Posts by Bob Young

Pennsylvania's Class of 2026 can check a box. That box — an industry-recognized credential — is one of several pathways students may use to satisfy the state's graduation requirements instead…

How Stacked CTE Credentials Are Winning the Labor Market Argument The credential conversation in CTE has undergone a fundamental shift. Five years ago, the question was whether industry certifications were…

What Federal CTE Investment Actually Buys in 2026 — and What It Doesn't When Congress passed full-year FY2026 funding with Perkins V fully funded at $209 million, the announcement landed…

How Adaptive Assessment Is Rewriting CTE's Accountability Story For years, CTE assessment meant one of two things: a multiple-choice final exam designed more for administrative convenience than skill validation, or…

2,000 Seats, Not Enough Instructors — and One City's Bold Pipeline Fix Philadelphia is projecting 2,000 teacher vacancies for the 2026–27 school year. Across all subjects, in every neighborhood, in…

Why 2026 Is the Year of Authentic Skill Assessment in Career and Technical Education Walk into a high school CTE classroom in 2026 and you might notice something different. The…

Why Pennsylvania Rewrote Its Career Readiness Blueprint Career education standards in Pennsylvania had been standing still for over a decade. The original Career Education and Work (CEW) Standards, adopted by…

The Gap That Closed a Generation of Talent Philadelphia has a workforce problem hiding in plain sight. While the city celebrates apprenticeship sign-ups, CTE program enrollments, and labor market recovery…

Manufacturing PA Training-to-Career Grants Hit $15.1 Million Under Shapiro Governor Josh Shapiro's early 2026 announcement of $3.3 million in Manufacturing PA Training-to-Career (MTTC) grants didn't come out of nowhere. It's…

A Defense Employer Steps Up as Sponsor, Not Just Advisor When DeVal Life Cycle Support agreed to sponsor WeldWorks Philly, the defense-industrial employer did something that most companies in the…