Career Readiness
Updated October 26, 2021
The information below is an executive summary of the DLC report titled “The Intersection of Career Readiness and Digital Learning,” which is available as a downloadable .PDF in the right-hand column of this page. Also available in the right-hand column are longer versions of the career readiness program profiles that are featured in the report.
Preparing students for jobs and careers has long been considered a key goal of public education. Although other benefits, such as fostering a healthy democracy and functioning society, are also critically important, education is commonly linked to students’ future jobs and careers, and more broadly to the economic health of the country. As one example, consider the extent to which business and business-oriented organizations, such as chambers of commerce, are considered key stakeholders of school districts in many areas.
A key question, therefore, has accompanied the rise of online and hybrid learning. Can online schools, and digital learning more broadly, support career readiness (CR) and career and technical education (CTE)?
The Intersection of Career Readiness and Digital Learning report by our team sought to answer that question. It first provides a brief background on the forms of digital learning, drawing on the experience and publications of the Digital Learning Collaborative, among other sources. It then provides a similarly brief history of CTE. These two primers form the background to a more detailed discussion of the intersection of digital learning, CR, and CTE, which comprises section three. Finally, the report presents short profiles of online schools and courses that are supporting career education. These examples include fully online schools, online course providers such as state virtual schools, and the use of online courses and hybrid learning environments in mainstream school districts.
As explained in this report, digital learning does in fact support career study, in numerous valuable ways. Online schools and courses are creating new, innovative, and generally underappreciated synergies between schools and career exploration for students. Digital learning is increasing access to CR and CTE courses of study for many students who otherwise would not have access to these options, while site-based internships and other programs are providing real-world experience to students in online and hybrid schools.
Digital learning is relatively new; CR and CTE are not. National efforts to create and support CTE date back more than a century. In 1917, Congress passed the Smith-Hughes National Vocational Education Act, which was an early step towards making CTE a critical component of K-16 education in the United States. Sixty-seven years later, the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act of 1984 (Perkins) was passed.
Built on the foundation of the career higher education market, CTE was established to prepare learners for high-wage, high-skills, high-demand careers. Katie Fitzgerald, Director of Communications and Membership for Advance CTE, shared, “Vocational education’s history is grounded in preparing individuals for the workforce. That is still a relevant purpose today, however, in the early 1900s, the majority of jobs required a high school degree or less while today’s jobs require some postsecondary education.”
However, the U.S. economy was quite different at influential times in the development of CTE than it is now. The post-World War II decades were notable as a time in which a white male could earn a competitive middle-class wage based on a combination of a high school diploma and job skills—many of which would not change quickly over the years. These decades were clearly not nearly as beneficial for workers who were not white and male, but both economic and political structures (e.g., both management and labor in large and influential companies) reflected the influence and expectations of white men—and to a lesser extent other men—with the perceived goal of single earners being able to support a family at a middle-class standard of living.
This view of the economy persisted well into the second half of the 20th century, even as economic conditions were shifting. With the growth and spread of computers and other new technologies, CTE slowly shifted to encompass a wider range of skills. Barry King, Director of Career and Technical Education at Insight PA Cyber Charter School, explained that “CTE evolved out of vocational technical, which some people had viewed negatively because it was very closely associated with learning very specific skills or trades.” Both Fitzgerald and King expressed that the ‘votech’ stigma is slowly dissolving. A driver and sign of this change is the way in which the term “College and Career Readiness” has largely replaced “CTE” in common usage. Tied to CCR is the concept that few, if any, people will work a significant number of years without learning new skills. The idea of “life-long learning” has become so common as to be passé, but the concept truly marks a major shift from the way CTE was perceived years ago. In fact, while CTE and CCR are sometimes seen as separate concepts in policy and funding, many longtime CTE professionals see them logically and progressively fusing together. Fitzgerald emphasized, “CTE and CCR have similar goals to prepare students for career and college, including options for dual and concurrent enrollment, industry certifications, contextualized academics, and more.” This view contributed to the development of elements of federal policies, such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, in which state performance frameworks for school districts focus on graduating students who are college and career ready.
