Career and Technology Education

Career & Technical Education Philosophy

The Career & Technical Education (CTE) program in Madison is designed around several career pathways to cultivate the potential in our students by integrating rigorous classroom instruction with relevant, work-based experiences that inspire, guide and empower them for post-secondary college and careers.

Our Career Pathways are constructed as a journey of exploration that is specifically designed to engage the learner in an interest or possible career path.   Courses are designed to spark interest, capture the possibilities in the field, and allow students to experience work as novice practitioners.  Our courses offer challenging, engaging, effective and relevant curriculum that includes technical knowledge, skills and academics foundational for our students’ success in the real world.

Delivery Method/Values

To teach technical skills through a career lense effectively, teachers need strong content knowledge along with instruction revolving around work-based experiences.  The curriculum in CTE is organized around five of the 16 federally recognized career pathways.  A career pathway is defined as a concentration in a particular field of study through a sequence of courses which lead to the development of a particular set of knowledge and skills aligned with career interests. These pathways provide guidance through essential knowledge and skills for students to discover their interests and their passions, and empower them to choose the educational pathway that can lead to success in high school, college and their career.  Each pathway has career specific knowledge and skills that are a comprehensive collection of industry-validated expectations of what students should know and be able to do after completing instruction in a career program area.