FROM THE BLOG

CTE Insights &Future-Ready Learning

Stacey L. Shanklin, PhD Stacey L. Shanklin, PhD

How to Help Your Student Land Their First Internship

Ask most families when internships begin, and the answer is usually the same: college. Maybe sophomore year, maybe junior year at the very earliest. It's a natural assumption, and it quietly costs students something. Real, hands-on experience in a field they care about is available to many of them right now, and most families never think to look for it.

The good news is that a high school internship doesn't have to be a big, formal, full-summer commitment. It can be a few structured hours a week at a local business, a clinic, a shop, or an office, connected to what a student is already studying or curious about. Short, focused, and real. And with a little guidance, it's much more reachable than most families expect.

Here's what a good one looks like, and a practical way to help your student find one.

What a High School Internship Really Is

A handful of words for early work experiences are often used, and they get blurred together. It helps to separate them.

Work-based learning, as career and technical educators describe it, runs along a continuum. At one end, students learn about work through things like guest speakers and workplace tours, and then job shadowing, where they spend time watching someone do the job. Further along, students learn for work through experiences like internships, cooperative work experiences, and apprenticeships, where they take part in the work itself. The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) describes the purpose of all of it as helping students "learn about careers, build connections with industry professionals, and develop and practice technical, academic and employability skills needed for career success."

So job shadowing is watching, an internship is a structured stretch of doing, and a part-time job is its own thing, paid work that may or may not connect to a student's goals. None of them is "better." They're steps, and a first internship can be as simple as a few hours a week or even a single day of shadowing that grows into something more.

What Makes a Good Internship

Not every early work experience is equally valuable. A few things tend to separate a strong one from a forgettable one:

  • It connects to something the student cares about.  An internship tied to a student's pathway or genuine curiosity teaches far more than one chosen only because it sounded impressive.

  • The student does real tasks, not only observing.  Watching has its place, but the learning deepens when a student is trusted with something that matters, even something small.

  • A specific person supervises and gives feedback.  Someone who knows the student's name, shows them how things work, and tells them how they're doing.

  • The time commitment is clear and realistic.  A few reliable hours a week around school beats an open-ended promise that fizzles out.

  • There's a moment to reflect.  A short conversation afterward about what they learned, what surprised them, and what they'd like to try next turns an experience into something a student can carry forward.

How to Help Your Student Land an Internship

You don't need a perfect plan or an impressive list of contacts. Here's a path that works for a lot of families.

  • Start with curiosity, not with what looks impressive.  Before you think about where, ask your student what they're interested in. What do they find themselves watching videos about? Which class do they lose track of time in? The best first internship is usually connected to a spark that already exists.

  • Use your own network first.  A family friend, a neighbor, someone from your church or the gym, a coworker's spouse. A warm introduction opens doors that a cold application often doesn't. Many people are happy to help a young person who asks sincerely, and they're often more approachable than families assume.

  • Help your student make one short, specific ask. This is the step that matters most. A vague request like "Do you have any opportunities for students?" is easy to say no to, because the person has to figure out what's even being asked. A specific one is much easier to say yes to: "I'm interested in veterinary work. Could I shadow or assist a few hours a week this semester?"

  • Put it on paper.  Many businesses aren't opposed to hosting a student. They just don't know what the commitment involves. A short, one-page note answers those questions before they're asked. It can be as simple as this:

“Hello [Name], 

My name is [Student], and I'm a [grade] student at [School] studying [pathway or interest]. I'm hoping to learn more about [field] by [shadowing / assisting] at [business] for about [number] hours a week for [length of time]. 

I'm reliable, I'm eager to learn, and I'd be glad to [one thing you can offer, such as helping with simple tasks or organizing]. Thank you for considering it. I'd welcome the chance to talk more.

Sincerely,

[Student name]”

  • Prepare your student for the conversation.  Practice what they'll say, remind them to show up a few minutes early, and encourage a simple thank-you afterward. This is networking in its most basic form: telling people what you're interested in, out loud, often enough that opportunities find their way back to you. It's a skill your student will use for the rest of their working life, and a first internship is a gentle place to practice it.

If It Doesn't Come Together Right Away

Sometimes the first ask doesn't land, and that's normal. A few ideas:

  • Start smaller.  A single day of shadowing is a perfectly good first step, and it often leads to a longer arrangement once the business gets to know your student.