These concepts have been evolving for decades and continue to shift. Based on these ideas, the CTE field started thinking critically about what it needed to do. Fitzgerald explained, “Since the community changed its name from Vocational Education to Career Technical Education and the inception of the National Career Clusters Framework®, the CTE community has embraced the commitment to career pathways and a focus on lifelong learning, with strong on- and off-ramps.” This focus on lifelong learning has been a significant pivot for the field. In 2018, research conducted by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce found that students with solely a high school diploma or less were not set up for competitive jobs, which reinforces the need for most learners to earn some type of PS credential, which CTE can lead to.
Elements of CTE
Recent developments have further strengthened the College and Career Readiness field. For instance, the Association for Career & Technical Education (ACTE), the “largest national education association dedicated to the advancement of education that prepares youth and adults for careers,” established the Quality CTE Program of Study Framework. This framework consists of 12 elements and 92 criteria that together define a comprehensive, research-based CTE program. 11 The 12 elements are:
Standards-aligned and Integrated Curriculum
Sequencing and Articulation
Student Assessment
Prepared and Effective Program Staff
Engaging Instruction
Access and Equity
Facilities, Equipment, Technology, and Materials
Business and Community Partnerships
Student Career Development
Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs)
Work-based Learning
Data and Program Improvement
These 12 elements can be used by CTE stakeholders to help ensure programs are implemented in a way that will lead to strong student outcomes. Many of the elements of the Framework are also emphasized in the federal legislation related to CTE. CTE is funded at the federal level primarily through the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, and states and local communities invest resources as well. The Perkins Act provides just over $1.3 billion to states to implement CTE programs. State CTE policy, legislation, and funding information is published in an annual report by ACTE and its partner organization, Advance CTE, which is made up of state CTE directors. The Perkins Act was last reauthorized in 2018 as the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, or "Perkins V." Each state has a different Perkins plan based on its needs. The state plan is then used to set requirements for LEAs to develop their own Perkins applications.
Most CTE programs, curriculum, and instructional design use the National Career Clusters Framework as a tool to organize and structure the content areas covered under the Pathways to College & Career Readiness. Sixteen Career Clusters represent 79 Career Pathways:
Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources
Architecture & Construction
Arts, A/V Technology & Communications
Business Management & Administration
Education & Training
Finance
Government & Public Administration
Health Science
Hospitality & Tourism
Human Services
Information Technology
Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security
Manufacturing
Marketing
Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
Transportation, Distribution & Logistics
CTE program offerings vary from one school to the next, as individual schools typically offer a subset of pathways, clusters, and courses. For instance, the following two figures illustrate the varied offerings from the Cyber Academy of South Carolina and Virtual Arkansas, respectively.
Cyber Academy of South Carolina’s Career Clusters, Pathways, and Courses
Virtual Arkansas’ Career Clusters, Pathways, and Courses
Some of the pathways provide learners an opportunity to gain certification(s) and/or associates degrees prior to graduation. In addition to diplomas, certifications, and degrees, the very nature of CTE programs provide students experiential opportunities to learn 21st century skills, including critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, flexibility, technology literacy, media literacy, information literacy, leadership, initiative, productivity, and social skills. These skills are aligned with those most wanted by employers, as reported in the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ Job Outlook 2020 survey:
Problem solving skills
Ability to work in a team
Strong work ethic
Analytical/quantitative skills
Communication skills (written and verbal)
Leadership
Initiative
Detail-oriented
Technical skills
Flexibility/adaptability
Interpersonal skills (relates well to others)
Computer skills
Organizational ability
Strategic planning skills
These skills also naturally align with the critical components for meaningful learning with technology, including intentionality (goal-directed), active (manipulative, learning-by-doing), constructive (creative, reflective), cooperative (collaborative), and authentic (relevant, contextual, real-world). 15 Some of the Career Clusters and Pathways also have a direct alignment to information technology, including A/V Technology & Communications; Business Management & Administrations; Finance; Information Technology; and Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics.
