Navigating the Challenge of Critical Thinking

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The term “critical thinking” is widely used in education, especially in Career and Technical Education (CTE), and is a long-standing element of the Career Ready Practices; the standard is as follows:

Utilize critical thinking to make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

Educators, policymakers, and curriculum developers frequently promote critical thinking as a goal, yet there’s little agreement on what it actually looks like in practice—or how students develop it and how success is measured.

Critical thinking is associated with higher-order cognitive skills such as reasoning, analyzing, evaluating, and problem-solving. In a workforce increasingly shaped by automation, employers value these skills because they can’t easily be replaced by machines.

Despite its prominence, the term is not clearly defined across educational settings. Some treat it as the ability to question assumptions or form logical arguments, while others view it as the process of decision-making under complex conditions. Consistently, the goal in CTE is to perform a technical task in a standard way, quickly and safely. This seems counter to thinking critically. Therefore, one aspect of critical thinking in CTE to knowing when to use it.

Critical thinking is not a single skill that can be taught in isolation. It develops through rich, sustained student projects that encourage inquiry, problem-solving, and reflection. When classrooms still rely on rote tasks or rigid procedures, they leave students little room to practice or grow these skills authentically. Without intentional instructional design—such as open-ended problems, collaborative projects, or performance-based assessments—students may not get meaningful opportunities to develop critical thinking.

Perhaps the biggest issue is that critical thinking is hard to measure. Unlike technical skills that can be assessed through checklists or performance tests, critical thinking requires evaluating a student’s thought process, decision-making, and ability to justify choices. Most standardized tests do not capture this well. As a result, success is often judged anecdotally or through vague descriptors like “shows improvement” or “thinks critically,” without specific evidence.

While critical thinking is a powerful educational goal, its popularity outpaces clarity. Without clear definitions, instructional strategies, and assessment tools, it’s challenging to ensure that students are truly developing and demonstrating this essential skill, especially in hands-on, fast-paced CTE environments where critical thinking matters most. The following list defines critical thinking with several specific adjectives — consider it the specific details of critical thinking. These can be used to revise lessons and create assessment rubrics.

Process-Oriented – Follows clear steps to solve real-world problems
Productive – Stays focused and gets things done
Precise – Pays close attention to details and aims for accuracy
Persistent – Keeps trying, even when the task is hard
Prepared – Plans ahead and is ready to work
Perceptive – Notices important details and makes connections
Probing – Asks good questions and looks deeper into the problem
Preventative – Thinks ahead to avoid problems
Precautious – Stays alert to risks and acts safely
Pioneering – Tries new ideas and isn’t afraid to explore
Persuasive – Shares ideas clearly and explains them with confidence

To effectively teach and assess critical thinking, especially in Career and Technical Education (CTE), it’s essential to translate abstract traits like “perceptive” or “productive” into observable behaviors that students can demonstrate—and instructors can measure.

Here’s is an example of critical thinking traits in student behaviors and tie them to rubric criteria for feedback and evaluation:

Example: Perceptive Thinking

Observable Behaviors:

Observes and interprets details that impact decision-making (e.g., signs of wear on a part, irregular measurements)
Connects technical data to project goals
Justifies choices with evidence or reasoning

Level	Description
4 – Advanced	Accurately interprets relevant details and justifies decisions with strong reasoning
3 – Proficient	Notices key details and explains decisions with logical support
2 – Developing	Observes some details but reasoning is weak or unclear
1 – Beginning	Misses important details or struggles to explain choices

Sample Rubric – Changing Thinking to Observable Behavior

Click the image on the right to download a sample rubric for Cosmetology. You can easily revise this for your CTE program in and Generative AI app.

Summary:

The blog explores the widespread use of the term critical thinking in education—particularly in Career and Technical Education (CTE)—and highlights the challenges of defining, teaching, and assessing it effectively. While critical thinking is valued for its role in problem-solving and adaptability in today’s workforce, it often lacks clear implementation in classroom practice. The article emphasizes that critical thinking must be intentionally developed through inquiry-based learning and meaningful projects, not rote tasks. To bring clarity, the blog introduces a student-friendly framework of 11 “P” traits—such as Perceptive, Persistent, and Process-Oriented—that represent observable thinking behaviors. These traits can be used to revise lessons and develop practical rubrics for giving feedback and measuring student growth in real-world CTE environments.

