Mastering CTE Strategy, Influence & Impact
Career and Technical Education is expanding rapidly—and so are expectations for impact. Yet many of today’s CTE challenges aren’t rooted in program design alone. They stem from leadership decisions, system alignment, and the ability to connect vision to implementation across schools, regions, and communities.
The CTE Online Learning Lab is a yearlong, cohort-based leadership experience designed for ESA leaders and staff who influence CTE systems. This advanced learning lab strengthens leaders’ ability to think strategically, influence without direct authority, and position CTE as a driver of regional and economic success.
Learning Focus
Participants move through a purposeful leadership journey designed to elevate CTE from a collection of programs to a cohesive, high-impact system:
- Reframe – Seeing beyond programs to the leadership conditions that shape CTE success
- Diagnose – Distinguishing activity from true impact
- Influence – Advancing CTE through strategic leadership without direct authority
- Expand – Positioning CTE as a regional and economic strategy
- Activate – Turning leadership insight into sustained transformatio
Program Overview
In-Person Launch
Held in conjunction with the 2026 AESA Summer Leadership Conference
- July 14-16, 2026: Beyond Programs: The Hidden Architecture of High-Impact CTE
Focused on examining system-level leadership conditions that shape CTE outcomes and establishing shared language and frameworks for the series.
Four Virtual Sessions, 90-minute virtual sessions are scheduled at 2:00 pm ET
- September 16, 2026: Distinguishing Quality: How High-Impact CTE Actually Takes Shape
- November 17, 2026: Influence: Advancing CTE Through Strategic Leadership
- January 12, 2027: Strategic Positioning: Elevating CTE as a Driver of Regional Success
- March 4, 2027 (Capstone): From Insight to Momentum: Leading Sustainable CTE Transformation
Meet the Facilitator:
Kristy Volesky
Kristy Volesky is a nationally recognized CTE strategist who partners with schools, colleges, businesses, and state leaders to strengthen systems that drive high-impact career and technical education. Drawing on experience across education, government, and business partnerships, she helps organizations align education and workforce efforts and move from vision to action. Kristy serves on the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) Work-Based Learning Policy Team and co-leads a national collaboration network through the Coalition for Career Development Center. She is also an author and co-author of leading works focused on advancing work-based learning and the future of CTE.
Register for the 2026-27 Cohort!
Join the CTE Online Learning Lab to strengthen your influence, sharpen your strategy, and lead the kind of system-level change today’s moment demands. If you’re ready to move beyond programs and drive real impact across your region, this is where that work begins.
For information about this program, contact:
Jessica Huizenga, Ed.D.
Chief Program Officer
Email