  • Ask the school.  Your student's CTE teacher or school counselor may already know local employers who work with students, or may be able to point you toward what the school offers. What exists varies from school to school, so it's worth a quick conversation before you start from scratch.

  • Ask again somewhere else.  One "no" tells you very little. It might have been the wrong time, the wrong size of business, or simply a busy week.

A Few Things to Check Before You Say Yes

Once something is on the table, it's worth confirming the practical details. The rules differ by school, district, and state, so these are questions to ask rather than answers to assume.

  • Paperwork and permission.  Does the school need to approve or document the arrangement? Is a parent signature required?

  • Hours.  Federal rules limit when and how much younger teens can work when the arrangement counts as employment. For 14- and 15-year-olds, the U.S. Department of Labor lists limits such as 3 hours on a school day and 18 hours in a school week, and notes that employers must follow state rules as well. Your state may be stricter.

  • Pay and school credit.  Whether an intern is paid, and how school credit fits in, depends on the situation. The Department of Labor explains how it looks at unpaid internships at for-profit businesses, and the school can tell you how its own programs handle it.

  • Safety and supervision.  Who will your student be working with, and what will they be doing?

A quick call to the school before committing takes care of most of this, and it keeps a good opportunity from running into an avoidable snag.

Where This Leaves You

The idea that internships belong to college students is one of those assumptions that stays true mostly because nobody questions it. But a student who starts now doesn't have to wait until college to find out what a field feels like day to day, to practice showing up and asking good questions, or to have something real to point to when it's time to apply for a first job. A blank space on a resume where "relevant experience" should be is a lot harder to explain than a few semesters of assisting at a clinic or a local shop.

One conversation can open a door that a formal application never would. Start with what your student is curious about, ask the people you already know, and make the ask small and specific. That's often all it takes.

Learn More

Read More
Stacey L. Shanklin, PhD Stacey L. Shanklin, PhD

Dual Enrollment and CTE: An Underused Shortcut to College Credit

Right now, today, a high school student can be earning actual college credit through their CTE pathway. Not in AP season. Not senior year, once every other decision has already been made. Right now, in whatever grade they're currently sitting in.

Two mechanisms make this possible: dual enrollment and articulation agreements. Most families have never had either one explained to them clearly, which means real, bankable college credit is sitting in plain sight, and most people are walking right past it. This isn't a rare opportunity reserved for a handful of students. It's available far more often than it's used, and every semester it goes unused is a semester a family can't get back.

What Dual Enrollment Actually Is

In plain terms, dual enrollment means a student takes an actual college-level course, on a trade school or college campus, online, or sometimes right on the high school campus, and earns both high school and college credit for it at the same time. One class. Two transcripts. Real, immediate credit.

Here's the part that gets missed constantly: dual enrollment is not reserved for academic or AP-track students. CTE dual enrollment exists, in fields like healthcare, IT, skilled trades, and more. A student earning a technical credential can, in the right program, be earning college credit for that exact same work, simultaneously, without adding a single extra class to their schedule.

What an Articulation Agreement Actually Is

In general terms, an articulation agreement is a formal agreement between a high school CTE program and a partner trade school, college, or university. A CTE course a student completes in high school automatically counts as college credit once that student enrolls at the partner institution.

The key difference from dual enrollment: the credit isn't earned or banked immediately. It's guaranteed later, but only if the student enrolls at that specific partner institution, and often only within a defined window after graduation. Miss that window, choose a different school, or let the agreement lapse without anyone tracking it, and the credit can quietly disappear. Articulation credit is frequently tied to industry certifications, which means the exact same credential that makes a student job-ready the day they graduate can also be the credential a college agrees to accept as credit. One certification. Two payoffs.

Why This Gets Overlooked

Say "dual enrollment" out loud and most people picture the same student every time: high GPA, headed straight to a four-year university, stacking AP classes like trading cards. CTE students get left out of that picture constantly, even when the exact same option exists for them.

This almost never comes down to the opportunity not existing. It comes down to nobody mentioning it. A counselor with two hundred students on their caseload. A parent who assumes "dual enrollment" doesn't apply to their kid's pathway. A student who's never once been asked, "did you know this could also count for college credit?" Multiply that silence across a graduating class, and the amount of unclaimed credit and unclaimed savings adds up fast.

Why This Matters for Planning Early

Start this conversation early. A family who understands dual enrollment and articulation agreements in 9th or 10th grade can build a real four-year plan around them, choosing courses on purpose, tracking deadlines, knowing exactly which institution honors which credit. A family who finds out senior year has already lost most of the runway to actually use any of it. By then, the schedule is set, the courses are chosen, and there's no time left to build toward an agreement that needed years to pay off.

This also isn't a one-time decision made once and forgotten. Programs change. Partner institutions change. A pathway's agreement can be updated, expanded, or dropped entirely from one year to the next. This is worth checking every single year as a student's pathway and course choices develop, not something you check once as a freshman and assume still holds true as a senior.

Every year this goes unchecked is a year of credit, and the money that credit represents, that a family may never get back.

What to Actually Do With This Information

Parents and students: Ask your school counselor directly, this week if you can, whether your CTE pathway has a dual enrollment option or an articulation agreement attached, and with which institution or institutions. Don't wait for it to come up. It often doesn't, unless someone asks first.

Educators:  Check your own program's current articulation agreements and dual enrollment opportunities so you can share accurate, up-to-date information with students and parents. An outdated answer is almost worse than no answer at all, because it creates false confidence right up until a student discovers the agreement changed two years ago.

The Bigger Point

The value of dual enrollment and articulation agreements isn't only the credit itself, real as that credit is. It's the message it sends a student: that their CTE coursework is taken exactly as seriously as any other academic track in the building. That the hours they're putting in now count for something concrete later, not just a grade on a transcript, but a head start they get to keep.

That head start is sitting there right now, waiting to be claimed. The only real risk is finding out about it too late to use it.

Read More
Stacey L. Shanklin, PhD Stacey L. Shanklin, PhD

Soft Skills at Scale: What a CCR Platform Like Xello Actually Does

Before a pathway, a career, or even a next course gets chosen, there's a more basic question: does the student actually know what they're good at and what they're curious about?

That question is foundational. It is not a "soft" afterthought tucked in after the real decisions get made, it is the decision that makes every decision after it make sense.

Setting the foundation for exploration and self-awareness in college and career readiness begins far earlier than most people assume. Not in high school. Not even in middle school. It begins in elementary school. Students with access to grade-level-appropriate lessons in a college and career readiness platform should be learning about careers, and the sheer range of careers that exist, long before they're ever asked to choose a pathway, a career, or a next step. Give a child that runway, and by the time the real decisions arrive, they aren't guessing. They're building on years of quiet, steady self-discovery.

What a CCR Platform Actually Is

A College and Career Readiness (CCR) platform, like Xello, is a structured tool schools use to help students build self-knowledge and plan ahead. It is not just a login students forget about the moment class ends.

Xello isn't the only CCR platform out there, but it's the one I know best, and it's offered to every public school student across the state of Florida, free of charge. Here's the piece I want to land, though: the specific platform matters less than the commitment behind it. The real question is how you, as an educator, a school, or a district, build genuine awareness of these tools and put them in front of even your youngest learners, not just your juniors and seniors scrambling to fill out a schedule.

The Tools Inside It, One by One

For secondary students, a CCR platform typically includes:

Interest inventories — surfacing what a student is genuinely curious about, not just what they think they're supposed to say.

Skills assessments — identifying real strengths in a structured way, not left to guesswork or a hunch.

A portfolio builder — a running record of a student's work and achievements over time, built gradually, not assembled from scratch in a panic senior year.

Career research tools — letting a student explore real career data for themselves, instead of relying on secondhand impressions from a relative or a rerun on TV.

Four-year course planning — connecting today's course choice to a longer-term plan, so a student is building toward something, not just deciding one semester at a time.

Taken together, these tools do something remarkable: they turn "I don't know what I want to do" from a dead end into a starting point.

Why This Matters More Than People Assume

Here's the truth I want every parent and educator reading this to sit with: self-awareness is a skill, not a trait. It is not something a student either has or doesn't. It can be built, the exact same way any other skill is built, through repeated, structured practice.

