National School Choice Week is an opportunity to recognize how families can select education options that best reflect students’ interests, strengths, and long-term goals. While often discussed in terms of school governance models such as charter, magnet, private, or homeschool, school choice is also about whether students can access learning experiences that prepare them for what comes next. Career and Technical Education (CTE), work-based learning, pre-apprenticeships and registered apprenticeships play a critical role in fulfilling that promise.
At the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA), our mission is to connect education and training to opportunity. Through a strong partnership with the U.S. Department of Education (ED), we work to ensure that students can access high-quality CTE and work-based learning aligned with workforce needs.
Why CTE and Work-Based Learning Matter for School Choice
High-quality CTE programs give students options to pursue career-aligned pathways that combine academic rigor with technical skill development. Students learn best by doing; it is truly that simple. These pathways often include opportunities to earn industry-recognized credentials, postsecondary credit, and hands-on experience, helping students make informed decisions about their futures.
Work-based learning, including internships, job shadowing, cooperative education, pre-apprenticeships, and registered apprenticeships, extends learning beyond the classroom and into real workplaces. These experiences allow students to apply what they learn, explore careers firsthand, and build skills valued by employers.
For families, access to CTE and work-based learning has become a defining feature of meaningful school choice. These opportunities demonstrate that education is connected to real outcomes whether a student plans to pursue further education, enter the workforce, or both.
Indiana’s Graduation Pathways and Workforce Diploma: Choice in Action
Indiana provides a strong example of how states can embed CTE and work-based learning into school choice through its Graduation Pathways framework and Workforce Diploma. Rather than relying solely on traditional graduation requirements, Indiana allows high school students to demonstrate readiness for postsecondary education or employment through multiple pathways.
The Workforce Diploma enables students to choose a graduation option that emphasizes CTE coursework, attainment of industry-recognized credentials, and participation in work-based learning experiences. These pathways are available across a range of school settings including traditional public schools, charter schools, and regional career centers, which gives families flexibility in how and where students prepare for the workforce.
By recognizing multiple ways students can demonstrate readiness, Indiana’s approach reinforces the idea that school choice should be about aligning learning with future goals, providing students and families with options that are not one-size-fits-all.
The ED–DOL Partnership: Aligning Systems to Support Choice
The expansion of CTE and work-based learning is strengthened by the partnership between ED and DOL. Through co-administration of the education and training programs funded under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins V) and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), our agencies work together to support states in building coordinated education and workforce systems.
This collaboration helps connect secondary and postsecondary CTE with registered apprenticeships, youth employment, and workforce training programs. It also promotes employer engagement, program quality, and alignment with labor market needs. When education and workforce systems are aligned, school choice becomes more than an option, it becomes a pathway to readiness and opportunity.
Empowering Families Through Purposeful Choice
CTE and work-based learning strengthen school choice by making pathways clearer and more intentional. When families can see how a school connects learning to credentials, work experience, and postsecondary or employment options, they are better positioned to make choices that align with students’ interests and aspirations. This approach ensures that choice is not just about access, but about preparation and outcomes. In short, there is no reason why our education system cannot reinforce the “both/and” model of teaching and learning, rather than “either/or.”
Choice That Leads to Opportunity
During National School Choice Week, Career and Technical Education and work-based learning highlight what effective school choice looks like in practice. Supported by innovative state policies and strengthened by the ED–DOL partnership, these pathways give students the flexibility to pursue individualized journeys toward success.
