NYC Schools Career and Technical Education: A Critical Need for our Students and our City’s Economy

This panel will examine the benefits and challenges of Career and Technical Education in NYC high schools. In this time of protests and heightened awareness of inequitable economic disparities and opportunities, CTE is more critical than ever. The program, currently enrolling 70,000 students in 302 CTE courses in 135 high schools, gives students a competitive edge, providing a pathway to advanced training, pre-apprenticeship programs, post-secondary education and entry level employment. CTE has been identified as a strategy to address the devastating middle skills crisis, a gap between the skills New Yorkers possess and the skilled labor needed by employers to fill higher quality and better paying jobs. Today the crisis persists with most starkly (pre-pandemic) 118,000 young people between the ages of 18 and 24 both out of school and out of work. 

CTE courses integrate academic and technical skills and are aligned with labor force needs. The courses, which are vast in number and cover the gamut of potential careers, are a boon to the NYC economy, no better demonstrated than in the time of this pandemic when CTE graduates have been in the vanguard of providing essential services to keep NYC running.  

Featured panelists include individuals key to CTE, including those with state and city oversight of CTE.  Discussion will include an analysis of the importance of CTE for our students and the NYC economy; Chancellor Carranza’s views on expanding CTE as set forth in a report required by legislation; federal regulations jeopardizing half of these vital programs; and the disruption caused by the pandemic on these courses which rely on hands-on learning and industry internships.  Is it time for CTE and attendant regulations to be reimagined? This Panel provides important insights into the impact of CTE and CTE as a measure to create viable economic opportunity for its students. 

Moderator:
Nick Chapman, President, Virtual Enterprises International

Panelists:
Hon. Alicia Hyndman, New York State Assemblywoman, District 29
Jack Powers, former Chair and current member, CTE Advisory Council
Sterling Roberson, Vice President for CTE, United Federation of Teachers
Mark Treyger, NYC Councilman & Chair Education Committee
Roger Turgeon, Principal , Food and Finance High School in NYC
Harini Venkatesh, Deputy Executive Director, CTE, Office of Post-secondary Readiness, NYC DOE

Sponsoring Committees:
Education & the Law
Labor & Employment
Children & the Law
Council on Children