Skipping this step is exactly what leads to a mismatched pathway choice later, the kind that shows up as a student who's miserable in a major, or a young adult who took a job that looked right on paper and felt wrong within a month. This tool exists specifically to prevent that. Every interest survey completed, every skills assessment revisited, every year a portfolio grows a little fuller, is a student getting a clearer picture of themselves before the stakes get higher.

What This Means for Parents

Most families don't actually know what's sitting inside the platform their school already provides. It's easy to assume it's just another login, another password taped to the fridge, another thing your student clicks through for a grade.

It's so much more than that.

Students, take full advantage of these tools. Don't rush through an assessment just to check a box. Sit with the results. Let them surprise you. Parents, log in together with your student. Look at what the platform is actually telling you about their strengths, their interests, their curiosities. The results may surprise you, but more importantly, they'll open a door. A door to real conversation. A door to future planning. A door to guidance that's grounded in something real, instead of a guess.

Closing

Xello, and platforms like it, hold something powerful when they're used to their full potential, not treated as an assignment to finish and forget. Used well, they offer real insight into a student's interests, strengths, growth areas, and the opportunities waiting for them.

A CCR platform isn't a one-time stop. It's a tool students can, and should, keep coming back to, again and again, to inform, to update, to plan, to grow. The earlier that habit starts, the more confident and prepared that student will be when it finally comes time to choose.

So here's my ask, of every parent, every educator, every student reading this: don't let this tool sit unused. Log in. Look closely. Start the conversation. The future your student is building deserves that much.

Read More
Stacey L. Shanklin, PhD Stacey L. Shanklin, PhD

Industry Certifications Explained: What Parents Need to Know

School is in full swing. Classes and activities have filled your student's schedule, and all the papers have been signed. Somewhere in there, you may have read a syllabus or two with a course description that included something about an industry certification. But what does that actually mean, and why does it matter?

Here's the reframe I want to offer: certification might be one of the most valuable single words on your student's transcript.

What Actually Makes Something a "Certification"

An industry certification is tied to a specific, demonstrable skill, usually requires an exam or skills assessment, and is issued by a real industry body. These aren't school-invented tests, they're the same certification exams used in the actual industry. A few real credentialing bodies students might encounter: ServSafe for culinary and food service, OSHA safety certifications and NCCER for skilled trades, or CompTIA for IT and cybersecurity.

A certificate of completion is different, and it's still worth having. It just means what it says, participation or completion of content or activities. An industry certification means something more specific: verified competency, confirmed by an outside body, not just a grade from a teacher.

It Starts Earlier Than People Think

Here's what surprises most families: this pathway doesn't begin in 11th grade. It can start in elementary school, with something as simple as basic digital literacy, learning to navigate software, type, and use technology as a tool rather than just a toy. That foundation gets built on in middle school, where it turns into more specific, applied skills. By high school, it can become the real thing: a formal industry certification a student walks away with.

I'd rather see that arc built year over year than crammed into a single course senior year. It's the same argument I've made about work-based learning, waiting until the last stretch before graduation means a student is encountering the real substance of a field for the first time right when most of their decisions are already locked in. Certifications work the same way. A student who's been building toward one since middle school walks into that final exam with years of runway behind them, not a single semester of cramming.

What a Certification Actually Unlocks

This is the part I don't think gets said clearly enough: a certification isn't a consolation prize, and it isn't just a college play either. It does real work in both directions.

Some certifications articulate directly into college credit or advanced standing, so a student can walk onto a college campus already ahead. Some credentialing bodies and partner colleges attach scholarship opportunities directly to specific certifications a student has earned. And for a student who isn't headed to college right after graduation, or ever, a certification can be the exact thing that gets them hired over another candidate on day one.

I want to be direct about this: it's not "college or career." It's both. A real certification strengthens a student's position no matter which direction they end up going, and treating it as a college-only conversation sells the whole thing short.

What to Look For on Your Student's Course Description

The next time you're looking at a course list, here's what I'd actually check for:

1. A named credentialing body. Something like OSHA, ServSafe, CompTIA, or a state licensing board, not just "certificate of completion" with no organization behind it.

2. Outside recognition. Is this credential recognized by actual employers in that field, or only within the school?

3. A real assessment. Does earning it require an exam or skills test, or is it awarded just for finishing the course? If there's no assessment, it's likely a certificate of completion, valuable, but not the same thing.

Those three questions take five minutes and tell you almost everything you need to know.

The Bigger Point

This isn't a decision you make once, at 16, when a course catalog lands in front of you. It's a conversation worth having year over year, starting earlier than most families think to start it. The students who benefit most from this aren't the ones who stumbled into a certification senior year, they're the ones whose families understood, early on, that this was a path worth building toward on purpose.

That's really the whole thread running through everything I write here: the earlier the real information reaches a family, the better the decisions that get made with it.

Read More
Stacey L. Shanklin, PhD Stacey L. Shanklin, PhD

What the Labor Market Is Actually Telling Us About Career Readiness

"What are your plans after graduation?" Or, if we're talking to someone a little younger, "What are you planning to do after high school?" That can be a hard question to sit with when the honest answer is "I'm not sure," or an uncertain "I'm planning to go to college to study... something."

Parents and students hear a lot about college as the plan for what comes next. But what if we paused, just for a moment, to consider all the other options, and gave students real space to explore a career they might actually want to pursue? Even more importantly, what if that career doesn't require a college degree at all? What if there are other paths that lead to the same goal?

What the BLS Data Actually Shows

The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks more than 800 detailed occupations, but only about 178 of those require a bachelor's degree for entry into the workforce. Most of the jobs the government tracks were never built around a bachelor's degree requirement in the first place.

This data isn't an argument against college. Consider it,  instead, a reframe of perspective. Evidence that a "no degree" pathway is the norm, not the exception. We've been pushing college as the most viable, and often the only, option after high school, when the numbers simply don't support that as the full picture.

What's Happening to the Students Who Do Get the Degree

Here's the part of the conversation that doesn't get nearly enough attention: the New York Fed tracks underemployment among recent college graduates, and right now that rate is sitting around 42%. Underemployment, in this context, means someone is working in a job that doesn't actually require the degree they just spent four years and a considerable amount of money earning.

Think about what that means in practice. Close to half of recent graduates are walking across the stage, degree in hand, and landing in roles that never needed that degree to begin with. That's not a small footnote. That's a significant number of families who followed the advice they were given, and still ended up somewhere they didn't expect.

I want to be clear about what I'm not saying. I'm not saying college is a bad decision. I'm saying it isn't automatically the safe decision, and it hasn't been for a while. The data simply doesn't back up the idea that a degree guarantees the outcome most families assume it does.

So What Does This Mean for a CTE Pathway?

Put these two numbers side by side and the picture gets clearer. Most jobs don't require a bachelor's degree, and a large share of the students who do earn one aren't using it in their current role anyway. That's exactly the gap a strong CTE pathway is built to close.

A student who earns an industry credential in healthcare, a skilled trade, or information technology isn't settling for a fallback option. They're stepping into one of the 622 occupations that never needed a four-year degree in the first place, often with a faster timeline, less debt, and a credential that maps directly to a job that's actually hiring. That's not a consolation prize. That's a legitimate, data-backed first choice.

What This Means for Parents Right Now

If you're a parent sitting across the table from a student who isn't sure what comes next, here's what I'd actually do with this information. Don't use it to scare them away from college, and don't use it to talk them out of a pathway they're genuinely excited about. Use it to widen the table.

Ask what they're curious about before you ask what pays well, the two overlap more often than people assume. Ask what a specific credential or program actually leads to, not just what it's called. And give yourself permission to let "I want to become a dental hygienist" or "I want to work in IT" carry the same weight in that conversation as "I want to go to college." Both are real plans. Only one of them has been treated that way for the last few decades.

A Note for Educators and School Staff

If you're the one standing in front of students every day, you have more influence over this conversation than almost anyone else in a student's life, including, sometimes, their own parents. The way you frame a CTE pathway in your classroom becomes the way that student frames it for themselves.

Here's a simple shift I'd encourage: the next time a student mentions a career goal that doesn't involve a four-year degree, resist the urge to follow up with "but you should still consider college as a backup." That instinct is well-meaning, but it quietly tells the student their first choice wasn't good enough to stand on its own. Instead, ask what the pathway to that goal actually looks like, and help them map it out with the same seriousness you'd give a college application. Do the research, bring real data into the room, the same numbers in this post work well as a discussion starter. Students take a pathway more seriously when they can see it's backed by something more than encouragement.

