“Instead of asking, ‘What are you going to do?’ right before they graduate, create that structure so that when they enter freshman year, they can see it,” he said.
Vazquez said pre-apprenticeships that start in high school and connect to registered apprenticeships later in a student’s education allow them to learn while earning a wage.
“The gold standard is a high school student who has industry certifications and is getting work-based learning experiences,” he said. “The earlier we can provide students with these professional simulations of what happens in the workplace, the more we can excite them.” The preparation involved in earning those certifications also simulate what’s required in the workplace, he said.
Rather than treating vocational programs and college prep as separate tracks, career and technical education (CTE) should be seen as a flexible route to debt-free postsecondary options and in-demand roles across technology, trades and emerging AI-enabled fields. Available funding should be used strategically to ensure these programs can hold up in the long term, according to Corey Gordon, education strategist for CDW Education.
DISCOVER: Four AI trends to watch in 2026.
“Ultimately, it comes down to the school knowing what they want to do and making sure people are bought in,” he said. “There are a lot of funding sources, so just make sure it's sustainable after that grant is gone, or it’s something that can be repeatable after you get the kids’ interest.”
Exposure to Technology and AI Contributes to Workforce Preparation
Technology should close opportunity gaps, not widen them. James Riley, CEO and co-founder of itopia, said that in one Brooklyn high school, he saw students going out of their way to get access to and teach themselves how to use professional-grade technologies. In a design class, he saw students asking for access to applications outside their course of study, such as Autodesk.
“They’re not even in an engineering class,” Riley said. “Some of them are just teaching themselves, and then they wanted to get certified.” That kind of self-directed exploration, he said, is exactly what equitable access can unlock, particularly in under-resourced communities.
Through itopia’s cloud-based platform, students can access these and other CTE programs as virtual applications on any device, including Chromebooks. Tools such as these help solve hardware challenges some districts face when implementing CTE programs and provide a safe space for students to practice using technical software and AI tools.
READ MORE: How workforce development and CTE programs open doors for K–12 students.
Technology Should Be Rooted in Strong Curriculum and Pedagogy
Gauging student interest is key in shaping CTE programs to ensure a district is offering pathways students actually want to follow. But how do students know what they’re interested in, particularly from an early age?
“A lot of it has to do with early exposure,” said Alexis Mabe, educational technology specialist for Belen Jesuit Preparatory School. “Students are able to figure out what they like and what they don't like.” Age-appropriate scaffolding is also important, she said, to give younger students opportunities to think like computer scientists, often without devices, and to experiment with AI in ways that build critical thinking rather than passive consumption.
Once interest is gauged, tailoring curriculum and pedagogy to meet these interests is key to keeping students engaged.
In New York City, Jose Perez, director of instructional technology for NYC Department of Education, said schools in the nation’s largest district are using esports principles to learn computer science. What began as a creative way to apply computer science concepts evolved into a workforce pipeline. Students from this program have won citywide competitions, pursued careers in urban planning and game design, and have returned to the district to mentor current students.
UP NEXT: Bronx high school students get hands-on AI training from CDW and Salesforce.
Beyond the highly technical careers many districts focus on, traditional vocational training remains important.
“All of this AI requires infrastructure, and our infrastructure is not there as a country,” Vazquez said. “The infrastructure investments are going to require people to do the work. This generation isn’t afraid of that. They aren’t afraid to tackle some of the big problems.”
Transformative CTE programs only last when systems and leaders are prepared to support them. By aligning funding, curriculum and leadership buy-in, districts can develop coherent workforce pathways.
“The world students live in today is not the world they’ll live in tomorrow,” Gordon said. “The jobs and careers that they will have in the future do not exist yet. When your tech team says, ‘We can't do that,’ push back. The more we hold things back from our kids, the less likely they are to learn it. And if they are learning it, they’re learning it in an environment that we technically don’t control. We want to make sure we create a safe space for them to learn these things and make mistakes so we can guide them to being better.”
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