Career-Connected Learning Pathways Act of 2026
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Career-Connected Learning Pathways Act updates the Perkins career and technical education program to support statewide public directories of CTE programs of study and career pathways. A directory must be searchable by school district or political subdivision, industry or career cluster, and credential earned. Its data must be standard, open, linked, interoperable, and updated at least once each program year.
When an eligible state agency elects to carry out the directory activity, each eligible recipient must provide detailed information for every program or pathway it offers. Required fields include the name and description, location, industry cluster, course sequence, dual or concurrent credit, postsecondary credential, affiliated college or workforce partner, work-based learning, and evidence of alignment with current or projected labor-market needs.
The bill makes directory development an authorized state activity and conditions the detailed local submission requirement on a state election. It does not require every state to create a directory, create a new grant amount, guarantee admission to a listed program, or certify that every credential leads to employment.
Who Benefits and How
Students and families gain a single searchable source for local programs, credentials, courses, and work-based learning. School counselors and workforce boards gain comparable open data for advising and planning. Employers can identify programs aligned with industry needs. Colleges and training providers gain discoverability, while researchers can reuse linked interoperable records.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Participating state CTE agencies must build, publish, maintain, and annually update the directory. Eligible local recipients must compile detailed program and labor-market information when the state elects the activity. Schools, colleges, workforce boards, and industry partners may need to validate affiliations and outcomes. States may use Perkins administrative capacity or funds that could otherwise support different authorized activities.
Key Provisions
- Authorizes statewide public CTE directories under the Perkins Act.
- Requires searches by geography, industry cluster, and credential.
- Establishes standard, open, linked, and interoperable data formats.
- Requires at least one update each program year.
- Requires detailed local program information after a state election.
- Includes course sequences, credentials, partnerships, and work-based learning.
- Requires evidence of labor-market alignment.
- Preserves state choice over whether to conduct the directory activity.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Adds searchable, public, open-data statewide directories of career and technical education programs and pathways to authorized Perkins Act activities and, when a state elects the activity, requires detailed program, credential, partnership, work-based-learning, and labor-market alignment information from eligible recipients.
Key Policy Areas
Career and Technical Education, Workforce Pathways, Open Education Data, Postsecondary Credentials, Labor Market Alignment
Primary Purpose
Adds searchable, public, open-data statewide directories of career and technical education programs and pathways to authorized Perkins Act activities and, when a state elects the activity, requires detailed program, credential, partnership, work-based-learning, and labor-market alignment information from eligible recipients.
Policy Domains
Section 2 statewide CTE program directories
Identified Gains
- Students searching for career pathways
- Families comparing technical education programs
- School counselors advising CTE students
- Workforce boards mapping local training
- Employers seeking aligned skill pipelines
- Colleges promoting credential pathways
- Researchers reusing open CTE data
Identified Costs
- State CTE directory administrators
- Perkins recipients compiling program records
- School districts validating course sequences
- Colleges documenting affiliated credentials
- Workforce partners confirming pathway links
- State data teams maintaining interoperability
- Alternative uses of Perkins capacity
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
Introduced in House
Ms. McClellan (for herself, Ms. Ross, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Alternative uses of Perkins capacity, Colleges documenting affiliated credentials, Colleges promoting credential pathways
Positive-direction: Colleges promoting credential pathways, School counselors advising CTE students, Students searching for career pathways
Negative-direction: Alternative uses of Perkins capacity, Colleges documenting affiliated credentials, Perkins recipients compiling program records, School districts validating course sequences
Workforce boards mapping local training, Workforce partners confirming pathway links
Positive-direction: Workforce boards mapping local training
Negative-direction: Workforce partners confirming pathway links
State CTE directory administrators, State data teams maintaining interoperability
Families comparing technical education programs
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "student"
- → Student searching for a career pathway
- "state_lead"
- → Eligible state career and technical education agency
- "local_submitter"
- → Eligible Perkins recipient
- "education_partner"
- → Affiliated postsecondary institution
- "workforce_partner"
- → Local workforce development board
Note: {'scope_ids': ['statewide_cte_directories'], 'description': 'Directory creation remains an authorized state choice; the bill does not compel every state to participate, appropriate a new grant amount, guarantee program admission, or prove that a listed credential will result in employment.'}
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A state agency's choice to carry out the authorized directory activity, which triggers the added local information requirement.
A public, searchable, annually updated directory using standard, open, linked, interoperable data for programs and career pathways.
Program identity, location, industry, courses, credentials, partners, work-based learning, and labor-market alignment evidence supplied after a state election.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology