem. Federal policymakers should make further investments in these institutions, which are among the nation’s largest training providers, through programs such as Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants and the Strengthening Institutions Program.¹⁰¹

CTE is essential to preparing students for careers by combining academic instruction with hands-on training in specific industries and occupations. Through CTE, students explore career paths, build technical and workplace skills, earn credentials, and gain real-world experiences through internships, apprenticeships, and other work-based learning opportunities.

Despite the benefits of CTE, significant barriers exist to providing broad access to these programs.¹⁰² In a future reauthorization of Perkins V, policymakers must focus on ensuring CTE programs drive both postsecondary success for students and workforce alignment for employers. Examples of evidence-based models and state strategies can provide guidance for how the federal government can support and scale these opportunities nationally.

Ultimately, students who participate in CTE have better immediate outcomes, including higher high school graduation rates and greater postsecondary education enrollment than their non-CTE peers. CTE promotes economic opportunity and mobility.¹⁰³

The authors would like to thank Paige Shoemaker DeMio for her thorough fact-checking and review of this report and Bobby Kogan for his budget analysis. The authors would also like to thank the CTE experts who kindly agreed to be interviewed on background.