High-quality CTE Tools

The ACTE Quality CTE Program of Study Framework® (2018 version) and companion self-evaluation instrument is an evidence-based framework defining high-quality CTE. With more than 90 criteria organized under 12 elements, the Framework captures the full range of activities across a CTE program of study.

  • Read the Framework
  • Take the self-evaluation in hard copy or online (Trouble seeing the online evaluation? Try clearing your browser data)
  • Explore the High-quality CTE Course Series on CTE Learn, ACTE’s online learning platform, and the High-quality CTE Professional Development Map, which identifies CTE Learn courses that support each element
  • Learn more about the Framework and its elements with ACTE publications and webinars
  • Access reports, research studies, toolkits and more to help you achieve quality in each element of the Framework through the High-quality CTE Library
  • Share a one-pager and infographic describing the Framework with colleagues and other CTE stakeholders
  • Explore ACTE’s process for developing the Framework
  • NEW in April 2025 Check out our newest companion piece, System Supports, which describes systemwide policies that create a foundation that enables individual programs of study to achieve quality. These criteria are not part of the Framework or its scoreable self-assessment but acknowledge the impact of higher-level policies on individual CTE programs of study on the ground.

When the self-evaluation is completed online, the user receives an automatically calculated score report emailed as an Excel file. Users who wish to share their online self-evaluation results with a third party may enter that third party’s email address in the Optional Data Release section on the first page of the online self-evaluation (if you don’t receive results, please check your spam folder).

Since its launch in 2018, the online Framework self-evaluation has been completed more than 4,000 times. For questions about the framework, please contact ACTE Research and Content Director Catherine Imperatore.