Career and Technical Education Teacher (High School) Career Assessment

2What is a Career and Technical Education Teacher (High School)?

A CTE teacher teaches a job, not just a subject. You run a shop or a lab where students use real tools on real projects. You teach safety first and you enforce it, because a distracted seventeen-year-old and a table saw are a genuinely dangerous combination. You teach the skills, the vocabulary, and the habits an employer expects, and you help students earn industry certifications while they are still in high school. You run an advisory committee of local employers who tell you what they actually need hired. You supervise a career and technical student organization — SkillsUSA, FFA, FCCLA, DECA, HOSA, or BPA — which means contests, travel, and weekends. And you place students in work-based learning out in real businesses, then go check on them there. North Dakota CTE covers nine program areas: Agricultural Education, Business Education, Career Development, Family & Consumer Sciences Education, Health Sciences and Public Safety Education, Information Technology Education, Marketing Education, Technology & Engineering Education, and Trade, Industry & Technical Education.

The Reality: Say this part out loud: coming from the trade does not automatically make you a teacher. You already know how to weld. You do not yet know how to keep fourteen sophomores safe around hot metal while three of them are not listening. People who make this switch usually say the hardest year is the first one, and the hard part is never the content — it is classroom management, paperwork, and grading. The other honest part is the pay math. If you are a journeyman in a good North Dakota shop, teaching may be a pay cut. What you get instead is a school calendar, summers, a pension, health insurance, and a body that is not worn out at fifty-five. Some people take that trade gladly. Some do not. Do that math before you apply, not after.

Your Responsibilities:

• Teach a trade or occupation in a shop, lab, greenhouse, kitchen, or clinical room
• Teach and enforce safety rules around live tools, equipment, and materials
• Maintain the equipment, order supplies, and keep the shop inventory and budget
• Prepare students for industry certifications they can earn before they graduate
• Advise a student organization like SkillsUSA, FFA, FCCLA, DECA, HOSA, or BPA
• Set up work-based learning placements with local employers and go check on students there
• Run an advisory committee of local employers who tell you what the program should teach
• Do the regular teaching work too: lesson plans, grades, parent contact, and duty periods

You hand a student a skill they can be hired for the week after graduation.

3A Day in the Life

7:20 AM — Unlock the shop. Check the welders, turn on the ventilation, and lay out the coupons for today’s project.

7:55 AM — Intro to Welding. Safety talk, then booths. You walk the row correcting angles and reminding two students about their gloves.

9:40 AM — Advanced Welding. Three seniors are running practice plates for their certification test. You watch, coach, and sign off.

10:45 AM — Prep period, mostly spent on paperwork: a purchase order for rod, a safety incident form, and an email to the advisory committee.

11:40 AM — Lunch in the shop office. A student comes in to ask about apprenticeships. You give him two phone numbers.

12:20 PM — Construction Trades. The class is framing a shed in the back bay. You keep four crews moving and nobody near the saw alone.

2:30 PM — Drive across town to check on a student at her work-based learning placement. Ten minutes with her supervisor.

3:30 PM — SkillsUSA practice for the state contest. Sweep the shop after. Home by six.

Loud, dusty, and hands-on — much closer to the trade than to a normal classroom.

4Training in North Dakota

Two very different doors: a four-year degree, or four years in the trade. North Dakota CTE licensing splits into two groups, and which group your subject falls into changes everything. Agricultural Education, Business Education, Family & Consumer Sciences Education, Marketing Education, and Technology & Engineering Education normally want a bachelor’s degree with a major or minor in that content area, plus Praxis. But Health Sciences, Public Safety, Information Technology, and Trade, Industry & Technical Education have a separate route built for people who came from the job itself. The ND CTE Secondary Licensing & Certification Policy is plain about it: for the CTE Initial License in those areas, "Individuals must have a minimum of four years (8,000 hours) of progressive work experience in the occupation being taught within the past eight years," and for Information Technology and Trade/Industry the education requirement is a high school diploma or its equivalent. Not a bachelor’s degree. Your years on the job are the qualification. This is the one door in all of education that does not require a four-year education degree, and it is why so many ND shop teachers are former welders, mechanics, carpenters, nurses, and paramedics.

