The New CTE: New York City as Laboratory for America

Once one of the most disparaged forms of education in the United States, what used to be called “vocational education”—now renamed “career and technical education,” or CTE—has emerged in the past decade as one of the most promising approaches to preparing students for the future. New York City is at the forefront of the national revolution in career education.

• The number of New York City high schools dedicated exclusively to CTE has tripled since 2004 to almost 50; some 75 other schools maintain CTE programs; 40 percent of high school students take at least one CTE course, and nearly 10 percent attend a dedicated CTE school.
• Data on outcomes are still limited, but evidence suggests that young people who attend CTE schools have better attendance rates and are more likely to graduate; students in comprehensive high schools with CTE programs also appear to score better on standardized tests than those at schools with no CTE offerings.
• Following a decade of bold changes in city and state policy, the front lines of innovation have shifted from offices in Manhattan and Albany out to schools across the five boroughs, where educators are working—some more successfully than others—to implement the essential elements of the new CTE.

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