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    Try It Before You Buy It!

    Career and Technical Education (CTE) is an educational model that helps students, both college and workforce bound, discover their skills and passions related to career development. CTE aligns secondary and post-secondary education to labor market demand and provides students with the technical, academic, and employability knowledge and skills they need for success.

    CTE can be used as a way for college-bound students to investigate potential areas of study at the next level. They will be able to "try it before you buy it," which will help prevent students from starting down one career path in college only to discover it's not the right one for them. Such a late discovery would cost both tuition and time. 

    This experience will help students not only make sure the overall field is right for them, but also to narrow down potential areas of focus within the larger area of study. They will get hands-on, practical experience with potential careers so they can weigh their options and make more-informed decisions about their futures. 

    Have your students try out classes in the career pathway they are interested in before you pay college tuition and they find they don't really want to pursue that career. Have them "try it" before you "buy it."

     

     Benefits of CTE Courses

    With CTE, students succeed.

    1. Students are more likely to graduate. In North Carolina 98 percent of CTE high school students graduated.

    2. Students develop employability skills. In North Carolina 93 percent of CTE students went on to postsecondary education, the workforce, or the military.

    3. Students achieve in both CTE and other subjects. Students who integrate CTE with their academic pathway have higher acheivement in reading, mathematics and science.

    4. Students gain job-specific skills related to a specific career pathway. In North Carolina 80 percent of CTE postsecondary students met performance goals for technical skills. 

    5. Students can earn nationally recognized credentials in specific career pathways. Credentials are offered at no cost to the student. (In the 2017-18 school year, West Johnston led the state of North Carolina in the number of Microsoft Office Specialist Certifications among 3A schools)

    5. There is no charge for tuition.