More than 169,330 Kansas students enrolled in Career and Technical Education courses during the 2018-2019 school year. CTE plays a powerful role in preventing students from dropping out of school and provides a wide variety of opportunities for postsecondary success and employment.

February is Career and Technical Education Month®, which celebrates the value of CTE and the achievements and accomplishments of CTE programs across Kansas and the nation.

Students who are involved in CTE have a higher graduation rate and see higher earnings, according to the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE).

The theme for CTE Month is Celebrate Today, Own Tomorrow!  This month provides CTE programs an opportunity to demonstrate how CTE makes students college and career ready and prepares them for high-demand career fields.

CTE in Kansas embraces the needs of business and industry through the development of the foundational knowledge and skills aligned to the Kansas workforce.

The vision for Kansas education is to lead the world in the success of each student. CTE classes play an important role in helping the state meet that goal by making sure students are prepared for postsecondary success – whether that be entering the workforce, obtaining an industry-recognized certificate or attending a two-year or four-year college.

Kansas has 16 Career Clusters for students to choose from, and there are 37 Career Cluster Pathways.

A Career Cluster is a group of occupations similar in skill set and training. Career Cluster Pathways are focused and specific areas of study leading to a particular area of industry or business. These occupations fall within seven career fields in Kansas — agriculture; business; family and consumer sciences; public services; media and technology; health; and design, production and repair.

Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) enhance this instruction by offering opportunities to apply what is learned in a variety of ways, interact with adults in their selected Career Pathway, develop leadership and employability skills and address community issues through in-depth projects. There are 24,041 students in Kansas CTSOs.

Nationally, CTE encompasses 94 percent of high school students and 8.4 million people seeking postsecondary certificates and associate degrees in CTE fields, according to ACTE. Also, taking one CTE class for every two academic classes minimizes the risk of students dropping out of high school.

For more information about ACTE, visit www.acteonline.org.

For more information about CTE in Kansas, visit https://www.ksde.org/Agency/Division-of-Learning-Services/Career-Standards-and-Assessment-Services/CSAS-Home/Career-Technical-Education-CTE.