The Case for High-Quality CTE - Illustrations by Ingo Fast - By James R. Stone III

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious

Reasserted federal, state, and local attention has brought career and technical education (CTE) back to prominence after years of neglect. It critiques the idea that high school’s value is only preparation for college, noting that competitiveness arguments often overlook labor, wages, infrastructure, and health factors. The text defends CTE by arguing that college readiness is not equivalent to career readiness and highlights CTE’s role in creating multiple pathways into the labor market.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

The Case for High-Quality CTE

From “A Nation at Risk” to renewed interest

The Emerging Labor Market: The Raison d’Être for CTE

Keeping Tabs on the Labor Market

􀀝e Case for High-Quality CTE ILLUSTRATIONS BY INGO FAST By James R. Stone III A fter years of languishing as the program for someone else’s child, career and technical education (CTE) has been rediscovered by federal, state, and local policymakers. 􀀝is renewed interest comes at a time when federal policy, beginning with the 1983 report A Nation at Risk, has had the e ect of turning high school into the new middle school—a point in the education pipeline with no intrinsic value other than preparation for the next level of education, presumably college. 􀀝isis unfortunate, especially for the sizable percentage of youth who will neither graduate from high school nor successfully matriculate into and complete formal postsecondary education. A Nation at Risk has been followed by more than 30 years of claims that the American education system is failing its children. Ironically, the generation of children put at risk by “a rising tide of mediocrity”(as boldly trumpeted in the report)1 moved into the labor market in the 1990s and helped generate the longest James R. Stone IIIis the director of the National Research Centerfor Career and Technical Education at the Southern Regional Education Board. He previously directed the NRCCTE at the University of Louisville, where he was a Distinguished University Professor in the College of Education and Human Development. His research has focused on improving the engagement and achievement of students in CTE programs. He has authored numerous research reports, journal articles, and books about CTE, including his most recent publication, College and Career Ready in the 21st Century: Making High School Matter (Teachers College Press, 2012). sustained economic boom in our history. And the report’s concerns about our economic competitiveness arose in the context offears about Japanese and German companies outperforming American companies, due in large part to the superior quality of their education systems. Today, those concerns typically re􀀜ect competition from China as well as other countries where workers are paid little and have little voice. I don’t think too many Americans would trade our education system for theirs. Nonetheless, assumptions about the demise of U.S. economic competitiveness remain connected to education. 􀀝e U.S. economy, in 2009, did lose its spot asthe most competitive in the world, and it has continued to fallin rank ever since. However, the factors identified with this decline have little to do with education. Although education is a contributing factor, more relevant factors include labor-employer relations, 􀀜exibility of wage determination, the participation of women in the workforce, infrastructure issues, and worker health.2 Despite evidence to the contrary, global competitiveness arguments continue to be used as a means of promoting a strictly academic curriculum in high school—one designed solely to prepare students to pursue a four-year college degree—asthe best and only educational option. 􀀝is college-for-all mentality has had the pernicious effect of diminishing the presence of highschool CTE.* *For more about the college-for-all mentality, see “Beyond One-Size-Fits-All College Dreams” in the Fall 2010 issue of American Educator, available [at www.aft.org/pdfs/](at www.aft.org/pdfs/)[ ](at www.aft.org/pdfs/)[americaneducator/fall2010/Rosenbaum.pdf.](americaneducator/fall2010/Rosenbaum.pdf.) 4 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | FALL 2014 The Emerging Labor Market: The Raison d’Être for CTE Career and technical education is the part of American highschool that provides the link between the needs of the labor market and the needs of young people to be fully prepared to move into the workforce or continue their career-focused education and training beyond high school. Concerns about how to strengthen our economy, as well as complaints from employers that too many students graduate from college without the knowledge and skills needed to 􀀞ll jobs, have spark

FAQs

Why has CTE regained attention in recent years?

Policymakers rediscovered CTE as concerns about strengthening the economy and employer complaints grew, alongside the broader push for “college and career readiness.”

How does the document distinguish college readiness from career readiness?

It argues they are not the same: testing and labor-market experts show that being prepared for college does not ensure a successful transition into the workforce, because workplace demands vary by career pathway.

Which factors beyond education are linked to the decline in U.S. competitiveness?

The text points to labor-employer relations, wage-determination flexibility, women’s participation in the workforce, infrastructure issues, and worker health, noting education is only a contributing factor.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious