Breaking Down Silos: How CTE Programs Can Connect Learning to Careers
The Hook Walk into most high schools and you will find two parallel universes: the academic wing and the CTE wing. Students move between them, but the systems rarely connect.…
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How Philadelphia CTE Instructors Can Build Project-Based Learning Units That End in Industry Credentials
When HVAC students at a Philadelphia career and technical education center kept struggling with the EPA Section 608 refrigerant handling certification exam, their CTE instructor realized that the traditional lecture-and-quiz…
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Ten Project-Based Learning Ideas That Build Real Credentials in Philadelphia CTE Programs
A cosmetology student at a Philadelphia career and technical education center doesn't just practice on a mannequin head — she runs a functioning salon one day a week, taking real…
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PLTW Partners with CompTIA to Bring Security+ Certification into High School Cybersecurity Labs
When students at Philadelphia's career and technical education cybersecurity programs log into their labs next fall, they could be working toward the same industry credential that employers use to screen…
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Before You Buy a Single Piece of Equipment: How Philadelphia CTE Programs Get Launch-Ready
When Philadelphia's School District greenlit a new advanced manufacturing pathway at Randolph Career Academy, administrators didn't start by shopping for CNC machines. They started with a question: What do local…
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How to Validate CTE Skills With Authentic Performance Assessment
The Problem CTE programs exist to prepare students for careers that require hands-on skills — welding a joint to code, diagnosing an engine fault, preparing a restaurant-quality dish, reading a…
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How to Build an Industry Advisory Board That Actually Shapes Your CTE Program
Most CTE programs have an industry advisory board on paper. Far fewer have one that meaningfully shapes curriculum, opens doors for students, and holds the program accountable for producing graduates…
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Building Industry Partnerships That Outlast Grant Cycles: A Playbook for Sustainable Work-Based Learning
The cancellation of 19 federal Career-Connected High Schools grants in 2025—$48.6 million in expected funding evaporated overnight—taught CTE programs a hard lesson. Grants launch partnerships. They don't sustain them. When…
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Pennsylvania’s $65 Million CTE Investment Is Reshaping How Pittsburgh Students Enter the Workforce
When ninth graders at Penn Hills High School walk into the PHorge Robotics lab, they are not sitting through a lecture on theoretical engineering concepts. They are earning an industry…
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Building Stackable Certification Pathways: A Four-Year Framework That Actually Works
Here's the problem with the way most CTE programs handle industry certifications: they treat them as a senior-year event. Students spend three and a half years building skills in a…