CTE Unlocked: A Summit to Shape the Future of the Skilled Workforce
October 6-8, 2025
New Orleans, LA
There is a need now, more than ever, for shared leadership & goals
Over the past decade, there has been a growing interest in Career Technical Education (CTE) – from federal and state policymakers, the philanthropic community, business and industry, the media, and other key collaborators.
Over this time, CTE has continued to evolve, serving nearly 12 million learners from middle-grade students through adult learners. The CTE ecosystem has continued to expand as career-connected education has become a national priority.
With the rise of AI and other life-changing technologies, evolving conversations about the role and nature of postsecondary education and training, the introduction of the modernized National Career Clusters® Framework, and the importance of continuing to center the needs of learners in policy and practice decisionmaking, now, more than ever, we need shared leadership and shared goals to shepherd us into the future.
A unique opportunity for cross-sector thought partnership & visioning
Advance CTE is excited to bring together a group of 250 participants for CTE Unlocked: A Summit to Shape the Future of the Skilled Workforce. The summit will offer a uniquely facilitated setting to collaborate, brainstorm, and think outside the box to create a shared vision for the future of CTE.
This vision will serve as the “true north” for the CTE community and career-connected ecosystem to help ensure the CTE system is maximized to support the changing needs of learners, communities, and the economy.
The participant invitation list has been curated to include:
- state leaders;
- thought partners from national organizations representing CTE, education, and workforce development;
- business and industry leaders;
- practitioners from across the CTE continuum;
- the philanthropic community; and
- learners
Participants will attend the highly interactive and hands-on CTE Unlocked Summit – the fourth national Summit from Advance CTE – October 6-8, 2025, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Collaboration across sectors & organizations
Advance CTE is thrilled that 11 national organizations are serving as co-conveners. The breadth of co-conveners will help ensure the right perspectives and voices are not only supporting the design of the event, but also in the room and subsequently driving the necessary actions to make the shared vision a reality.
Sharing the vision
As a result of the national 2020 CTE Forward Summit, Advance CTE and its partners released Without Limits: A Shared Vision for the Future of CTE, which has been key in pushing CTE forward by driving more intentional CTE funding models, centering learner voice in more programmatic and policy decisions, grounding many states’ Perkins V plans, among other impacts.
The new vision coming out of the CTE Unlocked Summit will directly impact the implementation of state and federal policy, philanthropic investments, and national partners’ CTE priorities. The final vision document will be released in spring 2026 at Advance CTE’s annual spring meeting.
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