Your Place in the Framework
Your Place in the Framework
Maximizing the potential of the National Career Clusters® Framework requires commitment and collaboration from actors at all levels of education and industry.
Your work and voice matter in realizing our vision of a modern National Career Clusters® Framework that is responsive to both learners and industry while providing flexibility for the future and for the needs of each state and community. We are committed to working with all partners to ensure high-quality implementation of the Framework for all users.
Achieving this vision requires shared commitment and collaboration among leaders and practitioners who are using and affected by the Framework, including those at the national, state, and local levels. It also requires connection to and across education, workforce development, industry, and philanthropy. Only together can we realize the possibility and aspiration of a new career preparation ecosystem that gives each learner limitless opportunity for career success through CTE.
State CTE Leaders
In each state and territory, state CTE leaders set the vision for the extent and the pace of Framework adoption and implementation. The modernized Framework is designed to spark innovation to advance numerous CTE systems, policy, and practice. Integrating Framework design and language into state systems can make state CTE program design and data more consistent with a state or regional labor market.
Advance CTE is providing active support to state CTE agency staff as you determine when and how to best update systems to align with the modernized Framework. We are offering resources and convening spaces to meet states at their pace of implementation. We are also working with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education as it updates federal Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins V) reporting guidelines to align with the new Framework, effective for data reported regarding the 2025-2026 academic year onward.
- Adjust and align state and local CTE programs to meet the needs of the labor market and regionally specific talent pipelines.
- Design new programs for emerging workforce areas or areas that may not have historically fallen under the CTE umbrella.
- Develop and review standards, curriculum, and credentials aligned to Career Clusters and Sub-Clusters.
- Align terminology, messaging, and programs across systems, including secondary, postsecondary, and adult education and workforce development more broadly.
- Develop work-based learning experiences that span multiple Career Clusters to build both foundational and sector-specific skills and align language and messaging between education and industry partners.
The following resources are currently under development to support state CTE leaders:
- a white paper to discuss potential state-level policy changes
- an implementation guide to support state-level implementation changes
- discipline-specific resources to show how educational disciplines can be incorporated across Clusters
And more to come!
Industry & Workforce Development Professionals
When industry representatives provide education partners input on labor market trends and skill needs for their industry sector, they help to achieve a Framework that is a responsive, sustainable pipeline for prepared, diverse talent in high-wage, high-skill, and in-demand fields. Workforce development professionals can use the Framework to understand common language between industry and education and help employees from all sectors align existing professional experience and transferable skills with education opportunities for reskilling and upskilling.
- Collaborate with state and local Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders to contribute to and analyze labor market and talent pipeline information and trends.
- Collaborate with state and local CTE leaders to develop and review standards, curriculum, and credentials aligned to Career Clusters and Sub-Clusters.
- Collaborate with state and local CTE leaders to align terminology, messaging, and workforce programs.
- Develop work-based learning experiences that span multiple Career Clusters to build both foundational and sector-specific skills and align language and messaging between education and industry partners.
Local CTE Administrators
Once a state decides which aspects of the Framework to adopt, local CTE leaders, including district-level CTE directors, superintendents and principals, postsecondary deans and provosts, and others, are important partners in both informing educators about the path ahead and spurring innovation in local programs of study design. Local CTE leaders also serve as important communicators and collaborators to employers and industry to ensure that the implemented Framework truly is responsive to and reflective of local, regional, and state economic needs.
Advance CTE is partnering with national organizations connected to CTE to cocreate and share resources providing guidance on Framework implementation and creative, responsive program of study design.
- Adjust and align local CTE programs to meet the needs of the labor market and regionally specific talent pipelines.
- Design new programs for emerging workforce areas or areas that may not have historically fallen under the CTE umbrella.
- Develop and review standards, curriculum, and credentials aligned to Career Clusters and Sub-Clusters.
- Align terminology, messaging, and programs to support program recruitment and career advising efforts.
- Support alignment between local secondary and postsecondary educational opportunities including youth/pre-apprenticeship, early postsecondary opportunities such as dual and concurrent enrollment, and seamless transfer to postsecondary success.
- Engage with local employers to support advisory boards, work-based learning, curriculum and resource development, and other connections to the workforce.