The remainder of this report explores the intersection of digital learning and CTE.
Digital Learning and CTE
Three key findings of this study—as explored in several of the profiles within this study—are:
Online CTE courses and programs often provide career education options for students who would not otherwise have access to good opportunities.
Full-time online schools provide CTE programs by offering a combination of online career courses and by partnering with businesses, state and regional training centers, and other organizations to combine online learning with on-the-ground, real-world jobs, internships, and learning opportunities.
Hybrid schools and programs, including those run by mainstream districts, provide academic scheduling flexibility to students who seek to prioritize their time in jobs, internships, or career training. No longer do these students have to fit in their career interests after regular school hours or on weekends—when many companies and high-value jobs are not open or available. For example, a student interested in a veterinary career can work at a vet’s office during the regular week and school hours, completing some of their online coursework after normal work hours.
The fact that digital learning integrates so well with CTE is reflected in the ways in which digital learning supports several of the 12 elements of the 2018 Quality CTE Program of Study Framework, as detailed below.
Access and Equity
Online courses provide opportunities for students to engage in courses, and with teachers, that they would otherwise not have access to. Online schools offer an educational option for students who have found themselves not well served by traditional public schools, for reasons including mental and physical health, because they have fallen behind academically or wish to move ahead at a faster pace, or because they seek scheduling flexibility.
Current industry content available online to high schools has been limited. Stride is leveraging the acquisition of three adult training companies to create high school level content. Destinations Career Academy of Colorado successfully piloted MedCerts content in the Stride Career Learning program. These high quality courses aligned to current industry standards expand the online courses available to high schools. This access issue is not just about the ability of online schools to offer a wide range of career courses. In addition, because some students do not have access to CTE offerings (due to lack of teachers, facilities, or materials), some CTE programs are turning to digital learning options to ensure all students have the opportunities.
As an additional example, Indiana Connections Career Academy (INCC) illustrated their commitment to providing students equitable access to CTE options by partnering with eight career centers located in several rural and urban areas around the state.
Business and Community Partnerships
Business and community partnerships serve as a lifeline for students’ career exploration. Some partnerships can occur via online courses, such as for the information technology pathway—because many computer technology and skills courses are typically taught online for all students. In other areas, such as the Health Sciences cluster, however, most partnerships typically need to occur in-person and at a healthcare facility.
One of the schools featured in this report is the Insight PA Cyber Charter School, a comprehensive high school offering a Stride Career Prep program with 15 tracks, including computer programming, health professions, and business pathways, as well as a construction pre-apprenticeship, robotics preapprenticeship, pharmacy tech pre-apprenticeship, and certified nursing assistant program. The preapprenticeships are all coordinated by businesses that Insight PA partners with. Insight PA works with many corporations and professional organizations across the state, including the Association of Builders and Contractors (ABC), Penn College, CVS Corporation, PITT OHIO, and IBM. Insight PA’s curriculum that students engage in during their coursework is all online, while the pre-apprenticeships and other work-based experiences require students to show up physically at training centers located near their residence.
Insight PA partners with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which has hospitals across the state, to offer their health professions pathways. Students in that pathway work at their local hospitals two days a week. Students can also engage in dual enrollment courses through colleges and universities, such as Arizona State, Grand Canyon University, and Pennsylvania’s community colleges, to work toward a degree related to their area of interest. Insight PA students also watch live surgeries, such as hip replacements, knee replacements, and kidney transplants. Barry King, Director of Career and Technical Education at Insight PA, added, “There are a couple of places, one in Pennsylvania and another in New Jersey, where the surgeon demonstrates for students a play-by-play of what he’s doing, so it’s very educational.” Another compelling example of virtual learning by way of partnerships is shared by James Malcom, CTE Campus Director at Virtual Arkansas: “The teacher for the criminal law course is an assistant prosecuting attorney, and when she gets permission from the case’s judge, she live streams the day in court so that students can see her in action.”
