In September 2017, the Board of Regents made a permanent revision to CR 100.4 (c) as it pertains to CTE. The regulation provides that all middle-level students are entitled to 1 ¾ unit career and technical education (CTE). Instruction can begin as early as grade 5  and can be delivered in any CTE content area.

A curricular guidance framework has been developed to assist schools in the implementation of this middle-level CTE regulation. 

The middle school CTE curricular guidance framework consists of 33 modules: Six Theme Modules, which are the basis for middle school CTE; and 27 Content Modules, which are the vehicles for meeting the standards represented by the Themes. 

Given the modules, school district leaders and teachers of middle school CTE must next answer the question, "How can we design project-based learning experiences that will help our middle-school students gain foundational CTE knowledge and skills through the lens of the CTE content area(s) we have represented in our school?"

Sample learning experiences, created by New York State CTE teachers, model instructional possibilities utilizing the new modules.