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Office of College, Career and Technical Education

Career and Technical Education (CTE) Admissions

The Department offers the following guidelines and information regarding equitable student access to CTE programs:

Admission Policies & Processes

Career technical education schools and programs at comprehensive high schools shall develop and implement an admission policy that is consistent with federal and state law and any relevant guidelines issued by the Department or the U.S. Department of Education. Each policy shall include the following:

  1. The process for application and admission to the school, as well as admission to particular programs within the school, including any criteria, lotteries, or other processes to be used in selecting students;
  2. A plan that includes deliberate, specific strategies to promote equal educational opportunities and attract, enroll, and retain a student population that, when compared to students in similar grades in sending districts, has a comparable academic and demographic profile;
  3. A description of the exploratory program, if such program is required by 603 CMR 4.03(4)(e); and
  4. A process for prospective students and parents/guardians to appeal to the superintendent or their designee the decision to deny the prospective student admission to the school or program. The superintendent or their designee shall maintain documentation as to the specific admission requirements that were used to deny admission, and shall provide such documentation to the Department or to the prospective student's parent/guardian upon request.

Guidance for Admissions Policies & Processes

Current Policies

DESE has created a resource to reflect CTE Recruitment, Admission, and Retention policies received to date from districts and schools. To access this resource, please visit Career Technical Education Recruitment, Admission, and Retention Policies.

Annual CTE Action Items

  • Policies: Each career technical education school and program shall submit its admissions, recruitment, and retention policy to the Department by November 1 of any year the school or program has revised its policy. Policies will be submitted via GEM$ Application Supplement.
    • If your district is unable to meet this deadline, you may request an extension by completing this form and submitting the request via GEM$ before November 1.
  • Attestation: The superintendent of the career technical education school or program shall submit an annual attestation to the Department that the admissions policy of the school or program complies with federal and state law, including laws addressing discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, or disability. Attestations will be submitted via GEM$.
  • Availability: Each school and program shall annually publish its admission, recruitment and retention policy in its Program of Studies, post a copy on the school website, and provide a copy to each student applicant and their parent/guardian.
  • Policy Submission: Policies will be submitted via GEM$. Step-by-step instructions to upload policy and attestation forms: GEM$ CTE Recruitment, Admission, and Retention Policy Guide
  • Data Submission: Career technical education schools and programs shall maintain a record of all students who apply for admission, and students who enroll in the school, or are placed on a waitlist, and their admission criteria weight, if used, to facilitate an analysis and evaluation of the admissions system and its compliance with 603 CMR 4.03(6). The school or program shall provide such information to the Department upon request. Career technical education secondary schools that have more applicants than available seats shall also maintain a waitlist for the current school year for all students in the lottery who do not gain admission to the school, and report such data to the Department. Information about this data collection can be found here: Admissions Data Collection

Supporting Documents for Admissions Policies & Processes

Middle School Awareness of Career Technical Education

Awareness of Career Technical Education and high school options while in middle school enables students and their families to make informed choices about their education. Districts with middle schools that have access to CTE programs through their high schools or through their municipality's membership to a regional CTE district must have and implement a Middle School Pathway Exploration Policy. Learn more about Middle School Pathway Exploration Policies and attestations.

NonResident Tuition Resources

Students who reside in cities and towns not maintaining approved vocational technical education programs in the career technical program area sought by the student may apply for admission to a school of another city, town or district offering the desired instruction as set forth in M.G.L. c. 74, § 7. Additional regulations regarding Non-Resident student enrollment is included in 603 CMR 4.00: Career Technical Education Regulations.

Supporting Documents for Nonresident

Career Technical Education Chapter 74 Nonresident Tuition Rates (By Year)

Career Technical Education Methods of Administration for secondary career technical education (CTE) student eligibility, recruitment, and admission

Purpose

This section provides an overview of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's (the Department) implementation of the Federal Guidelines for Eliminating Discrimination and Denial of Services on the Basis of Race, Color, National Origin, Sex and Handicap in Vocational Education Programs (Methods of Administration or MOA Guidelines), specifically as they relate to secondary career technical education (CTE) student eligibility, recruitment, and admission.

