2026 K-ACTE Career Tech Summit

In every school, there is a student who struggles. They can’t sit still. They miss assignments. They are labeled unmotivated, distracted, or difficult. Traditional classrooms often magnify their deficits, but Career & Technical Education can unlock their potential.
This session explores why many students who struggle academically are not incapable they are experiencing executive function skill gaps, regulation challenges, or learning environments that don’t match how they are wired to succeed. CTE classrooms, with their hands-on structure, real-world application, and built-in accountability, are uniquely positioned to serve as powerful interventions.
Participants will learn practical, shop-ready strategies to support executive function development, embed workforce readiness into daily routines, and design CTE environments that transform struggling students into thriving contributors. This is not about lowering expectations, it’s about building systems that allow students to rise to them.
Walk away with actionable tools you can implement immediately to better serve the student who struggles, and turn potential into performance.

Join KAAE for committee meetings. We will be meeting in our committees to take care of any business that needs addressed. 

This presentation highlights how KSDE, the Kansas Department of Commerce, Workforce One, Washburn University, and TCALC collaborated to design and launch a youth teaching apprenticeship program. Attendees will learn how cross-agency alignment made it possible to create a sustainable pathway that connects high school students to postsecondary education and the teaching profession.

This high-energy presentation delves into the synergy between Career and Technical Education (CTE) and the ADHD brain. While neurodivergent individuals often face underemployment due to a lack of engagement in traditional academic settings, CTE offers a game-changing alternative. By prioritizing hands-on learning and industry-recognized credentials, CTE paves the way to high-wage, high-demand careers that align with neurodiverse strengths.
Attendees will explore recent research on access and supports, learn strategies for guiding students through career clusters and pathways, and discover effective methods for student leadership and work-based learning. This session is highly interactive, featuring an Executive Function Match-Up activity, collaborative sharing of educational methods, and a competitive quiz game with prizes!

If you have students who thrive with hands-on learning, the Carpenters Union Apprenticeship gives them a direct line to a lifelong career—with wages, benefits, and training that rival any college path.

Discussion of organization ideas and overall expectations for work-based learning class. Presenters will use their knowledge of early childhood labs/WBL; however, any lab course could utilize this information. Organization of portfolios, schedules for lab, partnership with the YMCA/other organizations/colleges, benefits of in-house vs off campus, ideas for in-house/off campus and how it would look for different classes.

This will be our official business meeting. During this meeting will have discussion of old and new business, consider and vote on any motions presented, vote for the in-coming president elect, and pass the gavel to the in-coming president.