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Career and Technical Education (CTE) Dual Credit

CTE Dual Credit Accelerates College Completion

Career and Technical Education (CTE) Dual Credit, formerly known as Tech Prep, offers high school students the opportunity to earn college credit for successful completion of CTE courses taught by certified high school instructors. Through this program, community and technical colleges allow certified CTE teachers to deliver college-equivalent CTE courses to students in grades 9-12 for dual high school and college credit. Courses are offered at the high school or skill center through an articulation agreement between the high school or school district and the college. Credits earned through CTE Dual Credit are transferrable to any community or technical college in the state of Washington. 

CTE Dual Credit Prepares Students for Employment

Establishing career pathways for high school students, CTE Dual Credit integrates academics with technical skills. Classes offered for CTE Dual Credit are competency-based, reflect state- or industry-defined skill standards, and often provide opportunities to earn industry-recognized certificates or credentials. Through industry partnerships and collaboration between secondary and postsecondary educators, CTE Dual Credit offerings are academically rigorous, responsive to employer needs, focused on essential workplace skills, and contextualized to make the subject matter relevant to the student’s field of study. As required by the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) and informed by college and high school Comprehensive Local Needs Assessments (CLNA), Programs of Study often include CTE Dual Credit options to bridge the gap between high school and college CTE programs.

As defined in Perkins V, Programs of Study:

  • Incorporate challenging State academic standards;
  • Address both academic and technical knowledge and skills, including employability skills;
  • Are aligned with the needs of industries in the economy of the State, region, Tribal community, or local area;
  • Progress in specificity (beginning with all aspects of an industry or career cluster and leading to more occupation-specific instruction); 
  • Have multiple entry and exit points that incorporate credentialing; and
  • Culminate in the attainment of a recognized post secondary credential.

Contact

Kim Wheeler
Administrative Assistant to the Director, Workforce Education
kwheeler@sbctc.edu

Kimberly Ingram
Program Administrator, Workforce Education
kingram@sbctc.edu 

William Belden
Policy Associate, Workforce Education
wbelden@sbctc.edu 

CTE Dual Credit Resources

In 2021, Perkins Leadership funding administered by SBCTC supported a CTE Dual Credit research and recommendations project spearheaded by the Seattle College District and facilitated by RTI International. Informed by a CTE Dual Credit Advisory Committee of over 20 secondary, postsecondary, and state agency representatives from all regions of Washington, a report and guidebook were developed and presented for stakeholder feedback in during two spring-quarter webinars.

Local practitioners may consult these resources to inform their CTE Dual Credit policies and administrative practices. In addition to the report and guidebook, samples and templates provided by Advisory Committee members and system partners are available under the menus below.

Please note that the recommendations developed by RTI have not been adopted by SBCTC, but are under review and may guide future policy discussions. Likewise, the forms and documents provided are not formal templates, but system examples intended to assist colleges in developing and improving their processes through the sharing of resources.

Statewide Enrollment and Reporting System

SERS is the official CTE Dual Credit registration site for Washington state.

  • Registration login for CTE Dual Credit students, staff, teachers, consortium members, district users and registrars.
  • Search tool to find CTE Dual Credit articulations by school district, high school, college and career clusters.

CTE Dual Credit Consortia

CTE Dual Credit Consortia: Find out which colleges offer CTE Dual Credit programs. For payment or log-in inquires, please contact your college consortium for assistance.

High School Graduation Requirements

What students need to do in order to earn a high school diploma. From the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Page Manager: kwheeler@sbctc.edu
Last Modified: 7/31/24, 3:34 PM

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