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Graduation Requirements - Career & Technical Education

The 98th Missouri General Assembly passed legislation in 2016 which required the State Board of Education, in consultation with the CTE Advisory Council, to establish minimum requirements for a career and technical education (CTE) certificate that a student can earn in addition to his or her high school graduation diploma. Beginning July 1, 2017, students entering high school in school year 2017-18 and thereafter shall be eligible to earn a career and technical education (CTE) certificate.

The requirements set forth by the State Board of Education are intended to provide students with the necessary technical and employability skills to be prepared for an entry-level career or additional training in a technical field. Students must meet all requirements in order to receive the CTE certificate. It is intended that schools support student efforts to accomplish these requirements through the development and monitoring of the individual personal plan of study based on a career pathway.

Certificate Criteria

The requirements for the CTE Certificate are as follows:

  1. Meet all requirements set forth in state and local board of education policies related to earning a high school diploma.
  2. Complete at least three courses in a single career and technical educational program of study. A course is defined locally as a series of lessons that equal one credit.
  3. Maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 point scale in the CTE area of concentration as defined on the student’s personal plan of study.
  4. Pass an approved Technical Skill Assessment (TSA) and/or earn an approved Industry-Recognized Credential or Certificate (IRC) aligned with the student’s CTE area of concentration.
  5. Complete a minimum of 50 hours of appropriate work-based learning experiences aligned with the student’s CTE area of concentration. Work-based learning experiences may include Registered Apprenticeships, Cooperative Career Education programs, internships, clinical settings, job shadowing, entrepreneurial experiences, school-based enterprises, structured business/industry field trips, service learning or other opportunities that provide students with real-time, authentic work experiences.
  6. Maintain at least a 95% attendance record overall for grades 9-12.
  7. Demonstrate attainment of soft-skills/business skills. The requirement can be met in one of three ways: • Active participation in a Career and Technical Student Organization during the junior or senior year; or • Score at proficient or advanced level on a district-developed or adopted soft-skill/ethics assessment during the junior and/or senior year; or • Three or more letters of recommendation, from at least three different business or industry employers or other individuals who have knowledge of the student and can assure that the student has a high level of soft-skill efficacy and is career ready. Letters may not be from a relative or student.
  8. Achieve a score at or above the state standard on any department-approved measure(s) of college and career readiness, for example, the ACT®, SAT®, ACT-WorkKeys®, or the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery as determined in the most current MSIP performance standards. Schools are to use the .75 weighted measures described in the Assessment Scores Matrix as the standard. This matrix is found in Appendix C of the MSIP 5 Comprehensive Guide to the Missouri School Improvement Program, 2016.