ACTE Postsecondary CTE Summit 2026

Career and technical education programs are under growing pressure to scale enrollment while still meeting Perkins V accountability targets for technical skill attainment, credential completion, and retention, but most instructional materials in use today are static manuals and SOPs with no built-in feedback, and most learning management systems are built to track credit hours, not competencies. This session introduces iTELL, an AI-powered intelligent-text platform that converts existing program materials (e.g. manuals, SOPs, syllabi) into AI-tutored, interactive learning experiences in minutes, embedding formative feedback and dialogic tutoring directly into the learning loop.

This session will benefit CTE program directors, instructors, and workforce development administrators who are responsible for improving completion, retention, and certification pass rates with limited instructional design staff and tight budgets. Attendees will leave with a concrete understanding of how AI-tutored instruction can be layered onto materials they already have, without requiring a new LMS, a curriculum overhaul, or in-house AI expertise, and how early pilot data is being used to measure impact on the outcomes their programs are evaluated on.

Rather than a formal presentation, this will be an interactive poster session built around live conversation and a hands-on product demo. Attendees can see iTELL in action on a laptop at the table, ask questions about how the AI-generated content and scoring actually work, and explore how the platform might apply to their own program's materials. The format is designed for genuine back-and-forth: presenters are especially interested in hearing from program directors about their own accountability pressures, retention challenges, and what they'd want from a tool like this, direct input that will shape the platform's ongoing development.

Attendees will receive a one-page handout summarizing the iTELL platform, current research findings, and details on how to apply for a no-cost pilot partnership, along with a QR code linking to a short application form.

This session shares early results and practical lessons from North Carolina’s 9th-grade CTE dual enrollment pilot, with a focus on McDowell Technical Community College’s implementation model in partnership with McDowell High School. The presentation highlights how MTCC expanded access to college-level CTE coursework by leveraging credentialed high school CTE faculty who are approved to serve as adjunct instructors for the college. Attendees will hear what worked, what required mid-course corrections, and what it takes to run a model that is instructionally strong, operationally clean, and built to scale as statewide policy moves toward formalization.
This session will benefit community college academic affairs leaders, CTE deans and directors, dual enrollment and CCP staff, high school CTE administrators, registrars, advising teams, and anyone exploring participation in the pilot or preparing for broader expansion of 9th and 10th grade eligibility. It is also useful for institutions that want to strengthen high school to college instructional alignment, improve partnership workflows, and create earlier on-ramps into high-demand CTE pathways.
Attendees will leave with clear takeaways they can apply immediately, including a start-to-finish implementation blueprint that covers partnership planning, faculty credentialing and onboarding, course and curriculum alignment, scheduling and registration processes, student eligibility and advising supports, communication routines, and data tracking for performance reporting. The session will walk through common decision points and pitfalls, and offer practical strategies for maintaining quality control and consistency when instruction is delivered by high school faculty under a college adjunct model.
The session is designed to be interactive. Participants will work through a guided readiness check activity to assess their own local capacity, then engage in short table discussions around staffing, compliance, scheduling, and student support scenarios. A brief planning exercise will help attendees identify their next three actions, key stakeholders to involve, and the data elements they should be capturing now to support internal decision-making and future policy reporting.

This poster presentation examines the role of postsecondary education in the rehabilitation of incarcerated individuals and explores policy strategies to improve educational access for this population. Research shows that participation in correctional education, such as career and technical education (CTE), is linked to lower recidivism rates, enhanced employment opportunities, and more successful reentry outcomes. However, access to CTE programs remains limited for many inmates. This research ultimately argues that strengthening correctional education policies through collaboration among postsecondary administrators, state agencies, and correctional stakeholders can be a transformative strategy to reduce recidivism, support rehabilitation, and create long-term benefits for individuals, communities, and society as a whole.