The Bigger Point

Safety, when it comes to a student's future, has never really been about which single path they choose. It's about whether that path is grounded in something real, actual demand, actual credentials, actual alignment with who that student is and what they're good at. A four-year degree can absolutely be that. So can a CTE pathway. The labor market isn't telling us to abandon one for the other. It's telling us to stop treating one as the default and the other as the exception.

That's the whole shift I'm trying to make with this work, not steering students away from college, and not steering them toward a trade instead. Just making sure every option gets weighed with the same seriousness, using the same real numbers, before a student commits years of their life to any of them.

---

*Sources: 

  • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Education level and projected openings, 2023–33" (https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2024/article/education-level-and-openings-2023-33.htm); 

  • New York Fed, "The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates" (https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market) figure current as of the source's most recent quarterly update; confirm before publishing).*

Read More
Stacey L. Shanklin, PhD Stacey L. Shanklin, PhD

Work-Based Learning 101: What It Is and Why It Matters

I've spent enough years in classrooms and working with students to notice a pattern that never stops being true: a student can sit through weeks of instruction on a career path and stay only mildly interested, and then spend a single afternoon standing next to someone who actually does that job, and something shifts. The posture changes. The questions get sharper. Suddenly they're paying attention in a completely different way.

That shift is the whole reason I care so much about work-based learning, and it's why I wanted to walk you through what it actually is, why the timing of it matters more than most of us realize, and how you, as a parent, can go get this experience for your own student without waiting for a program to hand it to you.

What Work-Based Learning Actually Means

At its heart, work-based learning is any structured experience that puts a student in a real workplace, connected to something they're studying. It can look like a few different things, and it's worth knowing the differences:

Job shadowing is the simplest version; spending a day, or even just a few hours, watching a professional do their job up close. Mentorships build on that with an ongoing relationship, where a student gets to check in with someone in the field over time. Internships go a step further, offering a longer, more structured stretch of hands-on work, sometimes paid. And apprenticeships are the most formal of the group, often spanning multiple years and combining paid work with real instruction, usually leading to an industry credential.

What ties all four together is simple: the student isn't reading about the job or watching a video of someone else doing it. They're in the room. They're seeing what the work actually feels like, day to day.

Let's Talk About Timing, Because It Matters More Than We Think

Here's something I want to gently push back on: most schools treat work-based learning like a senior-year milestone, something students earn near the end rather than experience along the way. I understand why that happens. Coordinating internships and job placements takes real effort, and it's simply easier logistically to manage that for a smaller group of older students.

But I want you to sit with what that timing actually costs a student. By the time senior year arrives, most of the big decisions, the schedule, the pathway, the sense of "this is what I'm good at", have already been made. If the first real glimpse of a career comes after all of that, the student has spent three years choosing somewhat blindly.

I'd much rather see a freshman spend one afternoon shadowing a nurse, an electrician, or a software developer than see a senior have that same experience for the first time just months before graduation, once most of the important choices are already behind them. The earlier we can offer that exposure, the more power it has to actually shape a student's direction, not just confirm a decision that was made by default.

What This Can Look Like for You as a Parent

Here's the good news: you don't need your school to have a polished, fully built work-based learning program in place before your student can have this kind of experience. A few simple steps can go a long way.

Start by asking directly. Reach out to your student's CTE teacher or counselor and ask whether the school has a work-based learning coordinator, or any existing partnerships with local employers tied to your student's area of interest.

If nothing formal exists yet, don't let that stop you, ask for a one-day shadow anyway, and be specific when you do. A request like "could my student shadow someone in [a particular role] for a few hours?" tends to get a much warmer response than something vague like "can my child see what this career is like?" Specificity makes it easy for someone to say yes.

And don't overlook your own circle. If you know someone working in a field your student is curious about, that connection is often the fastest, warmest door into a real experience, sometimes even faster than going through a formal school channel.

One afternoon in a real workplace can do more for a student's sense of direction than an entire semester of guessing ever could.

The Bigger Point

This isn't about padding a resume or checking a box for graduation. It's about giving a student the chance to test a career against reality before they commit years of their life, and often a significant amount of money, to pursuing it. That's not a small thing to offer a young person, it's really the whole point of doing career and technical education well.

