The Neglected Majority — Revisited

Career and Technical Education (CTE) is in a curious position as the nation moves into the 6th year of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) school reform era. The demand for skilled labor in many occupational sectors is strong and growing. Studies have shown CTE helps increase students outcomes and achievements. This ought to be good news for CTE. However, due in large part to NCLB, secondary CTE is increasingly under pressure as schools try to address the perceived education gaps by adding more academic courses to the school day squeezing out time for electives and especially CTE.

How should CTE professionals best respond to these pressures? A possible road to success is to embrace change and position CTE as a means for helping achieve the goals of high school. In this paper, I examine how high quality CTE can benefit students directly and provide a framework for addressing larger school reform issues.