Sparking Deeper Thinking in CTE Classrooms with Generative AI

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If you’re a Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher, you’ve probably asked yourself: How do I get students thinking more critically, without sacrificing hands-on skills or piling on more work? The answer may be closer than you think—and powered by Generative AI.

I have been exploring Generative AI ideas from the book Synergizing Success. I have posted several blogs on the NYS Trade, Technical, Teachers Association. These ideas offer a groundbreaking approach to making academic integration more practical, more manageable, and more impactful for CTE teachers. The key? Using Generative AI to generate ideas, plan integrated instruction, and engage students in deeper, more analytical thinking.

Why Deeper Thinking Matters in CTE

Technical proficiency is critical—but so is the ability to analyze, explain, justify, and adapt. Whether a student is learning carpentry, cosmetology, auto repair, or healthcare, critical thinking and academic knowledge turn good technicians into problem-solvers and future leaders.

How Generative AI Can Help

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude can serve CTE teachers in three powerful ways:

Creation – Generate lesson plans, projects, assessments, and ideas.
Support – Simplify planning, solve instructional problems, and streamline grading.
Empowerment – Strengthen your own professional growth and teaching strategies.

Here’s a sample of AI prompts from the paper that can help CTE teachers introduce deeper thinking and academic rigor:

Sample AI Prompts for Deeper Thinking in CTE

1. Designing Rigorous Instruction

How can I use problem-solving and critical thinking strategies to enhance academic rigor in my [CTE field] lesson plans?
Create a lesson where students apply physics concepts while repairing automotive brake systems.
How can I scaffold instruction so students apply algebra during a carpentry measurement project?

2. Bridging Academic and Technical Skills

Suggest interdisciplinary projects that combine CTE skills with English and math standards.
What are examples of real-world CTE problems that require both technical skills and academic knowledge?

3. Enhancing Student Engagement

If my subject were taught like an escape room challenge, what puzzles would students solve to demonstrate mastery?
How could I transform my class into a real-world work simulation for a week?

4. Encouraging Reflection and Self-Assessment

Create a journal prompt for students to reflect on how they applied math skills in a construction project.
Design a checklist to assess if students are applying academic skills effectively during technical labs.

5. Improving Assessments and Feedback

Generate a rubric that measures both critical thinking and technical skill mastery.
What strategies can I use to give individualized feedback efficiently in a hands-on classroom?

6. Planning for Improvement

What’s one small change I could make tomorrow in my [CTE program] to improve academic integration?
Generate a student survey to evaluate the effectiveness of academic integration in my course.

Final Thought

Using AI isn’t about replacing your professional judgment—it’s about enhancing it. Whether you’re creating projects, aligning with standards, or tracking student growth, Generative AI gives CTE teachers a flexible tool for bringing academic rigor and deeper thinking into technical classrooms, without losing the hands-on heart of CTE.

If you’re ready to deepen student thinking in your program, try using one of these prompts this week. One small step could open up a whole new level of learning.

You may access a downloadable version of these AI prompts.

Pope Francis – A Leadership Legacy

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The death of Pope Francis and the news media tributes caused me to recall a blog I wrote 11 years ago when he was a relatively new Pope. Following is the blog I wrote comparing his behaviors to how leaders in a complex organization can change the organization. I still think my observation as a leader is on point, considering how he acted as Pope throughout his tenure. It will take more time to measure Pope Francis’s impact on the Catholic Church, but he has affected many people, as shown by the tributes. As I reread this old blog, I realized that some political leaders must adopt some of Pope Francis’ leadership behaviors.