Training Pathways:

• Work experience route — CTE Initial License, two years (Health Sciences, Public Safety, Information Technology, Trade/Industry & Technical): The policy requires a minimum of four years, or 8,000 hours, of progressive work experience in the occupation you want to teach, earned within the past eight years. Credit for up to two years (4,000 hours) is given to people who finished an approved specialized postsecondary training program within the past five years — so a two-year technical degree can cut the work-experience requirement in half. During the license period you complete required coursework including Native American competencies, cultural diversity, inclusive learning environments, strategies for diverse learners, and mental health competency, plus a minimum of 15 semester hours of clinical practice.
• Teaching Permit, one year: The shortest possible entry. The policy says candidates "must have proficiency and hold minimum qualifications of four thousand (4,000) hours over five years of relevant work experience in the subject area to be taught or possess a certificate, license, or degree in the subject area to be taught." That is roughly two years of full-time work. A district uses this to get someone into a classroom now while the longer credential is being sorted out.
• Traditional degree route (4 years — Agriculture, Business, Family & Consumer Sciences, Marketing, Technology & Engineering): A bachelor’s degree with a major or minor in the content area, the ESPB Praxis requirements, and CTE-specific coursework including philosophy and history of career and technical education and managing CTE student organizations.
• Already have a bachelor’s in something relevant: The policy lists a CTE Alternative Access License — one year, with a maximum of two one-year provisional licenses — requiring a relevant bachelor’s degree, with work experience taken into account. There is also a Collegiate License for people with five years of full-time college teaching experience or its equivalent (90 semester credit hours), and an Industry Educator License for people with five years of industry teaching experience plus an industry-recognized educator license.

Where to Train in North Dakota:

• North Dakota Department of Career and Technical Education — the licensing authority for CTE teachers; start with the Teacher Licensing page, which lists the checklists and the Occupational Work Experience Verification form (SFN 50986) you will need — cte.nd.gov/teacher-licensing
• Valley City State University (Valley City) — Transition to Teaching, the alternative path for people already holding a CTE Alternative, CTE Initial, or ESPB Alternative License and under contract with a district. Mentoring, seminars, and online coursework; $35 application fee; you may enroll as a non-degree student for just these courses — vcsu.edu/admissions/application-process/transition-to-teaching-requirements
• Valley City State University (Valley City) — Career and Technical Education, B.S.Ed., 120 credits, for people with a documented technical specialty such as automotive technology, construction technology, electronics, health careers, or welding. VCSU grants 36 to 45 credits toward the technical specialty for an approved postsecondary CTE program or an AAS degree, and allows Technical Specialty Life Experience credits through its Prior Learning Assessment Program — catalog.vcsu.edu/undergraduate-catalog/programs/majors/career-technical-education
• Valley City State University (Valley City) — Technology Education, B.S.Ed., 120 credits, delivered as an online teacher prep program with STEM kits shipped to students; covers design challenges, 3D modeling, robotics, and energy systems — catalog.vcsu.edu/undergraduate-catalog/programs/majors/technology-education
• NDSCS to VCSU articulation agreement — signed July 30 2026, letting you finish an AAS at ND State College of Science and transfer straight into the VCSU B.S. in Career and Technical Education without repeating coursework. Built specifically for current and future trade and technical instructors — vcsu.edu/ndscs-and-vcsu-sign-career-tech-ed-articulation-agreement
• North Dakota State University (Fargo) — Agricultural Education, B.S. NDSU says it is the North Dakota institution for preparing teachers of agricultural education, and that the Teacher Licensure pathway prepares candidates to teach at the middle and high school levels — ndsu.edu/agriculture/agricultural-family-education/agricultural-education
• North Dakota State University (Fargo) — Family and Consumer Sciences Education, B.S., preparing teachers for grades 5-12 and beyond, covering individuals and families, nutrition and wellness, apparel, and consumer decision-making, with an internship capstone — ndsu.edu/programs/undergraduate/family-and-consumer-sciences-education
• North Dakota State University (Fargo) — Business Education, secondary licensure major — ndsu.edu/education/teacher-education
• North Dakota State College of Science (Wahpeton) — AAS degrees in welding, automotive, diesel, HVAC, electrical, and building construction that both give you the trade and count toward the CTE credential — ndscs.edu
• Bismarck State College (Bismarck) — AAS degrees in welding, automotive, electrical, and process plant technology, usable the same way — bismarckstate.edu

Before You Start: For the work experience route: a high school diploma or GED, four years (8,000 hours) of progressive work in the occupation within the past eight years, and documentation of it on the ND CTE Occupational Work Experience Verification form. For the degree route: a bachelor’s with a major or minor in the content area and the ESPB Praxis tests. Both routes need a fingerprint background check. Mandated reporter training is required for licenses issued after August 1 2025.

