Career
Technical Education
Mission
Hundreds of thousands of North Carolina young people get their start each year in exciting and rewarding careers through secondary Career-Technical Education (CTE) courses. Whether students plan to further their education in community colleges, technical schools, or four-year colleges and universities, receive on-the-job training, or pursue careers in the military, secondary Career-Technical Education can be the first step in a pathway toward productive employment and citizenship.The mission of Career-Technical Education is to help empower students for effective participation in an international economy as world-class workers and citizens. CTE programs are designed to contribute to the broad educational achievement of students, including basic skills such as reading, writing, and mathematics, as well as to their ability to work independently and as part of a team, think creatively and solve problems, and utilize technology.
In 2004-2005, nearly 900,000 students in grades 6-12 were enrolled in Career Technical Education. (Students enrolled in more than one CTE course count multiple times in the total.) These courses were taught by more than 5,300 teachers and with the assistance of more than 530 support personnel in special populations and career development. Overall, 75.6 percent of the students enrolled in grades 9-12 statewide took at least one CTE course.