Career & Technical Education (CTE) Program Quality Audit
The Office of CTE Quality, Division of Career and Adult Education (DCAE) is responsible for overseeing the Florida Department of Education's (Department) annual audit of Florida’s secondary and postsecondary CTE programs offered in school districts, district postsecondary career centers and technical colleges, and Florida College System (FCS) institutions. This is referred to as the CTE Program Quality Audit or the CTE Audit.
For additional information regarding the CTE Audit, please email Brittany.Salaam@fldoe.org.
Table of Contents
CTE Audit Overview
On January 30, 2019, Executive Order 19-31 charted a course for Florida to become number 1 in the nation for workforce education by 2030. Following this order and with the guidelines outlined in section (s.) 1003.491(5), Florida Statutes (F.S.), the Commissioner of Education directed the Department to develop a process to annually assess CTE program offerings throughout the state. This led to the inception of Florida’s annual CTE Audit, which evaluates CTE program quality and labor market demand to ensure that Florida's CTE programs are high-performing and align with the state's economic and workforce priorities. The legislation surrounding the CTE Audit was revised in the 2021 legislative session through the Reimagining Education and Career Help (REACH) Act (2021 House Bill 1507). Per, s. 1003.491(5), F.S., the CTE Audit includes an examination of:
- Alignment of offerings with the framework of quality under s. 445.004(4), F.S.;
- Alignment of offerings at the K-12 and postsecondary levels with credentials or degree programs identified on the Master Credentials List under s. 445.004(4), F.S.;
- Program utilization and unwarranted duplication across institutions serving the same students in a geographical or service area; and,
- Institutional performance is measured by student outcomes such as academic achievement, college readiness, postsecondary enrollment, credential and certification attainment, job placement, and wages.
To fulfill the objectives outlined in Florida Statutes, the Department collaborates with various entities including the office of the Governor’s REACH Office, CareerSource Florida, the Department of Florida Commerce, the Board of Governors, the FCS, school districts, and industry leaders. This collective effort aims to ensure that Florida's CTE offerings not only maintain high performance but also remain aligned with the demands of the market.
CTE Audit Results
The Office of CTE Quality annually analyzes program performance rates by CTE program, by district or FCS institution, to assess the quality of each CTE program offered across the state. The Department disseminates these data annually to local-level leaders via descriptive Excel reports and a state-level summary Word document report. This ensures administrators in every district and FCS institution have access to their local-level CTE Audit performance rates for programs offered in their district or institution and can evaluate areas of success or areas for improvement.
2023
The 2023 CTE Audit was conducted in spring 2023 upon availability of data and the results were disseminated in June 2023. Performance rates in the 2023 CTE Audit were calculated using student record-level data tracked into as recent as the Reporting Year (RY) 2021-22, due to the lag in data collection and reporting.
Legislative Report (2023)
The CTE Audit Legislative Report (legislative report) is a written Word document summary that outlines the performance rates of secondary and postsecondary CTE programs, aggregated at the state-level. The performance rates are disaggregated by CTE career cluster and by program type, to elucidate performance across different CTE focus areas.
The 2023 legislative report is structured into six sections and provides an overview of the development of the audit, performance data, and future directions. Section One provides the history of the inception and initial development of the CTE Audit. Section Two outlines the outreach efforts and the subsequent structural changes to the CTE Audit that occurred after the first annual audit. Section Three provides an overview of the methodological enhancements made based on feedback from various stakeholders. This includes topics like refining the cohort of students in the secondary CTE performance rates to exclude transfer students, including a longer window to track for secondary students Continuing Education or Employment, and revising the calculation of secondary CTE concentrators industry certification rate to include industry certifications earned at any point during high school. Section Four includes the secondary and postsecondary performance rates at the state-level, disaggregated by career cluster and program type. Section Five explores the CTE Audit's connection with related projects like rulemaking, Florida Job Growth Grant Fund Application Reviews, and the Education Meets Opportunity Platform (EMOP). Finally, Section Six is a conclusion that summarizes key findings and insights from the report.
To request a copy of the 2023 CTE Audit Legislative Report, please contact Brittany Salaam via email at Brittany.Salaam@fldoe.org.
Excel Data Reports (2023)
In the 2023 CTE Audit, performance rates were calculated for each secondary CTE program and each postsecondary CTE program, by district or FCS institution, using data for RYs 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22. Note, due to the lag in data collection and reporting, tracking students into the RY 2021-22 were the most recent data available for the 2023 CTE Audit. The performance rates are calculated using student record-level data submitted to the Department by each district and FCS institution as part of their normal data reporting processes. The calculation of performance rates involves tracking and aggregating student enrollment records and is a collaborative effort of various offices in the Department, including the Bureau of PK-20 Education Reporting and Accessibility (PERA) and the Florida Education & Training Placement Information Program (FETPIP).
The performance rates in the postsecondary CTE Audit Excel Data Reports include annual enrollments, completions, Retention Rate, Success Rate, Continuing Education or Employed Rate, and Average Annualized Earnings of program completers. Data are disaggregated for each FCS institution and for each district with a postsecondary career center or technical college. For districts with more than one postsecondary career center or technical college, all of the data are combined for that district.
The performance rates in the secondary CTE Audit Excel Data Reports include the 12th Grader Concentrator Rate, 12th Grader Concentrator Industry Certification Rate, 12th Grader Concentrator Graduation Rate, and CTE Concentrator Graduates Continuing Education or Employed Rate. Data are disaggregated by school district. Data are combined for all middle and high schools offering CTE within each school district.
To request a copy of the 2023 CTE Audit Excel Data Reports, please contact Brittany Salaam via email at Brittany.Salaam@fldoe.org.
Report Webinars (2023)
Each year the Department’s Office of CTE Quality hosts the CTE Audit report webinars to present the annual findings to secondary and postsecondary stakeholders across Florida. The 2023 webinars summarized the findings in the 2023 Legislative Report (Word document) and corresponding CTE Audit Data Report (Excel workbooks). The 2023 webinars also provided an overview of how local stakeholders should review their program performance to detect successes and areas for improvement. Finally, the 2023 webinars served as a platform for stakeholders to raise questions and provide feedback.
To access recordings and PowerPoint slides for the Postsecondary and Secondary CTE Audit webinars, please click on the corresponding links provided below:
Postsecondary CTE Audit Report Webinar
Secondary CTE Audit Report Webinar
CTE Audit Rule
In April 2024 the Department hosted a rule development workshop for rule 6A-10.0342, Career and Technical Education Program Quality Audit.
CTE Audit Rule Development Workshop (Recording) - April 1, 2024