Tip: Start with financial aid and scholarships. Fill out the FAFSA, ask the school’s financial aid office what you qualify for, and ask an employer whether they help pay for school. That is where the money starts. After that, a career counselor or Job Service North Dakota may be able to help with what is left over, like tuition, books, a laptop, or exam fees. What can be paid for depends on the program and on your own situation, so ask before you enroll rather than after. Worth asking about specifically: two-year degrees that train you for a job, like civil engineering technology, land surveying, mechatronics, electronics, or instrumentation. North Dakota two-year colleges also cost far less than a university. Ask about paid summer internships too — engineering firms, plants, and survey crews hire students while they are still in school.

5Certification & Licensing

Career and technical education has its own credential system, run by the ND Department of Career and Technical Education. This is the single most important thing on this page. CTE teachers are credentialed through cte.nd.gov, not only through the regular teaching license, and the CTE system counts years in the trade as a qualification. The credentials below come from the ND CTE Secondary Licensing & Certification Policy dated 4/28/2025. Rules do change, so confirm your own situation with the CTE office at cte@nd.gov or (701) 328-3180 before you count on any of it.

North Dakota CTE Secondary Credentials:

• CTE Initial License (two years) — for Health Sciences, Public Safety, Information Technology, and Trade, Industry & Technical Education. Requires "a minimum of four years (8,000 hours) of progressive work experience in the occupation being taught within the past eight years." Credit for up to two years (4,000 hours) is given for an approved specialized postsecondary training program completed within the past five years. For Information Technology and Trade/Industry, the education requirement is a high school diploma or its equivalent — no bachelor’s degree (cte.nd.gov)
• Teaching Permit (one year) — requires "four thousand (4,000) hours over five years of relevant work experience in the subject area to be taught or possess a certificate, license, or degree in the subject area to be taught" (cte.nd.gov)
• Initial Licensure, two years, traditional route — for Agricultural, Business, Family & Consumer Sciences, Marketing, and Technology & Engineering Education: a bachelor’s degree with a major or minor in the content area plus Praxis requirements (cte.nd.gov)
• CTE Alternative Access License (one year, maximum two one-year provisional licenses) — requires a relevant bachelor’s degree, with work experience taken into account. You apply for Provisional Year 1 on form SFN 61262 (cte.nd.gov)
• Collegiate License (two years) — for someone with five years of full-time teaching experience at a college or its equivalent, which the policy states as 90 semester credit hours (cte.nd.gov)
• Industry Educator License (two years) — for someone with five years of industry teaching experience plus an industry-recognized educator license (cte.nd.gov)
• Five-Year License and renewal — CTE licenses renew with six semester hours of college or university credit and sixty hours of professional development within the term. Endorsement renewals need at least 2 credits or 30 hours in the endorsed content area (cte.nd.gov)

The Exams: The traditional degree route for Agricultural, Business, Family & Consumer Sciences, Marketing, and Technology & Engineering Education goes through the ESPB Praxis requirements: Praxis Core Reading (5713, qualifying 156), Writing (5723, qualifying 160), and Math (5733, qualifying 150), or a composite of 466 with no score below that test’s minimum, plus a subject test. The work-experience route into Health Sciences, Public Safety, Information Technology, and Trade/Industry & Technical Education is built around verified occupational hours and required coursework rather than Praxis. Because the two tracks are genuinely different, ask the CTE office which one applies to the exact subject you want to teach before you pay for any test.

Cost: ND CTE credential applications and renewals are filed on state forms — SFN 61262 for Provisional Year 1, SFN 51688 for renewal, and SFN 50986 for occupational work experience verification. The CTE office publishes current fees; ask them, because they change. If you also hold or need an ESPB teaching license, the ESPB fee list applies: initial application $30, fingerprinting $44.50, two-year license $85, five-year license $140, and endorsements $80 each. The real cost on the work-experience route is not tuition — it is the required coursework you finish while you are already teaching, and the pay you give up leaving the trade.

Keeping It Current: CTE licenses run in five-year terms and renew with six semester hours of college credit plus sixty hours of professional development, documented on SFN 51688. The annual ND CTE Professional Development Conference counts toward that. If you came in on the work-experience route, plan your coursework across the first license term rather than trying to do it all in one summer while you are also learning to run a classroom.

