Career and Technical Education: Annotated Bibliography

Career and technical education (CTE) is a form of educational service that is centered around preparing students for the workforce. At its core, CTE is intended to bridge the gap between high school education and postsecondary employment by teaching employment skills to students while they are in high school. CTE is vital in transition planning because it can aid students with and without disabilities in preparing for postsecondary employment as well as postsecondary education. Transition planning is mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) through the Individualized Transition Plan (ITP) portion of the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) which is required to begin at least 16 years of age. Ideally students with disabilities should be included in CTE as the Perkins Act (2018) requires the inclusion of individuals with disabilities with CTE classes and programs. The literature presented in this annotated bibliography states that the involvement in CTE programs and classes is beneficial to students with a variety of disabilities. It allows for students with disabilities to learn a multitude of skills including job skills, functional life skills, work behaviors, academic skills, and real life training. Many articles state that students with disabilities should be more involved in CTE classes and programs. Overall, CTE has a positive effect on individuals with disabilities and they should be included in it.