Pope Francis – Model of a Leader in a Complex Adaptive System

by Dick Jones 12/19/2013

Jorge Bergoglio was tapped in March as the new leader of the 1.2 billion Roman Catholic people. In these few months, he has generated considerable “buzz” for his leadership style, both within the Catholic church and the greater public. His first act as Pope was to take the unique name of Francis, which broke from tradition and inspired a key role of the church in aiding the poor. Leadership in any organization is challenging, but in large, complex organizations like the Catholic church, leadership is even more challenging. The strict doctrines, formal hierarchies, and rich cultural traditions imply an organization that will not change. However, issues like declining membership, public attitudes toward religion, shortage of priests, and conflicts in values create a tension that the organization must address. How does a new leader deal with this apparent “rock and a hard place,” needing to change but needing to stay the same? The answer is exactly how Pope Francis behaved. The lessons here are leadership lessons for anyone who assumes a leadership role in a complex organization. I think, particularly in the American political and education systems, which are complex adaptive systems, we need more leaders who think and act like Pope Francis.

When leaders step into the role of a large complex organization, they tend to think they were selected for that position because they are the smartest person in the room, capable of making the difficult decisions to solve the complex current problems. There is a tendency for leaders to believe they are all-powerful and that they can command any change. Due to religious and personal beliefs, Pope Francis understands that he is not all-powerful nor all-knowing.

More and more researchers are examining complex adaptive organizations and the unique ways they change. A complex adaptive system is composed of a diversity of people or processes that interact with each other and mutually affect each other. The result of these complex interactions is an overall organizational behavior. However, the pattern of behavior in these systems is not constant because when a system’s environment changes, so does the behavior of its people or processes. In other words, the system constantly adapts to the conditions around it. Over time, the system evolves through continuous adaptation. An excellent description of research on leaders in complex business organizations is “Leading at the Edge: How Leaders Influence Complex Systems.” Regine, B., & Lewin, R. (2000). https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327000EM0202_02

Pope Francis exhibits effective leadership behaviors in complex organizations.

Model Ethics, Caring, and Concern

Complex organizations have the capacity to change themselves over time. For that organization to change in a positive direction, it is the leader’s role to affirm the core beliefs of the organization and a commitment to strong ethical behavior. The leader should seek to inspire stronger, more positive efforts on behalf of the organization. The leader’s statements must strongly affirm the leader’s commitment to ethical principles in moving forward. The leader needs to show that he is fully committed to the organization, and every person in the organization is valued. Nearly every action by this Pope reinforces that he is deeply committed to the church and values every person’s work, regardless of position. There is no talk of “cleaning house” and removing unethical bishops or immoral priests. All of the conversation is positive. Those changes will come, but will not be driven in a top-down, authoritative manner.

Push to the Edge of Chaos

When change is necessary, the leader must convey that it is not business as usual. During a leadership change, many people who are comfortable in the organization want to see stability. They want the new leader to act like the previous leader to maintain the comfortable status quo. Pope Francis has not done that. Actions such as living in simpler quarters, changing traditions in dress, and avoiding condemning homosexuality have people watching and paying attention. He is not making changes in the organization, but sends a message that things are different. That creates a bit of chaos, not totally disruptive, but heightens everyone’s focus within the organization. It adds an energy of excitement and anticipation. From that, energy changes are more likely to evolve within the organization.

Evoke Emotions

Complex organizations establish procedures and doctrines to follow and maintain consistency within the organization. These become the boundaries of acceptable behaviors. But procedures do not inspire new actions. They tend to maintain the current status quo. A church dealing with so many social issues needs new energy and direction. Leaders do this by evoking emotion. In complex people organizations, emotions drive change. Leaders who want to strengthen the organization must evoke positive emotions in people. It is not the new policy or procedure that inspires action; it is emotions. The things we care about trigger our emotions — family, children, people less fortunate, and the environment. Pope Francis’ actions, such as embracing the disabled man with severe facial disfiguration and his affection for children and the poor, trigger emotions in us that make us want to join him in the work of the church. It is not following a church doctrine; it is following a leader.

Make Small Changes That Have Powerful Effects

Complex organizations seem totally resistant to change, but it is actually the opposite. They resist large-scale change but are constantly changing and adapting throughout the organization. The leader has an effect by making small changes that ripple across the organization. Just as a stone thrown in a lake creates a small ripple that cascades across the entire surface, small changes can have big effects. One example from Pope Francis is the answer to a reporter’s question about homosexuality, a polarizing issue in the church. His answer was simple, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” He didn’t avoid the issue with a “No Comment.” He didn’t say we need to change the policy. He acted in a way that we should not condemn and castigate homosexuals. This ripple effect could significantly impact the church by modeling the behavior of treating everyone with respect, regardless of beliefs or behaviors.

It remains to be seen, over time, the lasting leadership impact that Pope Francis will have on the Roman Catholic church, but as a new leader, he clearly exhibits leadership behaviors that are valuable lessons for other leaders in other complex organizations

All Learning is Social

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Learning is often framed as an individual pursuit, with students expected to demonstrate personal competence through grades, tests, and assignments. While individual assessments and achievements are undeniably important, focusing solely on solitary learning methods—such as worksheets, homework, online modules, or one-on-one tutoring—can overlook the fundamental truth about human nature: we are social beings. Learning thrives in social contexts, where interaction, collaboration, and shared experiences amplify understanding and retention.

The Social Nature of Learning

Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory emphasizes that individuals learn by observing, imitating, and interacting with others. This theory challenges the notion that learning is purely internal and individual. Instead, it highlights the importance of social dynamics in shaping knowledge and behavior. Humans are wired to learn through modeling others’ actions, sharing ideas, asking questions, and brainstorming solutions together.

In primary grades, social learning is often celebrated. Group activities, play-based learning, and peer collaboration dominate classrooms as children build foundational skills through interaction. However, as students progress into higher grades or adult training programs, the emphasis on social learning diminishes. Students are given packets to complete alone. Homework is done in solitude. Online modules are self-paced but often devoid of interaction. Even tutoring, while supportive, is often one-on-one and disconnected from collaborative thinking. There is a place for quiet reflection and personal mastery. But the overuse of isolated tasks neglects how we learn best: through interaction, exchange, and connection.

Middle schoolers need social learning just as much as kindergarteners. So do high schoolers. And adults in training programs. Whether in the trades, in tech, or in teacher preparation—people learn more deeply when they engage with others. Talking through a challenge helps clarify thinking. Watching how someone else solves a problem opens new pathways. Teaching a concept to a peer strengthens understanding more than reading it alone.

Social learning doesn’t mean sacrificing rigor. It means raising the bar by giving learners a chance to co-construct knowledge, to explain and justify their thinking, to listen and grow. It encourages students to ask for help without fear, to brainstorm together, to build not just academic skill—but confidence, empathy, and communication.

If we want learners who are ready for the real world, we must remember that the real world is not a silent room with a worksheet. It’s collaborative.

Cultivate Social Learning Opportunities

We need to consciously work on seeing learning socially throughout the entire learning journey, from kindergarten to continuing education. This means:

Incorporating more group projects and collaborative assignments.
Creating opportunities for peer teaching and mentorship.
Fostering classroom discussions and debates.
Using technology to connect learners and facilitate online collaboration.
Encouraging a culture of asking questions and seeking help.
Designing professional development programs that prioritize interaction and knowledge sharing.
Design lessons integrating modeling behaviors, role-playing activities, and collaborative problem-solving exercises.

Conclusion

While individual competence remains a cornerstone of education systems, it should not come at the expense of social learning opportunities. Humans learn best when immersed in interactive environments that encourage collaboration and shared growth. We can create more engaging and effective learning experiences that align with our inherently social nature by reintegrating social learning practices into higher grades and adult education programs. After all, “all learning is social.”

Learning for Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, and Forever

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In education, we often wrestle with a vital question: What exactly should students be learning? The answer is more complex than any single curriculum map or graduation requirement. It requires balance—an intentional blend of the lessons from the past, the realities of the present, the innovations of the future, and the enduring human capacities that will serve students for a lifetime.

Too often, our systems lean heavily toward yesterday. We want students to read the same books we once read, memorize facts we once memorized, and master the topics that shaped our own schooling. There’s great value in historical knowledge, classic literature, and foundational skills. But when education becomes an exercise in nostalgia, we risk making learning more about our past than their future.

