State CTE funding is provided from the federal government by the “Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century” Act—also known as Perkins V. Each state participating in the Perkins program must submit a three-year plan outlining the state’s approach to implementation of the Act. The U.S. Department of Education approved DC CTE’s Perkins Four-Year State Plan in June of 2020. Read it below.

The DC CTE Perkins V State Plan provides the three-year strategic vision and framework for secondary and postsecondary CTE programming, funding, and accountability for schools throughout the District of Columbia. It defines how we will ensure all DC youth (including special populations) have equal opportunity to access the education and skills needed to enter the workforce with an in-demand, high-skill, high-wage occupation.

High Level Goals (2020–2023)

  • Full adoption of state-approved programs of study and industry-validated course standards by all CTE funded programs.
  • Increase the number of CTE participants by at least 15%.
  • Maintain a four-year graduation rate of at least 97% for CTE concentrators.
  • At least 45% of all CTE concentrators successfully complete an internship or apprenticeship aligned with their program of study.

2020–2023 DC CTE State Plan

Community Input

In order to create this strategic plan, DC CTE assembled an Advisory Committee and engaged diverse groups of stakeholders from April 2019 through January 2020. This included a 45-day public comment period where meetings were conducted in all 8 DC wards to gather feedback from the community. Check back for more information about participating in the advisory period of the next three-year state plan.