Curriculum for a CTE Pathway: Toolkit

About this toolkit and the layers a pathway curriculum must satisfy

This toolkit helps you choose and build the curriculum for a new CTE pathway. It is written once for every pathway, with nurse aide and electrical as worked examples.

A pathway curriculum usually has to satisfy several layers at once, and they come from different places:

1. The state CTE framework. Your state education agency publishes program standards, usually by CIP code. This is what CTE program approval checks.
2. An occupational rule, if the occupation is regulated. A nurse aide program must also meet the federal content rule (42 CFR 483.152) and the state health agency’s hours and units. The CTE framework alone does not make a nurse aide program legal.
3. The credential. The exam or credential your students will earn (the state CNA exam, NCCER Electrical, OSHA-10) sets the skills they must show, and in most cases the order you should teach them in.
4. The state technical assessment, where there is one. North Carolina’s post-assessments and Arizona’s Technical Skills Assessment are built from published blueprints. Those blueprints are a curriculum map.
5. Academic credit and college eligibility. If the pathway will carry academic credit, the curriculum must show the academic standards it covers, and the credit must not cost students their college eligibility.

A useful rule of thumb: let the strictest outside requirement set the sequence, and let the CTE framework fill in the rest. For nurse aide, the federal pre-contact topics and the state exam skills list set the order. For electrical, the credential’s modules and performance profiles do.

Items are labeled Confirmed, Confirm with the agency, or Changing. Last checked October 2, 2026.

State CTE frameworks: what each state gives a teacher

All seven states publish CTE content by program. What differs is how much a teacher actually receives. Virginia provides full courses ready to load into a learning management system. Missouri’s electrical framework dates from 2011. Know which kind of state you are in before you budget teacher time for curriculum writing.

Worked example: the nurse aide curriculum

The federal floor, which applies in every state

Under 42 CFR 483.152, a nurse aide program runs at least 75 clock hours, including at least 16 hours of supervised practical training under an RN or LPN. Before any student has direct contact with a resident, the program must cover at least 16 hours on five topics:

1. Communication and interpersonal skills
2. Infection control
3. Safety and emergency procedures, including the Heimlich maneuver
4. Promoting residents’ independence
5. Residents’ rights

The rest of the required content covers basic nursing skills, personal care skills, mental health and social service needs, care of cognitively impaired residents, basic restorative services, and residents’ rights in more depth. Build your scope and sequence with the five pre-contact topics first, and map every unit to the federal content areas. State reviewers check curriculum against them.

State hours and curriculum rules

Align the lab to the state exam

The state’s skills exam lists the tasks students will be tested on. Sequence the lab so students practice those tasks, in the testing format, before the exam.

In North Carolina, teachers must complete free CNA365 training before scheduling students for the exam, and the credential articulates to community college NAS 101.

Foundation courses and supports

• National Health Science Standards (NCHSE). Eleven foundation standards, revised 2022, measured by the National Health Science Certificate exam. Use them for the foundation courses that come before the nurse aide course. Virginia lists the National Health Science Assessment as an aligned credential for Nurse Aide.
• HOSA. The health science student organization. North Carolina’s course pages and district job postings list HOSA advising as part of the teaching role.
• Textbooks. Whatever you choose, Missouri requires materials no more than ten years old, and every state checks content against the federal rule. Specific textbooks were not reviewed for this toolkit.

Worked example: the electrical curriculum

NCCER Core and Electrical

Virginia, North Carolina and Missouri tie their high school electrical programs to NCCER’s four-level electrical curriculum. The 12th edition (2026) is aligned to the 2026 National Electrical Code. Level 1 runs 227.5 hours including the Core prerequisite, with 11 modules: occupational overview, electrical safety, test equipment, theory and circuits, construction documents, introduction to the NEC, boxes, wireways and raceways, conduit bending, conductors and cables, and dwelling wiring. Levels 2 to 4 run 147.5 to 157.5 hours each.

What you need to know to use it:

• Materials are sold through Pearson. The 11th edition is still listed.
• Only accredited organizations issue NCCER credentials. Schools usually participate as training sites under an Accredited Training Sponsor. North Carolina DPI has been the statewide sponsor for NC public schools since 2009. Confirm with the agency who the sponsor is in the other six states.
• Each module credential requires a written test and a hands-on performance profile, recorded in NCCER’s Registry.
• Instructors complete NCCER’s Instructor Certification Training Program (see the Staffing toolkit).
• NCCER does not publish its application and maintenance fees. Get a quote.

State electrical programs

Which code edition to teach

The curriculum and the code in force often differ. NCCER’s newest edition teaches the 2026 NEC, while most of the seven states enforce an older edition. Students should learn to work in the edition their local inspectors enforce, and should know which edition their credential exam assumes.

These adoption dates come from IAEI’s national table, which shows no update date. Check your state code agency before publishing them to students. Practical steps: buy the textbook edition that matches the NCCER tests your sponsor administers, teach students to look up articles in the locally enforced edition, and have your advisory committee confirm the local edition each year.

OSHA-10

Virginia’s Electricity I includes OSHA-10. North Carolina lists it as an aligned credential for IC41 and requires the instructor to hold it before teaching. Missouri counts OSHA-10 only as a stackable credential, not a stand-alone credential. In the other states it is a common add-on.

