The Rural IL CTE Project is a collaborative effort between the Association of Illinois Rural and Small Schools, the Illinois State Board of Education, and Regional Office of Education #26 to support rural and small school districts to grow and sustain their career and technical education (CTE) programs through research and technical assistance.

CTE programs bolster the capacity of rural and small schools to provide students with high-quality and individualized education. Rural students who follow these CTE pathways forge the bedrock of their personal and professional lives while supporting local businesses and industry through internships and future employment.

The primary goals of this effort are to better understand the needs and equity gaps of rural CTE programs through intentional research, and to provide targeted technical assistance to all Illinois rural and small schools.

Research

Research is one of the two main pillars of the Rural IL CTE Project. Through our statewide research, we attempt to uncover and understand the needs and equity gaps rural schools face when trying to develop robust CTE offerings for their students and communities. These research efforts include surveys, focus groups, investigative studies, and field research. The Rural IL CTE Project has engaged 318 rural and small school districts in 97% of Illinois counties through research, and has presented findings and recommended actions for building program equity in summative research reports.

Technical Assistance

Providing direct and purposeful support to all Illinois rural and small school districts has remained a core goal of the Rural IL CTE Project. To that end, we have developed three sources of technical assistance designed to help your district grow their CTE offerings, sustain or innovate your current programming, and find ways to network with other rural districts and community and industry partners:

• Prairie Career Advocate: a quarterly journal highlighting exemplary rural CTE programs and resources

• Rural CTE Resources: a database of tools, guides, and grants to addressing common rural CTE challenges

• Webinars: AIRSS partners with several CTE-focused organizations to provide free webinars and post the recordings in the CTE Portal

• Rural Labor Market Projections Map: this map visualizes the different systems and organizations that support CTE in rural schools, and provides regional trajectories of CTE career clusters.

• Rural Employers Map: this map lists the top five employment sectors at the county and regional levels. In addition, it breaks down the research findings of the Rural IL CTE Survey geographically.

Download Rural IL CTE Project Survey Results