In the now, we attempt to make learning relevant. We use today’s technology to engage students. We align instruction to the requirements of current job markets, offering pathways to certifications and technical skills. This is important. It recognizes students’ needs in the present and helps them see school as meaningful. But today is fleeting—and building an education system solely around current trends leaves students underprepared for what’s next.

Looking toward tomorrow, we stretch to teach futuristic thinking. We introduce students to emerging technologies, encourage innovation, and discuss global issues like climate change and racial equity. These are critical conversations. They inspire students to be thoughtful citizens and problem solvers. Yet even this approach can fall short. Why? Because it’s still anchored in a linear idea of progress, assuming we can predict what the future will need.

But the real question isn’t just about yesterday, today, or tomorrow. It’s about forever.

What do students need not just to survive in a changing world—but to thrive in one we can’t yet imagine? The answer lies in timeless human skills: thinking, listening, problem-solving, and communicating. These are the capacities that transcend content, tools, and timelines. They prepare students for a world where change is the only constant.

That’s why we must create space for challenging, creative projects—work that doesn’t just test knowledge but builds capability. Projects where students take risks, collaborate with others, and face authentic challenges. Where there may be more than one solution—or none yet imagined. These experiences develop resilience, adaptability, and curiosity. They empower learners to navigate uncertainty with confidence.

Our responsibility as educators is not to load students with our knowledge of the past. It’s to equip them with the human skills that will carry them into a future we cannot see. Let’s balance the best of yesterday, make use of today’s tools, look ahead to tomorrow—but, most importantly, prepare students for forever.

High Schools Need Change

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A recent article discusses how the image of high schools often differs from their culture and the effectiveness of student learning. This article reminded me of the high school change publication I wrote 20 years ago. Looking back, many of those recommendations are still valuable today. I recall a particular piece where I talked about the need for all high schools to change. High schools have many meaningful traditions and resist changing the status quuo.

Based on my observations of hundreds of different schools, I proposed six different types of high schools. This list is a good reflection tool for high school leaders to look hard at where their school is and what needs to change. You can access a longer paper on how different schools should approach the change process. The following is a list and description of how I would differentiate schools that need to embrace change.

Fresh Start describes high schools that are new comprehensive schools, a new charter high school, or a recent conversion to small learning communities. These schools have a fresh start unbound by traditions.

Movie Set describes high schools that have an excellent image and tradition. They meet all state accountability measures. However, their public image is better than their true performance. They look good superficially, but behind the public façade, these high schools are not serving many students well.

Good to Great are high schools with many good achievements and want to move to the next level. These schools have difficulty getting everyone to commit to change.

Slippery Slope describes high schools with a history of good performance, but their environments and/or communities are changing rapidly. They may be experiencing demographic shifts or changes in funding. Without some turnaround, they are on the downward slide toward poor performance.

Excellent Education Except describes high schools that have “excellent education, except” — except they don’t meet achievement for many one or more subgroups. These schools are good by traditional measures, but the standards and subgroup performance has identified weaknesses.

Not for My Children describes schools for which there is unanimous agreement that they have significant problems, such as student underperformance, high attrition rates, poor attendance,
low graduation rates, and often poor student behavior.

CTE and Academic Integration: Where and When

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My work in writing and editing the book Synergizing Success: Academic and Career Integration for CTE reinforced the importance of academic and CTE collaboration. This type of instructional integration creates more engaging student learning and better prepares the students for a changing technological world. This all sounds nice, but it feels like extra work for teachers. Further, where and when is there a time during school instruction for this “extra” integration? This blog describes the points where and when integration fits in teaching and can be inserted in small steps. This description will assist teachers in reflecting on and adapting their teaching and learning for student benefit. These steps are how to integrate academics and CTE.

An academic integration framework begins by clarifying the process of teaching, and a simple framework for teaching and learning for any subject is represented in the following model. Successful learning is a cycle of defining WHAT, HOW, HOW WELL, and HOW IMPROVE. These functions are defined as Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment, and Revision. This could be considered a cyclical process. However, it is more complex because the Curriculum should define Assessment and sometimes vice versa, as in the case of industry certifications. Also, the Revision modifies all three.

Integration Teaching Components

The potential individual integration tasks within teaching and learning can be defined in the following seven components.

Discover Common Ground
- Identify potential student projects directly related to the skills and concepts overlapping both academic knowledge and technical skills.
Design Performance Learning
- Define student performances that will provide evidence of acquiring technical skills and applying academic knowledge.
- Develop shared instructional principles that allow students to extend their content knowledge while strengthening critical thinking and technical skills.
Align Standards
- Ensure that the instruction aligns with both academic standards and industry-specific technical standards. This can be achieved by mapping course objectives to relevant state and national standards.
Facilitate Student Learning
- Utilize the Backward Design framework, which facilitates student activities and prepares students for academic assessments and real-world technical applications.
- Support students in acquiring any foundation knowledge and skills that will enable the completion of performance tasks.
- Encourage students to exercise sound reasoning and analytical thinking by engaging them in tasks that require judgment and explanation based on evidence.
- Design job tasks that involve identifying problems, analyzing data, and developing solutions, thereby fostering critical thinking in real-world contexts.
Use Authentic Assessments
- Develop formative assessments that measure students’ progress towards these integrated outcomes.
- Develop summative assessments that demonstrate competency in expected technical skills and application of academic performance.
- Implement both formative assessments to monitor ongoing progress and summative assessments for accountability. These should be designed to evaluate both academic understanding and technical proficiency.
Track Student Progress
- Establish systems for providing frequent and meaningful feedback to students, helping them understand their progress in both academic and technical domains.
- Develop tools for presenting acquired skills and levels of proficiency to employers and further education.
Adapt and Improve
- Collect feedback from students, educators, and industry partners to refine the instructional framework continuously.
- Allow for adaptation of integrated instruction to meet students’ diverse needs and the workforce’s evolving demands.

Summary

The multiple components describe the small steps teachers can take to integrate academic and CTE integration over time. Generative AI is an additional tool for teachers to revise Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment, and Revision. I have been developing prompts to use in identified ways integrate and shared these on the NYS Trade and Technical Teachers Association website.

Writing Reflection

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My fifty years of education professional work holds many memories. More tangible memories are copies of the many publications I have written. I have kept copies of most of the education professional materials I have written, edited, and served as a co-author or honorary author. This journey has been rewarding, from my graduate school dissertations to the most recent Synergizing Success book for ACTE. I never considered myself a writer, but recognizing taht putting ideas into words is impactful communication, I dove into writing. These old publications are now memories, and most are no longer available. These copies have collected dust on my bookshelf for several years.

It is time to get rid of these paper copies and recycle these pages into new ideas and books. The picture below shows these publications, including Cornell dissertations, student textbooks from the 80s, and International Center for Leadership resource kits/handbooks from early 2000. All of these are no longer for purchase. Skimming through the books brought many memories of the people I worked with. It is a lot of productive work that I could not done without the help of others. Much of this educational content is outdated, but much of it is still valuable. I counted up over 3,000 pages of content on the International Center publications written over a decade.

I have converted most documents to digital form so colleagues and I can continue accessing them. I plan on writing more blogs on pieces from these publications. Here is the link to my education archive page. If you have any questions, please contact me.

Synergizing Success

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NOTE:I recently created a virtual podcast with Notebook LM to summarize the Synergizing Success book.

Synergizing Success: Academic and Career Integration for CTE is a publication from the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE). This book itself is a synergistic effort involving many educators. It emphasizes the importance of integrating academic and career skills in CTE programs. It describes 17 different models of integrating Academic and CTE instruction in high schools. My co-editor and author is Dr. Jill Ranucci from Texas. In addition, another dozen writers offer their expertise and stories of effective collaboration among CTE and Academic teachers. This publication guides schools on academic and career integration in Career and Technical Education (CTE).

