While COVID-19 has led to many challenges for CTE over the past year, the pandemic has also created opportunities for experimentation and innovation in delivery of CTE programs and programs of study. ACTE’s latest publication, High-quality CTE During COVID-19: Challenges and Innovations, generously sponsored by MajorClarity, describes these challenges, shares examples of innovative practices, and provides recommendations for how CTE leaders can better prepare the post-COVID-19 workforce and embrace lessons learned during the pandemic.
In response to surveys fielded to ACTE members in January and February 2021, CTE professionals report that the biggest challenges they are facing during the 2020-21 school year are motivating and engaging learners and providing hands-on learning and lab hours. Providing work-based learning experiences and preparing students for industry certifications and other performance assessments are also significant challenges. And about one-fifth of CTE professionals identified internet/technology access and supporting special and underserved populations as major issues.
In addition to these delivery challenges, CTE administrators report significant enrollment declines in many CTE programs this year as well as possible funding declines and CTE instructor shortages in the years to come.
In the face of these challenges, CTE educators have risen to the moment with flexibility, creativity and perseverance. This report describes many innovative practices in CTE from the past year, including but not limited to:
- The outdoor CTE classroom at Rockbridge County High School in Lexington, Virginia, enabled students to complete performance assessments and check off competencies in an open-air, socially distanced setup.
- YouthForce Internship, a project of New Orleans-based YouthForce NOLA, developed virtual "consultancies" in which students worked together to solve a business problem identified by an employer.
- Adult nursing students at Assabet Valley Regional Technical School in Marlborough, Massachusetts, are gaining experience and earning clinical hours by administering COVID-19 vaccines.
- Kansas DECA is organizing virtual challenges to continue to develop students' technical, employability and leadership skills.
- High school students at the Teacher Academy of Renton School District 403 in Renton, Washington, have been working remotely one-on-one with elementary students who need extra emotional or academic support.
As COVID-19 moves into a new phase, CTE educators are considering how lessons learned from this past year can support teaching and learning that is more equitable, more flexible, more diverse in its delivery and more focused on competencies in order to meet an anticipated surge in demand for CTE programs that prepare youth and adults with the skills and credentials needed in the post-pandemic workforce.
To make the most of this moment, ACTE recommends that CTE leaders pursue the following recommendations, which are further elaborated in the report:
- Reassess labor market alignment
- Skill and reskill the workforce
- Commit to equity
- Embrace innovative tools and delivery models
- Develop and support CTE professionals
- Advocate for CTE