Education for work at the high school level in the U.S. has changed dramatically since the mid 1980s. What used to be known as vocational education (VE) was rebranded as career and technical education (or career-technical education, CTE). Preparing students for immediate entry into full-time employment after high school is no longer a widely espoused goal, and most students who take work-related courses in high school now also complete sufficient academic coursework to enter some form of postsecondary education. In effect, the non-college track is gradually disappearing from American high schools. Preparing high school students for both careers and college has been widely expressed as a goal of public policy, and successful examples in many states and localities have demonstrated that achieving this dual goal is indeed possible.
Stern, D. (2016). Career-Technical Education and College1 Readiness: Evolution of High School Pathways in the United States