And if you're an educator or a school leader reading this and thinking about how to build something like this at scale, the partnerships, the logistics, the buy-in from staff and families, that's work I love doing alongside schools and districts through coaching, professional learning, and speaking. I'd be glad to help you build something that genuinely serves your students, not just something that looks good in a report.

Read More
Stacey L. Shanklin, PhD Stacey L. Shanklin, PhD

What is CTE, Really? A Parent’s Guide to Understanding CTE and Student Organizations

If you ask most parents what "CTE" means, you'll usually get some version of "shop class" or "the classes for kids who aren't going to college." Neither is accurate — and both undersell what's actually happening in Career and Technical Education classrooms right now.

Here's the plain-language version of what CTE actually is, how it's organized nationally, and one resource almost no family knows to ask about.

CTE Is Organized Around Career Clusters Not Random Electives

CTE isn't a loose collection of unrelated classes. It's built around a national structure called the “Career Clusters Framework”, maintained by Advance CTE, the national association of state CTE leaders.

Here's What's Worth Knowing

This framework was just modernized. For years, CTE programs across the country were organized around 16 broad career clusters. In 2024, after a two-year process involving thousands of CTE professionals and over 200 industry representatives, Advance CTE released an updated Framework built around 14 Career Clusters and 72 more specific Sub-Clusters, designed to better reflect how the modern workforce is actually organized.

A few examples of what falls under this framework: Agriculture, Digital Technology, Healthcare, Advanced Manufacturing, Construction, Public Service & Safety, Financial Services, and Hospitality, Events & Tourism, among others. Every CTE pathway your student can choose from welding, coding, culinary arts, nursing assisting, and marketing sits somewhere inside this structure. You can see the full, current list directly from Advance CTE's Career Clusters page.

Why This Matters for You

When you're looking at your student's course options, you're not looking at a random menu. You're looking at an on-ramp into an actual, mapped-out industry pathway, one that connects directly to real jobs and, in many cases, real college credit.

The Part Most Parents Miss: CTSOs

Alongside the classroom side of CTE, there's another piece worth understanding: Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs). These are the student groups tied directly to CTE pathways, organizations like FFA, DECA, SkillsUSA, and HOSA.

CTSOs aren't "just clubs." Students in these organizations compete regionally and nationally, run chapter budgets, hold officer positions, and practice public speaking; all built directly into the CTE curriculum, not bolted on as an extracurricular afterthought. For a lot of students, a CTSO is where classroom learning turns into real confidence and leadership experience.

If you're not sure whether your student's school has one, ask their CTE teacher directly. It's a five-minute conversation that can open a door your student didn't know was there.

Where to Go for More

A few places worth bookmarking if you want to go deeper:

Advance CTE: the national organization behind the Career Clusters Framework. 

  • Their Career Clusters resource page is the most current, accurate source for understanding how CTE pathways are structured nationally

Florida Ready to Work: for Florida families specifically, this is a free, state-funded credentialing program (established under Florida Statute 445.06) that helps students and job seekers earn stackable, governor-signed credentials in academic employability, soft skills, and digital skills at no cost. If you're outside Florida, most states have a similar workforce-readiness credential; it's worth asking your school counselor what your state's version is called.

The Bottom Line

CTE today is a mapped, structured, industry-aligned system, not a fallback option. Understanding the framework behind it is the first step to making sure your student gets the full value out of what's actually available to them.

Have questions about how this applies to your school or district? Reach out; I work with schools, districts, and organizations on building stronger CTE and career-readiness strategies through coaching, professional learning, and speaking engagements.

Read More
Stacey L. Shanklin, PhD Stacey L. Shanklin, PhD

From Idea to Industry: How a CTE Program Pathway is Born

Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs do not simply appear overnight. Behind every successful pathway is a thoughtful process driven by workforce needs, education policy, industry expertise, and community partnerships.

While CTE can seem complex, understanding how a program pathway is developed helps explain why these programs are so valuable to students, employers, and communities. 

What is a CTE Program Pathway? 

A CTE program is a broad career area, such as Health Science, Engineering, or Information Technology.  A pathway is a sequence of courses that prepares students with technical skills, industry credentials, and career-ready experiences.

