Not your old school CTE?

New Hampshire’s CTE programs have expanded beyond the traditional wood shops and automotive garages. Today, CTE include fields like biotechnology, graphic design, computer networking, teaching, and more. In fact, technical programs encompass 94% of the interest areas of high school students, according to Getting Smart:

Today’s CTE is innovative. It’s cutting-edge, technologically exciting and prepares students of all ages for a wide range of high-wage, high-skill, high-demand careers that graduates can start quickly.

Based on data drawn from the U.S. Department of Education’s High School Transcript

Study, the ACTE states that the courses of study offered by technical schools encompass 94% of the interest areas of high school students…

CTE programs educate students for a range of career options through 16 Career Clusters and more than 79 specific articulated pathways. Integrating academics and application prepares students to be college- and career-ready by providing core academic skills, employability skills and technical, job-specific skills.

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Because students who choose a CTE track often do so out of their own interests and passions, they also develop the types of student agency skills employers desire the most in employees along the way, such as problem-solving, project completion, communication, research, time management and critical thinking skills.

Not only does CTE help prepare students for future careers, it also helps keep them in high school. According to ACTE, high school students involved in CTE are more engaged, perform better and graduate at higher rates:

-81% of dropouts say relevant, real-world learning opportunities would have kept them in high school.

-The average high school graduation rate for students concentrating in CTE programs is 93%, compared to an average national freshman graduation rate of 80%.

-More than 75% of secondary CTE concentrators pursued post-secondary education shortly after high school.

Learn more about New Hampshire’s CTE programs at nh-cte.org.

Source: What Do You Think About CTE? | Getting Smart