6Salary & Job Outlook

North Dakota CTE Teacher Pay, High School (May 2025) — yearly contract pay:

• Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $48,520–$50,800 a year
• Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $61,500 a year
• Experienced (top 25–10%): $73,230–$79,870 a year

What that means: Teachers are paid on a yearly contract, not by the hour, so the numbers above are yearly pay. Your district’s salary schedule is what tells you exactly what each step and each year of experience pays. The middle North Dakota high school CTE teacher earns about $61,500, against a national middle of $66,270. ND trails the country here too, though by less than regular high school teaching does. The gap opens up at the top: the ND 90th percentile is about $79,870 while the national 90th is about $101,340. Now the comparison that actually matters to you. ND CTE pay ($61,500 at the middle) sits almost exactly on top of regular ND high school teacher pay ($61,210), so switching into CTE from academic teaching is not a raise. But compared with the trades themselves, it depends entirely on the trade. Against many ND shop and service jobs this is comparable or better with far better benefits. Against a journeyman electrician, a good welder in the oil patch, or an experienced diesel tech, this is a pay cut. Some districts add a stipend for a CTE teacher who is hard to replace, and student organization advising carries a stipend too. Look up the actual salary schedule for the district you are considering and compare it against your current pay stub before you decide.

Jobs in North Dakota: About 460 people do this work in ND today. By 2034, that should be about 500 (about 7% growth). Expect about 30 job openings every year in ND from growth and people retiring or changing jobs. Across the U.S., the change is about 2% decline.

Outlook: Fair, and small. O*NET shows North Dakota going from about 460 high school CTE teachers in 2024 to about 500 in 2034, roughly 7% growth, with about 30 openings a year. That 7% is the strongest growth of the four careers on this page, and ND is growing while the country shrinks about 2%. But thirty openings a year across the whole state is thin. There will not be a welding instructor job open in your town the month you decide you want one. Two things help. First, be willing to move or commute — these jobs come open in Wahpeton, Devils Lake, Williston, and Jamestown as readily as in Fargo and Bismarck. Second, if openings in your trade are scarce, look at regular high school teaching, which has about 180 openings a year in this state, or at the two-year colleges — NDSCS and BSC hire instructors for the same trades, and the ND CTE postsecondary credential is a separate track.

Who Hires in ND: Public school districts, and especially the regional career and technical centers that serve several districts at once. North Dakota’s area centers pull students in from surrounding towns for shop, health careers, and ag programs. Also tribal schools, private high schools, and — on the separate postsecondary credential — NDSCS, BSC, and the tribal colleges.

Work Setting: A shop, lab, greenhouse, kitchen, or clinical room, not a desk classroom. Noise, dust, welding smoke, machinery, and real tools. You also have an office, a tool crib, and a purchase order pile. School calendar with summers off, though many CTE teachers work their trade in the summer or run summer programs. Student organization contests mean travel and weekends in the spring.

Physical Demands: Moderate to high, and higher than any other teaching job. You are on your feet, moving between stations, demonstrating, lifting stock and equipment, and bending over machines all period. You breathe what the shop makes, so ventilation and personal protective equipment matter. It is easier on your body than working the trade full time — you demonstrate a weld, you do not lay 200 feet of bead — but it is not a sitting job.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 25-2032); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.

7Where This Leads

Path 1: CTE Teacher — Run your own shop, lab, or program.

Path 2: Program or Department Lead — Lead the CTE department in your building.

Path 3: Career and Technical Center Director — Run a regional center serving several districts.

Path 4: Two-Year College Instructor — Teach the same trade at NDSCS or BSC on the postsecondary credential.

Path 5: Work-Based Learning Coordinator — Build the employer side of the program full time.

Path 6: Instructional Coordinator — Design CTE curriculum for a district or the state.

8The Real Talk

What's Great:

• Years in the trade count — 8,000 hours can license you with no education degree
• You teach something students can be hired for immediately
• A shop or lab instead of a desk classroom
• Strongest projected growth of the four education jobs here, about 7%
• A school calendar, benefits, and a pension after a career on your feet
• Local employers are genuinely invested in your program

What's Hard:

• Only about 30 openings a year in the whole state
• It may be a pay cut coming from a strong trade job
• Safety liability is real — teenagers, live tools, and your license
• Equipment, supplies, budgets, and purchase orders are your problem
• Student organization contests and work-based learning visits eat evenings and weekends
• Knowing the trade does not mean you can manage a classroom yet

Be Honest: Do you have four solid years, 8,000 hours, in the trade you want to teach, and can you document it? Can you accept that being excellent at the work is only half of this job, and the other half is managing teenagers and paperwork you have never done? Have you compared your current pay stub against a real ND district salary schedule? And are you willing to move or commute, when there are only about thirty of these jobs open statewide each year?

9Part 1: What Attracts You?

10Part 2: Are You Ready?

11Part 3: Your Next Move

Your Career and Technical Education Teacher (High School) Assessment Results