Middle School CTE Resources

Help Your Students Get a Head Start on Their Future.

Middle school Career and Technical Education (CTE) has the power to transform the trajectory of students’ lives. By giving students the early opportunity to determine their interests and strengths; develop practical skills (such as critical thinking, problem solving, and communication); and ultimately make informed decisions about their future, CTE helps middle school students build a strong foundation for high school and beyond.

We have several resources available for teaching CTE in middle school, including lesson modules, course guides, video-based instructional materials, and tools within the State’s Connection membership portal. It’s never too early to start exploring!

Lesson Modules

A Learning Activity Package (LAP) is a comprehensive, ready-to-use lesson plan designed to help make your preparation easy, fast, and relevant. LAP modules support and provide instruction for an industry-validated performance indicator. They focus on developing leadership skills and a positive, career-oriented attitude, as well as both technical and academic performance.

Each LAP module contains engaging student narrative, individual and group activities, ready-to-use assessments, customizable discussion guides, and more.

For middle school students, we recommend LAPs from the Communication Skills (CO), Emotional Intelligence (EI), and Professional Development (PD) instructional areas.

We also recommend using LAPs that correspond with a curriculum planning level that is more accessible to middle-level students, such as Prerequisite (PQ) (Content develops employability and job-survival skills and concepts) or Career Sustaining (CS) (Content develops knowledge needed for basic academics and business skills).

Here are a few suggested LAPs to get started:

Course Guides

Course guides are comprehensive roadmaps that provide a variety of educational materials, including performance indicators, ethical case studies, and activities for each course. Each course guide has a recommended sequence and numerous resources for additional learning.

In your middle school CTE classroom, we recommend starting with one of the following courses:

  • Business & Marketing Essentials, which introduces students to many aspects of the business world, including primary business activities, the business environment, and fundamental economic concepts.
  • Career Exploration for Middle-Level Students, which encourages students to think about their skills and interests, introduces them to different causes and challenges, exposes them to different career fields and industries, and helps them develop professional skills.
  • Ethical Leadership for Middle-Level Students, which is a foundational ethics course that helps students develop crucial skills (e.g., communication, collaboration, critical thinking) necessary for future success.
  • Ethical Leadership, which introduces students to key leadership and ethical knowledge and skills, extending ethical leadership instruction for advanced middle-level students.

Video Resources

For many middle-level students, video resources are the preferred way to learn new information. To enhance CTE instruction in your classroom, consider using some of our video series:

  • Ethical Dilemmas in the Workplace showcases professionals and the ethical dilemmas they have encountered in various areas, such as customer relationship management, entrepreneurship, and sales.
  • Gray Zone Interactive Series features multiple episodes that begin with an ethical dilemma and then use “choose your own adventure” style gameplay to give students the opportunity to work through the dilemmas themselves.

State's Connection

State’s Connection is a portal full of free tools, content, and resources for teachers in states that are members of the MBA Research Consortium. (Not sure if your state supports MBA Research’s work as a consortium member? Here’s a list of member states.)

While materials are customized based on level of membership, the following resources might be particularly useful in middle school CTE classrooms:

  • The MBA Research Dictionary, which contains every vocabulary term and definition references in our LAPs, can help break down complex concepts for middle grade students.
  • The MBA Research Bookmarks page is a comprehensive collection of websites containing tutorials, lectures, games, quizzes, and more that can supplement both classroom instruction and professional development.

Tips from Teachers

Our Teacher Advisory Network (TAN)—a national network of educators counseling our organization—provides the following advice for middle school teachers interested in using MBA Research materials:

  • Choose resources/components that work for you and your students.
  • Start small (with one LAP, course guide, etc.) until you feel comfortable, and then explore other options.
  • Don’t get overwhelmed.
  • Take the time to learn how to use the resources.
  • Modify/Scale down materials based on student abilities and interests.
  • Review the materials in advance to ensure the reading level is appropriate for your students.
  • You may need to explain vocabulary more at the middle school level than high school.
  • Focus on career exploration, ethics, emotional intelligence, and communications (e.g., working in teams, active listening, presentation skills).
  • Course guides can be your pacing guides and tell you what standards to teach.

Additional Resources

In addition, we recommend using the following websites to enhance your teaching:

  • Middle School CTE: This page from the Association for Career & Technical Education (ACTE) features several resources (books, reports, podcasts, etc.) to assist CTE instruction in the middle grades.
  • Expanding Middle School CTE to Promote Lifelong Learner Success: This report from Advance CTE examines state approaches to middle school CTE and discusses how those who support middle school CTE can best expand access.
  • Best Practices in Middle School Career and Technical Education Expansion: This report is a joint effort between a state education agency in the southeastern United States and Hanover Research exploring best practices for implementing CTE at the middle school level.
  • Perkins: CTE in the Middle Grades: This eight-minute video from the U.S. Department of Education explores how two states have invested in building out their middle school CTE programs.
  • CTE Middle School: This resource from the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) lists career exploration opportunities offered in DoDEA middle schools, such as business enterprise, computer applications, and graphic communications.

Looking to Challenge Your Middle School Students?

Teaching principle-based ethics is a proven way to help students think critically, manage emotions, develop empathy, build supportive relationships, and make responsible decisions. Check out our middle school ethics education materials, available at no cost through the generous support of the Daniels Fund.

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