Options for CTE curriculum development

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CTE curriculum development is the approach used by a school, teacher or administrator to develop materials for a course, pathway or other program element. There are multiple options for how to develop this important content and instruction of which we will explore a few popular options.

Considerations in CTE curriculum development

Most important in career and technical education curriculum development is to focus on the technical proficiency the curriculum will bring our in a student. Here are some additional considerations that will help make students better and more skilled workers.

Balance with other CTE program components

Within a course, the curriculum is only one component that impacts the student development experience. Ensure that you also consider the teacher or coach, standards alignment, as well as the CTE work center or classroom too. Also, ensure that these items are in unison and balance with the curriculum before you finalize it.

Be thoughtful about how you will apply the curriculum.

Many times, administrators or teachers are quick to break up curriculum into an existing course simply to get something in front of students. We see this all the time in cybersecurity. Cybersecurity itself is a multi-year development pathway with many courses to make a student proficient. However, many times we see schools break up cyber curriculum and try to stuff it into an existing Information technology course

In almost every situation, this will not do the subject matter justice and can actual hinder preparing a student to learn a subject if they decide to in the future.

CTE curriculum does not always benefit from standards alignment.

We are trained as teachers to align our curriculum to educational standards. However, when is comes to career and technical education many of these standards are not relevant. Ensure that an expert in the domain area of the curriculum has reviewed it to ensure it is job relevant and not just standards relevant.

Build curriculum for a course the pathway

Modern and especially technology careers take time and many courses for students to transition to workers. When developing curriculum make sure to consider both the pre-requisites before the course, as well as the next development stage in the pathway. This will ensure that your students get the most from a current course and are ready for the next development step.

Be careful of certification first approaches in CTE

Many times funding for CTE programs requires schools to have students get technical certifications within their courses. As a result, the curriculum in these courses is more about getting the certification then gaining proficiency in the career area. The problem with this is that it is tech skill proficiency that gets students jobs, not certifications. Certifications are not a bad thing. However administrators should not use it as the only factor in their CTE curriculum.

Alignment to Onet codes

Onet codes are essentially the job titles and descriptions defined by the government in certain career areas. It is common for CTE administrators and schools to align their courses, and associated curriculum, with these codes. Similar to aligning to educational curriculum, these job codes are not always accurate with the business world. You will be better aligning with specific task activities in a job in addition to these codes.

Consider the teacher proficiency in delivering the curriculum you will acquire

A strong teacher can work with bad curriculum and still make it relevant and valuable for students. However, a poorly trained or experienced teacher and good curriculum may not lead to a good result. Consider the strength of the teachers in your curriculum.

Options for CTE curriculum development

Now that you understand some considerations with CTE curriculum development, here are some options to actually build it.

Internally develop curriculum

In this model, someone at your school will develop the CTE curriculum. This will include all of the components and supporting material start to finish.

Pros

• In this model, you can ensure that you properly align the material to your program and overall goals.
• It can help educate the team or resources that internally develop the material.
• It will be easier to update it since you were the author
• It will be easier to teach other teachers how to use it since you built it.

Cons

• It may be difficult to find resources with the right skill and experience to develop strong curriculum.
• It may take more time then if you were just to purchase the curriculum.
• You will need to find an experienced source to verify the quality of the material.

Purchase CTE curriculum

In this model, the school or educator will purchase the curriculum from a provider. In addition to the curriculum, the material will often come with some form of teacher training.

Pros

• Higher chance the curriculum will be accurate for the career area
• Faster design and delivery of the curriculum
• The provider will generally provide curriculum updates
• There is generally a form of teacher training included in the material.
• You will often have access to experts and a community at the provider to support you when needed.

Cons

• This approach is often more expensive then if you design it yourself
• The curriculum may not align correctly with your overall CTE program framework or objectives
• You may not have the expertise to ensure that the curriculum is career relevant.

Example providers

Some example CTE curriculum providers include the following

• Project Lead the Way
• CodeHS
  

Outsource program delivery with curriculum

In this model you are outsourcing the delivery of an entire CTE course. This will include the curriculum, administration, teacher, work environment and everything required for the course.

Pros

• These delivery formats generally are the most realistic and career aligned
• Teachers and coaches will be familiar with the curriculum and experienced
• The curriculum will always be updated
• Frees up your existing staff to teach other subjects
• Generally better connects with future work opportunities for students after the course
• May provide teacher training within the outsourced program

Cons

• Often the most costly from an overall perspective.
• Again the curriculum may not tie into your overall CTE framework or other related courses
• Your existing teachers will not develop skills in the subject area since they are not delivering the courses.

Example providers

Some example CTE curriculum providers include the following

University Lab Partners

Cyberforward Academy

Next steps

There are many options to build the right CTE curriculum at your school. Remember this as you perform your analysis. With that said, a big decision will be how this curriculum aligns to you CTE development framework.