Every February is Career & Technical Education (CTE) Month®. Career and Technical Education (CTE) provides students with opportunities to gain the necessary academic knowledge and technical skills necessary to succeed in high-skill, high-wage, and in-demand careers. CTE has a commitment to equity and equitable learning opportunities for its students. Programs offer flexible scheduling, work-based learning, and stackable credentials that provide a pathway from education to employment not only for recent high school graduates, but also for returning adults, veterans, and incumbent workers wanting to update their skills. The breadth of CTE not only helps address workforce shortages, such as those in nursing, information technology, and teaching but helps Illinoisans meet their education and workforce goals. This month is a time to raise awareness for the contributions and importance of these programs as CTE will be crucial for Illinois' economic recovery after the pandemic has ended. For more information about CTE Month and how you can celebrate it, visit this page. 

The Illinois community college system is the largest provider of postsecondary CTE programs. At the onset of fiscal year 2024, statewide, CTE credit program enrollments were at 103,840 and accounted for one-quarter of all credit students, approximately 25.3 percent. Enrollments in CTE programs increased 3.9 percent from last year. CTE also accounted for the largest number of graduates with 37,478 graduates in fiscal year 2023. Just over half of the earned degrees and certificates- 57.4 percent- were in CTE programs during fiscal year 2023 and completions increased 4.2 percent from last year. The ICCB is looking forward to celebrating it statewide while highlighting local innovation and best practices. In order to spotlight these best practices, we need you all to share with us by emailing events, news articles, pictures (with descriptions), and other CTE project highlights to ashley.hamilton@illinois.gov.  

Follow ICCB's Facebook page and YouTube account for the latest on CTE Month happenings around the state.

Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) provides support to over 1.9 million elementary and secondary students in Illinois.   ISBE is excited to celebrate CTE Month.  There are a lot of great things happening the schools particularly in secondary schools.  We encourage you to sign up for our CTE newsletter to learn more about what the students are doing in career and technical education.  For more information about other projects in CTE go to https://www.isbe.net/cte.  You can contact the ISBE staff at cte@isbe.net

Illinois State Board of Education CTE Month Resources:

• Career Technical Education - ISBE Program of Study Models, Career Guides (in five languages), new course matrices and other career and technical education resources.
• Work-Based Learning Guide
• Illinois CTE Perkins Measures Portal
• Secondary Work-Based Learning
• Work-Based Learning Database of Entities working with High Schools
• Illinois Report Card – CTE Data
• Postsecondary and Career Expectation Framework – High School

Additional ISBE Resources:

• In FY 2023, ISBE had 275,543 students in Career and Technical Education. There were 127,211 CTE Concentrators in approved CTE programs in FY2023. ISBE offered 112 different programs throughout the state. CTE Concentrators have a 95.8% Four-Year Graduation rate. Illinois overall students have an 87.6% Four-Year Graduation rate for the same time period. There are 10.3% of the concentrators participating in work-based learning opportunities.
• College and Career Pathway Endorsements - FY 2023 was the fourth year of implementation for the College and Career Pathway Endorsements with 138 schools applying:

A total of 1071 students received pathway endorsements in Human and Public Services, Health Sciences Technology, Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, Business and Finance, Arts and Communication, Information Technology and  Manufacturing, Engineering, Technology, and Trades.

• College and Career Ready Indicators
• STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) Resources
• Illinois High School 2 Career
• Illinois CTE Graduate Profile

Be sure to also look at the following resources for CTE Month 2024:  

• Pipeline for the Advancement of the Healthcare Workforce (PATH) Grant webpage
• College & Career Pathways and Model Programs of Study Guides:
• Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources
• Architecture, Construction, and Energy
• Arts and Communications
• Culinary and Hospitality
• Education
• Finance and Business Services
• Health Sciences and Technology
• Human and Public Services
• Information Technology
• Manufacturing and Engineering
• Youth Career Pathways  
• College & Career Readiness  
• Job Search Plan  
• Training Plan  
• Skills and Interest Survey 

Follow ISBE's Facebook page for the latest on elementary and secondary education.

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