Breaking Barriers in Career and Technical Education: Centering Black Students in Perkins Reauthorization

By Justin Nalley, Kayla Elliott, Ph.D., and Araceli Chavez

The Joint Center published an issue brief titled “Breaking Barriers in Career and Technical Education: Centering Black Students in Perkins Reauthorization,” examining how the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, or Perkins V, influences the experiences of Black learners in career and technical education (CTE) programs and offers legislative proposals as Congress considers the reauthorization of Perkins V.

In 2018, Congress passed the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, the fifth reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, commonly referred to as Perkins V. This authorized $1.2 billion in annual funding for state career and technical education (CTE) programs. CTE programs offer students the skills and experiences to enter the U.S. workforce or continue occupational education and training. Nationally, roughly 12 million students participate in CTE programs at high schools, community colleges, and technical colleges. In the 2022–23 academic year, Black students made up 13 percent of national secondary enrollment in CTE programs. While Black students’ overall participation in CTE is on par with national demographics, they are often overrepresented in service-oriented professions such as health sciences or education and training, which often lead to low wages. Black students’ limited access to high-quality CTE opportunities stems from funding gaps, geographic disparities, and underinvestment in schools disproportionally serving Black communities.

Perkins reauthorization is an opportunity to break a cycle of occupational segregation that dates back over a century—when southern states used vocational tracking to limit Black students’ career options and reinforce racial hierarchies. The next reauthorization can either perpetuate these patterns or become a turning point for economic mobility in Black communities.

Perkins V needs to be reauthorized in Fiscal Year 2026, which started in October 2025. While funding for Perkins V remains stable for the 2025-26 school year, Congress and the Department of Education cut funding from teacher professional development, after-school enrichment, and career exploration, making reauthorization funding for Perkins V activities unclear. Without intervention, the Trump administration’s recent transfer of the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education from the Department of Education to the Department of Labor threatens to weaken student protections and disconnect CTE from education funding. In this brief, the Joint Center presents findings from 21 interviews with CTE experts, including current and former CTE students, state directors, association staff, career and technical student organization members and staff, state and federal advocacy organizations, workforce development boards and organizations, training providers, and researchers from academia and national think tanks.

Key findings on Black students’ access and success include:

• • The flexibility allowed by Perkins V can help reduce disparities and foster innovation. Perkins V gave states greater flexibility in determining quality, measuring outcomes, and allocating resources for CTE programs. Participants discussed this flexibility in four key areas of their work: career exploration, state and local funding decisions, data-driven decision-making, and special populations like Black students.
  • Teachers are invaluable, but challenges limit their impact. Students, state directors, district leaders, and intermediary partners emphasized instructors’ importance in the CTE ecosystem. Yet challenges with recruiting and retaining Black CTE teachers limit their impact. There is also a need to improve teachers’ pedagogy and equitable practices through professional development and mentorship.
  • Quality data collection and reporting are needed to understand students’ experiences. Robust data and accountability can drive results, but issues with data collection, availability, and quality persist. CTE data can be incomplete, outdated, and inaccurate, and many states and institutions lack the capacity to collect and analyze data. Experts stressed the importance of data for accountability, compliance, and assessing student experiences, but also offered cautionary advice on changing definitions and calculations.
  • Negative narratives on career and technical education are persistent. CTE programs are often seen as a pathway for low-income students and students of color who were not believed to be ready or able to pursue postsecondary education. These perceptions are a byproduct of Jim Crow-era segregation and tracking students by race and class into low-quality programs. While almost three-quarters of CTE concentrators of all races enroll in a postsecondary program within three years of high school completion, Black students are less likely to do so.

As states prepare to submit their Perkins plans and Congress considers reauthorization, the Joint Center offers five policy recommendations:

• Increase funding in the next reauthorization of the Perkins Act;
• Improve CTE teacher recruitment, development, compensation, and retention;
• Support the coordination and alignment of education and workforce development activities;
• Reinvigorate the narratives about CTE pathways; and
• Improve standards for the collection, quality, and reporting of CTE data.

Read the full brief here.