Career & Technical Education (CTE)

Career & Technical Education (CTE) in Iowa includes educational programs offering a sequence of courses that prepare individuals for employment in current or emerging occupations. Programs include competency-based applied learning, which contributes to an individual’s academic knowledge, higher-order reasoning and problem-solving skills, work attitudes, general employability skills and occupational-specific skills.

At the secondary level, CTE programs are organized within six broad service areas, as defined in Iowa Code. The service areas are:

• Agriculture, food and natural resources
• Arts, communications and information systems
• Applied sciences, technology, engineering and manufacturing, including transportation, distribution, logistics, architecture and construction
• Health sciences
• Human services
• Business, finance, marketing and management

Programs within these service areas are further aligned with the National Career Clusters Framework.

More Information

For additional information about CTE, visit:

Iowa Department of Education