Beyond “AI Literacy”: What CTE Classrooms Should Do Next
A new national report, Applied Co-Intelligence: Preparing Career and Technical Education Learners for an AI-Driven Workforce, offers a timely roadmap for CTE educators navigating rapid advances in artificial intelligence. The report argues that while AI may not eliminate entire occupations, it will significantly change the composition of jobs across industries - and CTE is uniquely positioned to respond.
At the center of the report is the Applied Co-Intelligence (ACI) model, which calls for the integration of three interconnected skill areas:
Technical skills
Transferable skills (critical thinking, communication, ethics)
AI mastery (from basic literacy to evaluation and adaptation)
The report cautions against relying on stand-alone “AI 101” courses. Instead, AI should be embedded within existing technical pathways - serving as an amplifier of learning, not a replacement for it.
What This Means for CTE Classrooms
Here are four practical ways middle and high school educators can apply these insights now:
1. Integrate AI into existing projects. Have students use AI to draft, design, or analyze - then require them to audit and refine the output. One example highlighted in the report describes accounting students using ChatGPT to create a business plan and then validating it with Excel to identify errors.
Across pathways, the model is consistent: AI proposes → students evaluate.
2. Teach human oversight explicitly. Embed ethics and critical auditing into instruction.
Build in reflection prompts:
What could be inaccurate?
What bias may be present?
Where is professional judgment essential?.
3. Develop student agency. Invite students to research an AI tool relevant to their career field and present how it could be applied responsibly in the workplace This builds fluency and confidence.
4. Update curriculum with industry input. CTE’s strength lies in employer alignment.
Add one AI-focused question to your next advisory meeting -“What tasks are changing due to AI?” - and adjust one assignment in response.
The report suggests that CTE learners (already grounded in hands-on, human-centered work) may be especially well positioned in an AI-augmented economy.
The goal is not to produce AI users, but professionals who can deploy, question, and adapt emerging tools within their occupational context.
The work ahead is thoughtful integration - tart with one assignment, build in critique, and keep human expertise at the center.
For access to the full report, Applied Co-Intelligence: Preparing Career and Technical Education Learners for an AI-Driven Workforce, refer to attachment.
e.