1. Program Quality
  2. Program Quality

Program Quality

Resources on topics such as program approval, accreditation, standards, programs of study, evaluation, personalized learning and academic-technical integration

Raising the Bar: State Strategies for Developing and Approving High-quality Career Pathways

  • Case Study
April 2017 —

This report from Advance CTE examines successes in Tennessee, New Jersey and Delaware to demonstrate how states can use the career pathways approval process to raise the level of quality across the board. The report examines common approaches and unpacks key policy levers available to states.

Policy Benchmark Tool: CTE Program of Study Approval

  • Guide/Tool
September 2017 —

This tool from Advance CTE lays out the non-negotiable elements of an effective policy for approving and evaluating CTE programs of study and offers an assessment rubric that state leaders can use to identify gaps in their current state policy and prioritize areas for improvement.

Ensuring Career Pathway Quality: A Guide to Pathway Intervention

  • Guide/Tool
July 2018 —

This report from Advance CTE outlines the steps that state leaders can take when making decisions to transform or phase out pathways that do not have market relevance.

Driving Quality in Postsecondary CTE: Approval and Evaluation Policies

  • Case Study
  • Research/ Report
August 2018 —

This report from Advance CTE explores how states can leverage program approval and program evaluation policies and processes to ensure postsecondary CTE program quality. The report examines state examples from California, Florida and Wisconsin.

The State of Career Technical Education: An Analysis of State CTE Standards

  • Research/ Report
October 2013 —

This report from Advance CTE provides a national view on how states adopt, organize and implement CTE standards at both the secondary and postsecondary levels, comparing all state standards to a common benchmark, the Common Career Technical Core.

Wisconsin: Postsecondary Program Approval and Phase Out

  • Policy
May 2019 —

In Wisconsin, programs are approved through a deliberate and structured process, which also includes eventual phase out of programs as part of a natural life cycle. 

Pathways Tennessee Documentation Tool

  • Guide/Tool
December 2016 —

This tool, developed by the Tennessee Department of Education during Phase One of the New Skills for Youth initiative, is designed to map the scope and quality of career pathways programs.

Career and Technical Education in High School: Does It Improve Student Outcomes?

  • Research/ Report
April 2016 —

This study from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute uses data from Arkansas to explore whether students benefit from Career Technical Education (CTE) coursework - and, more specifically, from focused sequences of CTE courses aligned to certain industries.

The Learning that Works Resource Center was developed through the New Skills for Youth initiative, a partnership of the Council of Chief State School Officers, Advance CTE and the Education Strategy Group, generously funded by JPMorgan Chase & Co