ACTE's Region II Conference 2026

Are your CTE programs preparing students for jobs that actually exist in your region? This session shares findings from ongoing research examining the alignment between workforce-focused CTE dual enrollment pathway participation and the local labor market outlook across North Carolina's diverse rural and urban communities.


Attendees will learn about a practical methodology that compares student enrollment patterns with projected job openings, employment growth, and wages regionally. Using real examples, we'll reveal that some of the most popular CTE pathways show surprisingly weak alignment with local job prospects, and explore why these gaps might exist.


The centerpiece of this session is an interactive web-based dashboard designed for practitioners. This tool enables administrators, counselors, and workforce development professionals to identify programs that have low participation relative to workforce prospects or are absent from their current offerings, spark conversations about program mix and resource allocation, and help students make informed decisions about career pathways. It also raises important questions: Why might certain high-demand fields be underrepresented in student enrollment? What local context, employer relationships, credential requirements, or student awareness should inform program development?


Attendees will leave with actionable strategies for using labor market data to strengthen CTE programming and a framework adaptable to their own state or regional context. This work is a collaboration between RAND and the Early College Research Center at UNC Greensboro.