High school educators minimally aim to prepare students for success in the real world through diploma requirements and learning standards. However, deeper, more engaged learning is essential for students to be independent, confident, and prepared for success beyond high school. Traditional core subjects often lack relevancy for students to apply their learning to real-world problems. Likewise, CTE programs may develop technical and work habit proficiency but are weaker in developing analytical and critical thinking skills. Connecting Academic and Career and Technical Education (CTE) can improve student performance and assist in the transition to postsecondary education and careers. Collaboration among teachers is key to integrating academic content with real-world projects for deeper and more relevant learning.

The publication offers guidance for school leaders in determining and supporting models of integration for the existing school community by:

Defining CTE academic integration as the application of academic knowledge within technical skills, promoting lifelong learning and real-world problem-solving.
Understanding why integration benefits all school stakeholders.
Showing connection to existing school improvement initiatives.
Advocating for effective state roles for integration.
Identifying the obstacles to overcome.
Suggesting flexible actions to overcome obstacles.
Defining the important roles of school leadership.
Encouraging involvement of the community.
Reminding leadership of the supervisory role in implementation.
Encouraging staff professional growth.
Suggesting role of CTE student leadership organizations.

The publication discusses various integration models that can be used to incorporate academic standards into Career and Technical Education (CTE) instruction. These models include common-themed lessons, project-based learning, career-connected academic courses, career academies, and more. The models vary in the level of planning and collaboration required for effective integration. Examples are provided for each model, showcasing how they can be applied in real-world scenarios. The models cover a range of strategies, from enhancing literacy in CTE to empowering special populations. Different types of schools, such as comprehensive middle and high schools, technical high schools, and regional technical centers, can choose the most suitable integration models based on their organizational structure. The models aim to improve student engagement, academic achievement, and career readiness.

This book is only the beginning of sharing practices to enhance CTE and Academic Integration. Join us in the online community.

Career Pathways are Not Job Tunnels.

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I am a Career and Technical Education (CTE) advocate because I have seen how participation in high-quality programs changes student lives toward a positive trajectory. I recently read with interest the article, The State of Career and Technical Education, in Charts. The article shared very positive statistics such as over 80% of U.S. high school student take at least one CTE course. The disaggregation of data displayed popular career fields, mainly in information technology, human services, and business. The data implies that schools need to show more success in enrolling students in low-enrollment careers such as engineering, construction, and health care. There are many reasons for the gaps, including student interest and the cost of programs. Also, remember that this is only at least one diploma credit. Another data set pointed out that many students earning post-secondary technical degrees did not follow that same career path in high school. The tone of this article implies that schools should promote more vital career pathways to prepare students for career fields that provide employment opportunities. That is an admirable goal but unrealistic.

A strength of the US secondary education system is diversity and choice. Students are not locked into a career path and can change interests as they grow and experience different careers. Career pathways and CTE in high school are good; however, we need more students taking more than one unit. A career pathway, in any career cluster, is a valuable learning experience, even if the student changes and follows a different career. The relevance of learning, hands-on projects, teamwork work, and developing essential behaviors learned in any CTE instruction is valuable learning. However, we should never push students to an early career pathway that becomes a tunnel to a specific job. Nor should the value of CTE be discounted when students shift to a different field, which wastes time and resources.

My experience in education is primarily built on observation and listening to students in hundreds of schools. I recall one student’s comment that insightfully described the value of CTE, even if it is not in the student’s ultimate career goal. Years ago, I visited the DeBakey School of Health Professions, , one of the best schools in the country. As a competitive entry magnet school, all students focus on health careers. I was interviewing senior students and asked about their career plans. These students did not simply replay becoming doctors or nurses; they already had their goals set in specific fields, such as pediatric oncology. However, one student indicated she was pursuing a career in automobile design. Surprised, I asked her if she wished she had chosen to attend a different school since she had spent time in patient career, health science, and research. She smiled and said, “No, I would still come to DeBakey. It is the best high school.”

CTE is an option in most U.S. high schools and benefits all students regardless of career goals. We should keep options and choices open for students and parents. Expanding student experiences in CTE will make high school more relevant and help students identify their interests and abilities. Career pathways, constructed well, create multiple paths for students and post-secondary education and are not a narrow tunnel to a mandated job.