Destinations Career Academy of Colorado (CODCA) has more than 15 industry partnerships with their Stride Career Prep program. These industry partners sit on the CTE program’s advisory committee. Each industry partner offers internships and other work-based learning opportunities to CODCA’s students. The school also partners with a company called CareerWise which helps place students for internships. Additional industry partners engage with the school and its students through Nepris by way of guest speakers, career tours and visits, and career-based learning online. INCC also uses Nepris and hosts at least a dozen opportunities each week for students to connect with professionals online. Additionally, INCC connected their students with over 300 field experts in their physical professional spaces during school year 2020–21.
Nevada Career Academy (NCA) has a unique professional mentorship program where they connect students with industry professionals to talk about goals and to keep up-to-date on what is happening in the field. In addition to their career-based courses, students at Oxford Virtual Academy (OVA), which is a program within Oxford Community Schools district in Michigan, have links to professionals through independent studies that are set up like project-based learning opportunities. Some OVA pathways require work-based learning through training and/or apprenticeships. The district recently purchased access to Nepris to provide students more opportunities for career exploration through business and community partnerships and networking.
Prepared and Effective Program Staff
A variety of staff roles support the intersection of CTE and digital learning. Depending on the program’s model and size, program staff can include district and school staff, such as superintendents and CTE curriculum coordinators, or a combination of CTE directors, counselors, principals, program managers, and more. In district-run online and hybrid schools, district-wide CTE teachers may instruct the CTE courses in the online school. This is the approach at OVA, for example.
In many of these programs, non-teaching staff play a critical role. Students have a counselor who helps them navigate their coursework, while their mentors serve as cheerleaders and coaches, providing them structure and support as needed and assisting them with resolving any issues.
The Insight PA team consists of King, who serves as the Director, a coordinator who drives students into the program, four business teachers, two health professions teachers, and two computer science teachers. The Stride Career Prep program at Alabama Destinations Career Academy (ALDCA) has a number of staff that support the program, including an assistant superintendent, CTE district coach, district- and ALDCA-counseling teams, as well as advisors, coordinators, and administrators who are specifically dedicated to the CTE program.
At Destinations Career Academy of Colorado (CODCA), a counselor meets four times a year with each student to discuss academic goals, their courses, and how they are progressing. If students want to change pathways, they can do so at any time. Every student also has an engagement advisor who helps students structure their day to succeed and get the support they need. Across all pathways, CODCA’s certification pass rate is between 75% and 80%.
Facilities, Equipment, Technology, and Materials
In digital learning, while it might be difficult to engage with equipment that requires physical facilities, some CTE programs provide virtual reality experiences as well as simulations and other digital manipulatives to enhance student learning. Students in the Stride Career Prep program at Cyber Academy of South Carolina (CASC) meet on Fridays at health care facilities located around the state to meet the face-to-face requirement for Health Science 2. For OVA’s information technology coursework, the school sends Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as Autocad and Autodesk 360 Fusion to their students. If students need a computer and/or Internet access, OVA provides that, depending on the functionalities that students need in their coursework and other learning opportunities. Similar to OVA, CODCA sends software to students who need it, especially for those enrolled in the information technology pathway. Students in the health professions pathway at CODCA receive clay from the school for the anatomy and physiology course so that they can each build a human body. The school also sends lab equipment for their science courses. Some schools also work with business and community partners to secure facilities, equipment, technology, and materials. INCC has eight career centers that they partner with across their state, and they are the only online school that has this type of partnership with the centers in their state. INCC also has a partnership with a makerspace in northern Indianapolis. As Stephanie Chi, INCC’s Principal, emphasized, “These centers and field-based work opportunities offer students prolonged hands-on learning experiences with professionals to really apply what they are learning.”
Student Career Development
Career exploration in digital learning takes many forms, some of which include virtual job shadows, career professional webinars, virtual industry tours, virtual field trips, and more. Career development can also include workshops for students focused on writing resumes, interviewing for jobs, navigating the housing market, buying cars, and more, as is done at NCA which also has a mock interview program. While place-based CTE programs are often limited to local chapters, digital meeting and engagement options help to expand Career Technical Student Organizations (CTSO) experiences to regional, state, national, and international events. CTSOs provide students additional opportunities to network with industry professionals. CASC’s students, for instance, engage in three CTSOs -- Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA); Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America; and SkillsUSA. CODCA has CTSOs for each of the five pathways that also offer blended learning opportunities through conferences and state competitions. INCC has an active, award-winning chapter of Future Business Leaders of America, which is shared in their school profile.
Engaging Instruction
Engaging instruction can mean many things, but in CTE, project based learning (PBL) 16 is a crucial part of the experience. It helps students develop essential professional skills and learn how to be effective workers no matter the environment. High-quality PBL, according to Buck Institute for Education, 17 includes six criteria:
“Intellectual Challenge and Accomplishment: Students learn deeply, think critically, and strive for excellence.”
“Authenticity: Students work on projects that are meaningful and relevant to their culture, their lives, and their future.”
“Public Product: Students’ work is publicly displayed, discussed, and critiqued.”
“Collaboration: Students collaborate with other students in person or online and/or receive guidance from adult mentors and experts.”
“Project Management: Students use a project management process that enables them to proceed effectively from project initiation to completion.”
“Reflection: Students reflect on their work and their learning throughout the project.”
These six criteria work into the PBL infused into CTE courses, providing students with opportunities to ignite their creativity, make authentic connections between what they are learning and the world around them, and take ownership of their work. For CTE teachers, PBL provides the structure for them to become guides that facilitate their students’ learning and discovery processes. In addition to PBL, some programs, such as VLACS and INCC, give students opportunities to earn badges as they complete their content and work-based learning. These badges add incentive for students to gain skills as well as recognition as they learn. These programs, among others, also provide many experiences for students to engage directly with experts from the field.
The Future of Digital Learning in CTE
The pandemic and widespread shift to remote learning over the past year has further pushed the intersection of digital learning and CTE. According to Fitzgerald of Advance CTE, “While there were some rural communities in several states that were engaging in digital learning before COVID hit, providing asynchronous sessions and transportation to technical centers, specifically for those needing to take certification tests, the pandemic really expedited the use of digital learning in CTE.” As Michael Connet, ACTE’s Associate Deputy Executive Director for Outreach and Partnerships, shared:
During the pandemic, community organizations in states such as Delaware, took hyper local approaches to provide hands-on learning. In New Hampshire, for example, educators worked with a flipped classroom model, where there were a couple hours of learning online and the rest in a lab. In Florida, some CTE programs were partnering with virtual reality companies, sending kits to students, and letting them practice through the curriculum.
The pivot in CTE because of COVID has also resulted in an increase in strong public-private and communitybased partnerships at the state and local level, including incorporation of local industry advisory boards. As Fitzgerald emphasized, “Shared ownership is key. In Wyoming, educators are going into industry to learn more about all of the career opportunities for students so that they are better able to serve as mentors in their students’ decision-making processes for their pathways.”
Now, the field is thinking more critically about what innovations will stick beyond COVID. As can be seen from the examples shared throughout this report, CTE programs across the U.S. have incorporated digital learning, and online schools have incorporated CTE. Whether trying to overcome challenges related to teacher shortages, lack of work-based learning opportunities in rural areas, or scheduling conflicts, leveraging digital learning has provided CTE programs with a variety of solutions to common issues. While CTE programs have made giant strides in finding ways to incorporate digital learning, there are a number of opportunities where digital learning may be leveraged even more to solve some pain points.
Recent research from Advance CTE 20 found that there was lower satisfaction among Black and Latinx students as compared to their white peers regarding opportunities such as work-based learning and internships - places where students would traditionally build networks with employers and the community. Additional research into the inequities in CTE and root causes and strategies to mitigate them are featured in a recent publication by the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE). 21 In the NAPE publication, the authors shared an approach to systemic change that takes educators from “unaware” to “aware,” from “aware” to “understand,” and finally from “understand” to “action.” The publication went a step further to provide key questions to encourage shift in the system to include the following:
“How do educators’ perceptions of, and beliefs about, students affect student outcomes?”