Methods of Administration (MOA) Overview

The MOA Guidelines require states to conduct civil rights reviews in districts that receive federal funds and offer CTE. These Methods of Administration (MOA) reviews require states to "adopt a compliance program to prevent, identify and remedy discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, or handicap." Guidelines at II.B. The compliance program must include:

  1. Collecting and analyzing civil rights related data and information that subrecipients compile for their own purposes or that are submitted to State and Federal officials under existing authorities;
  2. Conducting periodic compliance reviews of selected subrecipients (i.e., an investigation of a subrecipient to determine whether it engages in unlawful discrimination in any aspect of its program); upon finding unlawful discrimination, notifying the subrecipient of steps it must take to attain compliance and attempting to obtain voluntary compliance;
  3. Providing technical assistance upon request to subrecipients. This will include assisting subrecipients to identify unlawful discrimination and instructing them in remedies for and prevention of such discrimination;
  4. Periodically reporting its activities and findings under the foregoing paragraphs, including findings of unlawful discrimination under paragraph 2, immediately above, to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

Note: (a subrecipient is defined in the MOA Guidelines at II.B., and it includes a local educational authority that receives financial assistance through DESE)

The Department's MOA process has been approved by OCR and includes three steps:

  1. Pre-onsite monitoring activities, including:
    • Using data that districts submit to the Department to identify candidates for review
    • Providing districts with technical assistance and feedback regarding the process
    • Establishing a method for districts to share relevant documentation
  2. Onsite monitoring activities, including:
    • Conducting an in-person visit to each identified district
    • Providing technical assistance regarding program quality and equity
    • Following up from onsite visits
    • Issuing a letter to districts identifying areas of non-compliance (if found)
  3. Providing technical assistance to help districts achieve compliance
    • Requiring a Department-approved corrective action plan
    • Requiring progress reports until remediation is complete
    • Reporting ultimate findings to OCR

Pre-onsite Monitoring Activities

In connection with CTE student eligibility, recruitment, and admissions, the Department's MOA pre-onsite monitoring activities include a desk review of all districts reporting more applications than available seats. The Department calculates a comparison index, identifies potential disproportionality, and determines which schools or programs require technical assistance or further MOA review.

The MOA Guidelines prohibit using selective admissions criteria "that have the effect of disproportionately excluding persons of a particular race, color, national origin, sex, or handicap," unless the criteria "have been validated as essential to participation in a given program and that alternative equally valid criteria that do not have such a disproportionate adverse effect are unavailable." Guidelines at IV.K. The Department reviews enrollment data submitted by districts each fall to identify districts whose data indicates potential disproportionate exclusion of one or more protected classes of students.

Comparison Index Description

The Department compares admitted students to students in sending communities using a comparison index. The comparison index is a method of comparing a CTE district's population to students residing in its region to check for a comparable demographic profile. To calculate the comparison index, all students in the grade levels served by the CTE district who reside in member districts, except those that are served in out-of-district placements, are included in the sample. For each year, the total number of students in the sample in the grades served by the CTE district in the subgroup is divided by the total number of students in the sample in the grades served by the CTE district. This figure is then adjusted using the Wilson Score Interval (WSI) method to calculate a "lower-limit" (a one-sided 99% confidence interval below the unadjusted index). This final figure is the comparison index.

If a CTE district's proportion of students in a particular subgroup falls below the comparison index, this means that there is 99% statistical confidence that the subgroup population in the CTE district is below the mean of the comparison sample. Said another way, the comparison index indicates with 99% confidence that the enrollment of a given student population at a CTE district is or is not comparable to that of the enrollment of their sending region.

Disproportionality Analysis

To determine if districts are enrolling particular demographic groups (Students of Color, Students with Disabilities, and English Learners) at disproportionate rates, we calculate the difference between the attending 9th grade students at that district and the comparison index for that district. The comparison index is what we would expect the 9th grade enrollment to be at the CTE district, using data from the region and adjusting for grades served, size of the district, and variability. When the difference between the attending 9th grade students and comparison index is negative, it indicates a 99% confidence level that the enrollment is under-representative of that district's region.

The Department reviews at least two years of data and flags potential disproportionate student populations where:

  1. The district has differences of less than 0 for all three demographic groups
  2. The district has a difference of less than -5 for one (or more) demographic groups
  3. The district has two demographic groups with differences both less than -2.5

Using this information, the Department identifies (1) districts that are newly identified for potential disproportionate exclusion in one or more protected groups, (2) districts that have had potential disproportionate exclusion in one protected group across more than one school year, and (3) districts that have potential disproportionate exclusion in two or more protected groups over more than one year. For districts that have potential disproportionate exclusion over more than one year, the Department then considers whether districts have made progress in the current school year as compared with past years, and whether the differences have been persistent or are a newer issue.

Technical Assistance and Review Determinations

After reviewing the Department's findings, the Commissioner determines which districts' data indicate disproportionate exclusion and therefore will be part of the formal MOA review process, and which districts may require technical assistance.

Onsite Monitoring Activities

The Department then schedules an on-site meeting at those districts entering the formal MOA review process. Department staff provide the MOA-Onsite-Documentation tool for districts to compile all necessary information in advance of that meeting. At the on-site meeting, the district and Department staff review the documentation together, and Department staff may request additional information or discussions with specific district staff. Following the visit, the Department will issue a Letter of Finding (LOF). In cases where the LOF contains findings that require action, the district will submit a Voluntary Compliance Plan (VCP) to the Department's Office of C.

For each finding that requires action, the district must describe the proposed corrective actions the district will implement together with:

  • proposed completion dates
  • anticipated results
  • proposed evidence of completion
  • proposed person(s) responsible for implementation of actions
  • proposed internal evaluation process for corrective plan actions to assure ongoing compliance

The Superintendent must take the following steps in developing the VCP:

  1. Convene an appropriate group of key administrators and other staff (the planning group) to analyze all Department findings included in the LOF. For findings that require action, discuss with the planning group all possible strategies of action that will help the district to comply with applicable requirements. Discussions during this phase of VCP development should emphasize the opportunity for cross-district planning and action.
  2. Assign a key district staff member with district responsibilities to develop the VCP to be reviewed by the Superintendent and the planning group.
  3. Review the VCP with the School Committee to ensure the members' understanding of requirements for corrective action, and to secure their commitment to fully implement the VCP.
  4. Forward the proposed VCP to Associate Commissioner Elizabeth Bennett, Office of College, Career, and Technical Education, by the date agreed upon.
  5. Proceed with preliminary steps to implement the proposed VCP pending the Department's review and approval.

Department staff will provide technical assistance to the district throughout the VCP process. The Department's written review of the VCP will describe whether and to what extent the district must provide progress reports. If the Department cannot approve the VCP as written by the district, it will provide a written explanation with its reasons, along with a Department-written VCP for the district to review and implement.

Providing technical assistance to help districts achieve compliance

The Department has issued guidance documents regarding key stages of students' trajectory through CTE pathways, from information-sharing with prospective students and their families, to admissions policies and practices, to student outcome tracking.

The Department has also developed several interactive CTE data tools to assist districts in reflecting and acting on student admissions data, including waitlist and enrollment information. The Department further hosts several hours of "drop-in" technical assistance sessions for districts, to answer questions about the tools.

Additionally, the Department offers individual support and grant resources to districts to support improving policies and procedures for eligibility, recruitment, and admissions. Inquiries about the MOA process for recruitment, can be directed to CCTE@mass.gov .

Last Updated: September 14, 2026

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