I spent 26 years as a Career and Technical Education teacher in the Appleton Area School District. During those years, I taught marketing, advised DECA, built student leadership experiences, created community based projects, connected students with employers, coordinated internships, and watched students discover strengths they did not always know they had.
Some of my students found their future through a marketing project. Others discovered it through DECA, an internship, a business mentor, a community event, or simply the first time someone helped them see the connection between what they were learning in school and the world beyond it.
That is what has always made CTE powerful.
And today, as Wisconsin continues strengthening its Career and Technical Education system, I believe we have an important opportunity to think about what quality really means.
CTE has always been more than great instruction.
It is preparation with purpose.
It is learning that leads somewhere.
It is helping students develop the skills, confidence, experiences, and connections they need to navigate what comes next.
But quality also has to be something we can see, measure, evaluate, and improve.
That is why the current conversation around Perkins performance indicators, nontraditional occupations, Wisconsin's Career Clusters, and continuous improvement matters.
One of the most important questions we can ask is not simply, “Do we offer this program?”
The better question is:
Who sees themselves in it?
Throughout my career, I saw firsthand what happens when students are introduced to careers they had never considered.
A young woman may not initially picture herself in manufacturing, engineering, construction, or technology.
A young man may never have considered education, health care, or another career area where people like him have historically been underrepresented.
Sometimes students simply need exposure.
They need to meet someone.
They need to see the workplace.
They need to hear a story.
They need an educator to say, “Have you ever thought about this?”
That is why work around Nontraditional Occupations is about much more than meeting a performance indicator.
It is about expanding possibility.
When we intentionally remove barriers and help students see careers beyond traditional expectations, we are doing what CTE is supposed to do: opening doors.
Some of the most meaningful learning I witnessed during my teaching career happened when students were doing real work for real audiences.
Students did not just study marketing.
They created campaigns.
They worked with community organizations.
They interacted with business professionals.
They participated in internships.
They presented their ideas.
They solved problems.
They learned what happens when a deadline matters because someone outside the classroom is counting on you.
Those experiences taught content, but they also taught communication, collaboration, responsibility, adaptability, problem solving, and confidence.
That is career readiness.
Today, as Wisconsin organizes CTE around its updated Career Cluster Framework, I hope we use the framework as more than a way to categorize programs.
Career clusters should help students make connections.
Connections between courses.
Connections between skills.
Connections between employers and schools.
Connections between learning today and opportunity tomorrow.
The framework becomes powerful when it helps students answer a question every educator hears:
Why do I need to learn this?
One of the things I appreciate most about the current direction of Wisconsin CTE is the emphasis on improvement rather than simply implementation.
We should always be asking:
What evidence tells us students are learning?
What are students telling us about their experiences?
Are our programs connected to current workforce needs?
Are employers meaningfully involved?
Are students developing both technical and employability skills?
Are all students able to see themselves in the opportunities we provide?
And perhaps most importantly:
What can we improve next?
Continuous improvement does not always require a massive initiative.
Sometimes the most powerful changes are small.
Invite one more employer into the classroom.
Add student reflection after a career experience.
Ask students whether they understand why a skill matters.
Bring educators into workplaces so they can see careers firsthand.
Create stronger connections between academic teachers and CTE teachers.
Look at participation data and ask who is missing.
Talk with students who left a program and ask why.
Small changes, repeated intentionally, can transform a program.
In all the discussion about frameworks, indicators, credentials, pathways, data, and standards, we cannot lose sight of one thing.
Teachers make career readiness real.
A framework does not inspire a student.
A teacher does.
A performance indicator does not help a teenager believe they belong in a career.
A person does.
A career cluster does not create a lightbulb moment.
An experience does.
That is why quality CTE must always combine strong systems with strong human relationships.
We need the data.
We need measurable outcomes.
We need high expectations.
But we also need educators who know how to turn those expectations into meaningful learning.
After more than three decades working in education and career readiness, that is one thing I believe more strongly than ever:
Career readiness is not another initiative. It is the umbrella.
CTE sits at the center of that work because it helps students connect knowledge, skills, experiences, relationships, and careers.
The challenge before us is not simply to maintain quality CTE.
It is to keep improving it.
To expand who has access.
To strengthen instruction.
To deepen employer partnerships.
To listen to students.
To use data thoughtfully.
And to create more opportunities for young people to see a future they can imagine themselves in.
That is quality we can see.
That is quality we can measure.
And most importantly, that is quality students can feel.