Free state-built options

Michigan’s 46.0301 workbooks, Missouri’s model units and Virginia’s Canvas courses are free to read. In Michigan, use the Academic Alignment workbook together with the S4IS CTE Crosswalk prototype where you need math or science alignment.

Credentials and end-of-program assessments by state

Every state measures pathway completion a little differently. Some give a state exam with a published blueprint. Others rely on industry credentials from an approved list. Find out which kind your state uses, because it decides what your curriculum map is built from.

How to build the curriculum map from the measure

• Where the state publishes a test blueprint (North Carolina, Arizona), sequence your units to the blueprint’s weights. The blueprint is the map.
• Where the credential list drives completion (Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri), choose the credential first, then check that the competency record or task list covers everything the credential tests.
• For nurse aide in every state, the state exam skills list sets the lab sequence, the health agency’s content rule sets the classroom sequence, and the CTE framework adds employability, ethics and foundation content.

Academic credit and protecting college eligibility

A pathway can carry academic credit in two ways. Replacement means a CTE course stands in for a required academic credit. Integration means the CTE course teaches the academic standards and the student earns academic credit for showing them. Both are local decisions in most states, made within state rules. This section is a summary; your state’s graduation rules govern.

Protecting college eligibility

A credit that meets a graduation requirement may not meet a university admission requirement. Before any student uses a CTE course in place of Algebra II, a lab science or world language:

• Check the admission requirements of your state’s public universities.
• Check the NCAA core-course list if the student may play college sports.
• Prefer substitution for electives, the fourth year of math or the third year of science, rather than the core sequence colleges expect.
• Record the decision and the family’s acknowledgment in the student’s plan.

Integration, where the CTE course teaches academic standards alongside the academic course, carries less admission risk than replacement.

Template: curriculum review rubric

Use this rubric to compare curriculum options (a state course, a national curriculum, a vendor product or a locally written course) or to check a draft before you file for approval. Score each row 0 (missing), 1 (partial) or 2 (fully met), and write the evidence you looked at. A 0 on any row marked Required means the option cannot be used as it stands.

After scoring

• List every row scored below 2 and who will close the gap.
• Record which code edition, curriculum edition and exam version the course is built on, and set a date to re-check them each year.
• File the rubric with the CTE program approval packet.

Quick reference by pathway

One row per pathway. Each pathway guide has the full state-by-state detail; rows are added as new guides are completed.

Review status and sources

Last checked October 2, 2026. The Virginia verified-credit rows were corrected against 8VAC20-132-51 on October 3, 2026. These items are open for reviewers:

1. North Carolina nurse aide curriculum. Is the DHSR curriculum mandatory or recommended for state-approved programs? Confirm current CMS curriculum versions.
2. State nurse aide content rules. Michigan, Arizona and Hawaii rules were not read in full for topics beyond the federal list.
3. Michigan. Whether separate nurse aide (51.3902) or electrician (46.0302) programs exist; which credential MDE reports for 46.0301; whether MDE requires an end-of-program technical assessment.
4. Arizona. Credentials named in the Electrical and Nursing Services Program Descriptions; whether an industry credential can substitute for the TSA.
5. Pennsylvania. Which CIP nurse aide programs use; the Penn State model curriculum; how nurse aide programs meet the competency assessment rule; the exact NOCTI electrical test and current waiver status.
6. Missouri. Whether a newer electrical framework has replaced the 2011 version; the health science framework.
7. Hawaii. Standards dates, course codes, whether MEP Systems covers electrical well enough for NCCER, and the current Prometric bulletin.
8. NCCER. Sponsors in the six states other than North Carolina; current fees.
9. NEC adoption. Confirm each state’s edition with its code agency.
10. Academic credit. Re-verify Missouri, Pennsylvania and Hawaii rules, and check state university admission and NCAA requirements.
11. Textbooks and trainer systems. Not reviewed.

Sources

State frameworks

• MDE, CTE Instructional Resources by Career Cluster
• CTE Resource Center, Nurse Aide (8341) and Electricity I
• NC CTE CMS, HN43 and IC41
• ADE Nursing Services and Electrical and Power Transmission Installation
• PDE, Programs of Study SOAR and 22 Pa. Code 339.22
• DESE, Skilled Technical Sciences Support Materials
• HIDOE, CTE Pathways and Program Standards

Nurse aide

• 42 CFR 483.152
• NC DHSR, Nurse Aide I Curriculum
• 18VAC90-26-40
• 19 CSR 30-84.010
• PDE, Nurse Aide Training Program
• Headmaster, Michigan Candidate Handbook and Arizona Candidate Handbook
• Credentia, PA NNAAP Skills Evaluation
• Prometric, Hawaii CNA Candidate Information Bulletin
• NCHSE, National Health Science Standards

Electrical

• NCCER, Electrical and Accredited Training Sponsor Guidelines (2022)
• IAEI, NEC Code Adoption by State
• DESE, IRC New System Guidance

Assessments and credit

• ADE, Technical Skills Assessment Overview Guide
• 22 Pa. Code 4.31
• VDOE, CTE Industry Credentialing
• MDE, Michigan Merit Curriculum
• ADE, CTE Programs with Embedded Academic Credit