Title 20 › Chapter 44— CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION › Subchapter I— CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION ASSISTANCE TO THE STATES › Part A— Allotment and Allocation › § 2324
Collect and report on how well career and technical education (CTE) works. The Secretary must gather yearly performance data from states, include results for special populations, and send an annual summary to Congress. The data system should, when possible, work with other federal systems. The National Center for Education Statistics will collect and report national CTE information from a representative group of students and may include international comparisons. The Secretary will work with NCES and the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education to decide how often and how to collect the information at reasonable cost. The Secretary must also run research, evaluations, and help programs improve, writing one plan that lists the activities and how they will be evaluated. An independent advisory panel appointed by the Director will advise on the evaluation and plan, and will send its findings to the Secretary, the Director, Congress, and the Library of Congress. The Secretary must fund yearly research and evaluation projects (using recent data from the most recent fiscal year and the five years before it) and study topics such as how academic standards and CTE work together, job preparation and employer needs, access and equity, work-based learning, delivery models, program accountability, enrollment changes, and effects of recent law changes. The Secretary must provide an interim report no later than 2 years after July 31, 2018, a final report no later than 4 years after that date, and biennial updates, and must share results widely. The Secretary may collect state performance efforts that do not reveal personal data and must report that information to Congress. Give competitive grants for research, innovation, and scaling up proven CTE practices. The Secretary may award grants to colleges or partnerships to do evidence-based research, evaluate the impact of the law, track student outcomes over time, and test new approaches (like dual enrollment, industry-aligned credentials, work-based learning, teacher training, and online supports). From the funds made available, up to 20 percent may be used for grants to modernize CTE. Grant applicants generally must provide matching funds equal to 50 percent of the grant, unless a waiver is granted. Applications must say who will run the project, show the budget and matching funds, explain how students (including special populations) will benefit, show employer alignment, and describe evaluation and data-sharing plans (consistent with student privacy laws). Priority goes to projects serving mostly low-income students, and at least 25 percent of funds each year must go to projects serving certain urban areas (urban-centric district codes 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43) or partnerships that serve those areas, unless not enough quality applications are received. Grants may last up to 3 years and can be extended one time for up to 2 more years if objectives and student outcomes improve. Grantees must do an independent evaluation, give an annual report on how funds were used, show performance on required indicators (broken down by student subgroups and special populations and, where appropriate, by program), and provide a quantitative analysis of results. The amounts authorized for these activities are: $7,651,051 for fiscal year 2019; $7,758,166 for fiscal year 2020; $7,866,780 for fiscal year 2021; $7,976,915 for fiscal year 2022; $8,088,592 for fiscal year 2023; and $8,201,832 for fiscal year 2024.
Full Legal Text
Education — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
20 U.S.C. § 2324
Title 20 — Education
Last Updated
Apr 5, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60