- Develop work-based learning experiences that span multiple Career Clusters to build both foundational and sector-specific skills and align language and messaging between education and industry partners
The following resources are currently under development to support local CTE administrators:
- a white paper to discuss potential policy changes that may affect local implementation
- an implementation guide to support state-level implementation changes with local impacts
- discipline-specific resources to show how educational disciplines can be incorporated across Clusters
- career advising tools, including a Career Interest Survey
And more to come!
CTE Instructors
The modernized Framework is designed to spur state policy innovation that can expand course instruction options for secondary, postsecondary, and workforce professionals. This modernization also encourages renewed partnership and collaboration among local CTE leaders, employers and industry, and CTE-connected partners such as career advising professionals and community organizations to remove instructional silos and be responsive to state and community economic needs.
Instructors are encouraged to become familiar with the Framework to be prepared to communicate its structure and benefits to institutional leaders as well as learners and families.
Adjustments to and expansions of programs of study will emerge as states pursue long-term implementation of the Framework, and instructors are encouraged to start using the Framework when opportunities for program change emerge. Advance CTE is partnering with national organizations connected to CTE to cocreate and share resources providing guidance on Framework implementation and creative, responsive program of study design.
- Adjust and align the content of local CTE programs to meet the needs of the labor market and regionally specific talent pipelines.
- Design new programs for emerging workforce areas or areas that may not have historically fallen under the CTE umbrella.
- Align terminology, messaging, and programs to support program recruitment and career advising efforts.
- Support alignment between local secondary and postsecondary educational opportunities including youth/pre-apprenticeship, early postsecondary opportunities such as dual and concurrent enrollment, and seamless transfer to postsecondary success.
- Engage with local employers to support advisory boards, work-based learning, curriculum and resource development, and other connections to the workforce.
- Develop work-based learning experiences that span multiple Career Clusters to build both foundational and sector-specific skills and align language and messaging between education and industry partners.
School Counselors & Career Advising Professionals
Once a state decides which aspects of the Framework to adopt, career advising professionals and school counselors are key partners in leveraging the Framework as a meaningful structure to empower learners to navigate their career exploration and skill-building journey. The modernized Framework is a tool that is more reflective of the world of work that learners are preparing for and can be a renewed opportunity to advance integrated advising across secondary, postsecondary, and the workforce.
Advance CTE is partnering with national career advising and development organizations to provide support on meaningful integration of the Framework into career advising that can be aligned with each state’s pace of implementation. We will be revising the current Career Interest Survey in the coming months to assist with career advising aligned to the modernized Framework.
- Align terminology, messaging, and programs to support program recruitment and career advising efforts.
- Help learners explore the entirety of the world of work by Cluster or Sub-Cluster.
- Support alignment between local secondary and postsecondary educational opportunities including youth/pre-apprenticeship, early postsecondary opportunities such as dual and concurrent enrollment, and seamless transfer to postsecondary success.
- Develop work-based learning experiences that span multiple Career Clusters to build both foundational and sector-specific skills and align language and messaging between education and industry partners.
The following resources are currently under development to support school counselors and career advising professionals:
- Tools for using The National Career Clusters® Framework for career exploration and development
- An updated Career Interest Survey
Career Technical Student Organizations & National Partners
National organizations are integral partners for providing insights on recommended policy changes, implementation priorities, and program of study design that are specific to their affected Cluster(s). The Framework provides opportunities for Career Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) to expand their offerings and membership as new programs of study emerge. We will be working with each CTSO to identify the Clusters that best align with their organizational priorities.
National organizations should be responsive to the speed that states implement the Framework. Advance CTE is enthusiastic about partnering with national organizations connected to CTE to cocreate and share resources providing guidance on Framework implementation and creative, responsive program of study design.
- Collaborate with state and local CTE leaders to contribute to and analyze labor market and talent pipeline information and trends.
- Collaborate with state and local CTE leaders to develop and review standards, curriculum, and credentials aligned to Career Clusters and Sub-Clusters.
- Collaborate with state and local CTE leaders to align terminology, messaging, and workforce programs.
- Expand recruitment and participation policy to include learners that have not historically been served by CTSOs.
The following resources are currently under development to support CTSOs and national partners:
- A crosswalk of CTSO representation across Clusters
- Discipline-specific resources to show how educational disciplines can be incorporated across Clusters
Career Clusters
Click each Cluster for Cluster definitions and implementation resources.
