Career & Technical Education

Mission Statement

Our mission is to be sure there is a teacher in every classroom who cares that every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being.

The Region XIII Educator Certification Program for Career and Technical Education (CTE-ECP) includes teaching certificates for all seven CTE areas.

Whether you have skills as a health professional, business professional, or any of a number of areas in trades and industry, such as construction, auto mechanics, welding, electronics, etc., we can provide you with the training you need to use those skills in teaching today's middle school and high school students.

Please note that CTE ECP has different application requirements, time schedules, and fee structures than other certification programs at Region XIII.

“This program is concise (clear, brief, and to the point) for the working teacher with real world experience respected!”

- Health Science teacher

“The CTE certification program has allowed me, as a long time educator, to step out of my comfort zone and integrate horticulture in an applied academic format.”

- Ag Science teacher

“I was a community college culinary instructor and industry professional, but going through the CTE ECP helped me to understand, from a research-based perspective, exactly how and why my instruction was effective. For me, the program was a real confidence-builder. Thanks!”

- Culinary Arts teacher

“I am in my third year of teaching and have built my program from the ground up. I still use all the materials that I received with program and I even share them with other veteran teachers. It’s the way to go!!!!!!!!”

- Building Trades teacher

“The CTE teacher certification program provided me with a hands-on teaching/learning approach that gave me tools to use in my classroom the very next day. I even had veteran teachers asking me for tips and tools my very first year as a teacher!”

- Business teacher

“The CTE certification program thoroughly prepared me to be the best teacher I could be. As an experienced teacher, I learned and used as much in my own classroom as novice teachers did! It is taught by quality education professionals using current, proven methods that help you succeed. The best thing? They taught the classes using the actual strategies we should use in our classrooms.”

- Family & Consumer Sciences teacher

“Region 13 provided me with the necessary tools to make me successful in my first year of teaching. I had a support system that I knew I could depend on and had to on many occasions.”

- Health Science teacher

“The best benefi t that I receive is your prompt and always helpful assistance. I know I can count on you to assist with our CTE candidates and keep me informed about their processing. Another big plus for us, since our district tends to hire rather late, is the last-minute enrollment. It seems like teachers are always resigning and we can count on Region XIII to help us out if it is at all possible.”

-District HR Director

“ In the past, it has been very diffi cult to locate a quality CTE certifi cation program for our teachers. It has been helpful that Region XIII offers certifi cations in all 7 CTE areas developed from the ground up for Career & Technology Education. We have been very pleased with the growth of our CTE teachers who have participated in the Region XIII program and highly recommend it to all
school districts.”

-CTE Administrator

Accolades and Recognition

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement has featured the Region XIII ECP in its recently released booklet, Innovations in Education: Alternative Routes to Teacher Certification. Six programs from around the nation are profiled in the guide and are recognized as successful and original. Read full report.

• SRI International also selected the Region XIII ECP to be highlighted in their national study of seven alternative certification programs, funded by a Carnegie Corporation grant.  According to the principal investigator and project director, “This study will have the attention of policy-makers across the nation who are looking for solutions to teachers shortages while meeting new federal
  requirements for teacher qualifications.”