Wyoming’s education policymakers say the state needs to provide better career and technical education for K-12 students.
The number of CTE classes and students around the state has declined in recent years, even as labor market data indicates a need for more graduates with work skills that are typically taught in such classes.
Representative John Freeman of Green River says it’s hard to find qualified CTE teachers—and programs like the Hathaway Success Curriculum mean less time and resources for career education.
“The result has been—and it’s been shown in testimony today—that the concentrators in CTE is going down, the number of people are going down, and it’s having a negative effect on career and technical ed,” Freeman says.
Wyoming Department of Education representative Dicky Shanor says the Department’s overall goal is to help districts see CTE as part of a broad education, alongside traditional class work—rather than a separate track.