Strong CTE pathways are built around four key components:

  • A coherent sequence of courses

  • Alignment with industry needs

  • Opportunities to earn credentials and certifications

  • Development of career readiness and employability skills

So, how does a pathway come to life? 

Most CTE pathways are developed through seven key steps: 

  1. Identifying Workforce Need

  2. Stakeholder Collaboration

  3. State Approval and Framework Development

  4. Course Sequencing and Pathway Design

  5. Funding, Resources, and Equipment

  6. Teacher Recruitment and Preparation

  7. Program Launch and Continuous Improvement

1. Identifying Workforce Need

Every career pathway begins with a workforce need. 

School districts analyze labor market data to identify careers that are in high demand, offer strong wages, and require specialized skills. Industry partners, employers, and economic development organizations provide valuable insight into workforce shortages and future employment trends.

In short, effective CTE pathways are built for real workforce needs, not simply student interest.

2. Stakeholder Collaboration

No pathway is built alone. 

District leaders, CTE staff, industry partners, postsecondary institutions, and community members work together to determine whether a pathway is viable and sustainable. 

Advisory committees play a critical role by helping schools: 

  • Validate industry-relevant skills

  • Align curriculum with workforce expectations

  • Create dual enrollment and postsecondary opportunities

  • Ensure students are prepared for employment and further education

3. State Approval & Framework Development

New programs must align with state-approved curriculum frameworks. 

State Departments of Education develop standards and benchmarks that outline what students should know and be able to do. These frameworks integrate technical skills, academic concepts, and employability skills that prepare students for both careers and continued education. 

Programs must also meet accountability and funding requirements, including those connected to federal Perkins funding.

4. Course Sequencing & Pathway Design

Once approved, the pathway is designed with the student experience in mind. 

Courses are structured to build knowledge and skills over time, moving from introductory concepts to advanced applications and capstone experiences. 

Pathways often include:

  • Industry certifications

  • Work-based learning experiences

  • Career exploration opportunities

  • Alignment with graduation requirements and postsecondary programs

5. Funding, Resources, and Equipment

One of the greatest challenges in launching a pathway is securing the resources needed to support it. 

Startup costs can range from approximately $30,000 to more than $150,000, depending on the pathway. Programs such as Business or Information Technology generally require fewer resources than pathways like Automotive, Construction, Culinary Arts, or Health Science.

Funding may come from:

  • District budgets

  • Federal Perkins grants

  • Industry partnerships and donations

  • Local and state funding opportunities

Schools must also consider facilities, equipment, technology, safety requirements, and teacher certification requirements. 

6. Teacher Recruitment & Preparation

A pathway is only as strong as its instructor.

Many CTE teachers enter education directly from industry, bringing valuable real-world experience into the classroom. To be successful, they also need training in instructional practices, classroom management, and student engagement.

Ongoing professional development helps teachers combine industry expertise with effective teaching strategies.

7. Program Launch and Continuous Improvement

When all of the planning is complete, the pathway launches.

Schools recruit students, promote career opportunities, and build awareness among families and the community. As the program grows, educators monitor enrollment, certification attainment, student outcomes, and employer feedback.

The work doesn't stop after launch. Strong pathways continuously evolve to meet changing workforce demands and industry standards.

A Real-World Example

A new Firefighting pathway in Bay District Schools demonstrates how community partnerships can bring a program to life.

After identifying a growing need for first responders, Bay County Commissioners approached the school district to explore the development of a Firefighting program. District leaders partnered with Gulf Coast State College and local industry experts to design the pathway, identify resources, secure funding, establish articulation agreements, and prepare for implementation.

The result is a new opportunity for students to gain industry-relevant training while helping address a critical workforce need in the community.

The Bigger Picture

When done well, CTE pathways benefit everyone.

They help students discover purpose and direction, provide employers with a skilled workforce, strengthen local economies, and create meaningful connections between education and industry.

That's why developing a pathway requires thoughtful planning, strong partnerships, and a commitment to quality. Every stakeholder, including educators, administrators, industry partners, parents, and community members, plays an important role in ensuring students have access to programs that truly prepare them for the future.

Behind every CTE pathway is a deliberate effort to connect students not just to classes, but to careers, opportunities, and futures.

Read More