The middle grades have become the agreed upon starting point for high-quality Career Technical Education (CTE) programs, as this represents a critical time for students making important decisions that may have a lasting impact on their careers. Yet, there remains a lack of consensus among state and local leaders on what makes up a high-quality middle grades CTE program or policy. With the promotion of middle grades CTE in the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V), it is an ideal time for state and local leaders to consider how to best support and expand CTE in middle school.
To support this work, Advance CTE and Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) have released Broadening the Path: Design Principles for Middle Grades CTE that lays out a theory of action for middle grades CTE, including:
- Outcomes for student learning,
- Ten design principles that should undergird any middle grades CTE program or policy, and
- Core programmatic elements for developing and expanding CTE into middle grades.
The paper also includes a design principles self-assessment for state and local leaders to evaluate their current middle grades CTE policies and programs.
Read the report here.
This resource was created with the support of the Middle Grades CTE Shared Solutions Workgroup, comprised of national, state and local leaders, convened by Advance CTE with support from ACTE and generously funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.