“How do students’ perceptions of themselves affect student outcomes?”
“How do institutional structures (e.g., policies, climate) contribute to differential outcomes for students in educational environments?”
“How do these dynamics affect student course/program participation, persistence, and performance?”
“How can educators, individually and collectively, become change agents and advocates for increased student access, educational equity, and ultimately workforce diversity?”
“How do we center the voices, experiences, and critiques of students and families in seeking solutions to complex challenges?”
There has to be more intention in the field around making sure that race access/equity, especially for populations that are traditionally underserved and underrepresented, are at the forefront when designing CTE programs to lower barriers and make sure everyone can benefit. Digital learning has the potential to help in this case.
Another opportunity gap is related to geographical location. Individual CTE programs do not offer all pathways. Thus, to address access and equity, the CTE field is considering the idea of CTE without borders, which would allow students to cross state lines and/or enroll in other schools within the state in order to take the courses they want toward the certification, college degree, and/or career they are interested in. CTE without borders is also important for schools/programs who cannot find in-state teachers with CTE credentials needed to cover all career clusters within their state, so licensing reciprocity from state-to-state would be ideal. Fitzgerald emphasized, “Especially places like D.C., Virginia, and Maryland, we talk about that a lot at the regional level. Why wouldn’t we be able to do that? We all share economies to some degree.” Additionally, the field is placing priority on networking opportunities for students to make sure they have connections to move from course or learning experiences into potential job prospects in their community or beyond, using digital connection means if needed. Another key element of addressing access and equity is the physical spaces, such as shared technical centers, regional learning labs, or even spaces in businesses, that are used to provide learning opportunities to students. Especially for schools that cannot afford materials and space, these business and community partnerships are crucial for CTE students. These centers can also provide students who are taking their courses completely online and learning from home a space to earn their hands-on learning competencies.
More and more, some of the programs that require in-person, hands-on learning and work-based learning for certification, such as the health sciences pathways, are considering what parts of their learning can be done online to leverage the flexibility of digital learning to better accommodate students and faculty. Similarly, COVID has pushed many businesses to flip their model to innovate. Connet shared an example of this from the automotive pathway:
We see a lot of that in terms of investment of time and technology. I was talking to a car dealership last fall. And in the spring, when everything went topsy turvy [COVID], the dealership went out and bought a bunch of GoPro cameras and put them on their technicians, and they were live streaming as volunteers to their local school system to their auto-tech students. The instructor would essentially direct the technician to show certain parts of the operation that they were doing to reinforce the student’s attention. When I talked to the dealership again back in January, they’d advanced to the point where they now have pods of students who are working with individual technicians once or twice a week, and they’re directing the technician to go to adjust the calipers or whatever it is that they’re doing, as opposed to the technician saying, “I’m now adjusting the caliper.”
Connet also shared that the field has seen an increased interest in the use of augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies in CTE classrooms in multiple clusters, ranging from the skilled trades with virtual welding equipment, 22 to health care with digital anatomy applications.23,24
AR/VR allows students the opportunity to engage in learning that might not be easily accessible to them, not only with rich CTE curriculum but also with field-based professionals in a field that is of interest to them. As Fitzgerald emphasized,
CTE begins with career exploration, allowing learners to find what they love, refining their interests and then providing the opportunities to gain real-world experience and the skills needed for successful careers. The National Career Clusters, which are being revamped again, are reflective of the entire world of work. CTE delivery should be a rich partnership between employers and educators.
High-quality CTE is about the transition into life-long learning. There is no single approach to the way highquality CTE programs implement learning opportunities for students. Well-designed digital learning can be a critical component providing flexibility, access, and equity for all students, and particularly those populations of students who are underserved and underrepresented.
