High School Career and Technical Education Program Alignment to the Labor Market in Maryland: Career and Technical Education, Education That Works

To ensure that students are prepared for the workforce, part of Maryland State Department of Education's (MSDE) vision for career and technical education (CTE) is for all students to have access and opportunities to engage in CTE programs of study that align to occupations that are high-wage, high-skill, and/or in-demand (MSDE, 2020). MSDE's Division of Career and College Readiness has been reviewing the state's CTE program offerings to ensure their alignment with this vision. To support this effort, the Region 4 Comprehensive Center evaluated the alignment between Maryland's high school CTE program offerings and the labor market by examining the following research questions: (1) In each workforce region of Maryland, do occupations that are high-wage, high-skill, and in-demand have an aligned CTE program of study offered?; (2) In each workforce region of Maryland, do CTE programs of study offered align with occupations that are high-wage, high-skill, and/or in-demand?; and (3) For the unaligned CTE programs of study, do any of them align to high-wage, high-skill, and in-demand occupations in other workforce regions in Maryland?