Why middle school is ‘an ideal time’ to invest in CTE
Exposing younger students to a wide variety of careers will help them begin to form occupational identities, one career and technical education expert says.
The middle grade years are “an ideal time” to invest in CTE and career development activities, according to a 2020 report co-published by Advance CTE and ACTE. That’s because these younger students “have not yet settled on an occupational identity — or what they believe they are capable of doing or being — but are beginning to consider key decisions” about the courses they’ll take in high school and what they’ll do after high school, according to the report.