The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) provides states with an important opportunity to dive into data on Career Technical Education (CTE), identify disparities and gaps in performance, and begin to address them. The new law emphasizes the importance of engaging in this process by maintaining the required disaggregation of performance data by student populations, requiring additional disaggregation by CTE program or Career Cluster, and requiring state plans and local applications to address how disparities and gaps in performance will be addressed. In addition, the law includes a new purpose focused on how CTE can better serve special population and an expanded definition of special populations that aligns with the Every Student Succeeds Act. As Perkins V implementation begins, how can states advance equity in CTE? Check out the briefs in the Making Good on the Promise series below to learn about CTE’s equity challenges, strategies to confront inequities and rebuild trust, and how to expand CTE opportunities for each learner.
BRIEF: Understanding the CTE Equity Challenge: This brief, the first in the Making Good on the Promise series, attempts to confront the negative aspects of CTE’s legacy and define the key challenges learners face today.
BRIEF: Examining Access and Achievement Gaps: This brief, the second in the Making Good on the Promise series, lays out a strategy for state and local policymakers to confront historical inequities by using data to examine and address gaps.
BRIEF: Building Trust to Promote Equity in CTE: This brief, the third in the Making Good on the Promise series, maps out steps state leaders can take to rebuild trust in marginalized communities that CTE historically failed to serve equitably.
BRIEF: Expanding Access to Opportunity: This brief, the fourth in the Making Good on the Promise series, examines strategies state leaders can use to expand CTE opportunities for each learner.
MORE RESOURCES

• Three Promising Approaches to Advance Equity in CTE: Check out this new blog from Advance CTE highlighting policy profiles related to equity.
• Louisiana: Building Employment Skills for Tomorrow (BEST) Pilot Program: Louisiana piloted the Building Employment Skills for Tomorrow (BEST) program in 2018 to expand work-based learning opportunities for learners with disabilities.
• Washington: Integrated Basic Education Skills Training (I-BEST): The Integrated Basic Education Skills Training (I-BEST) program in Washington State provides technical and basic skills instruction through an integrated curriculum and has demonstrated powerful outcomes, including a dramatic increase in credential attainment.

Looking for additional resources? Please be sure to check out the Learning that Works Resource Center.