In Nevada, Middle School Career and Technical Education (CTE) is an elective program that districts may choose to offer, providing students with an early introduction to in-demand career fields. The foundational courses offered to middle school students can be found in our current State CTE Course Catalog, which includes both traditional year-long exploratory courses and shorter, semester-based options.

To ensure a seamless transition into high school pathways, our middle school course standards have been reorganized. While the core content and learning objectives of the standards have not changed, they are now mapped directly to the Modernized National Career Clusters® Framework. Because Middle School CTE operates as an elective, specific standards documents are not currently published for every single one of the 14 new national clusters; rather, the available standards align with the specific exploratory courses outlined in our state catalog.

Below are the updated middle school standards and equipment lists for our currently supported clusters:

• Advanced Manufacturing Middle School Standards
• Agriculture Standards Middle School
• Arts, Engineering and Design Middle School Standards
• Construction Middle School Standards
• Education Middle School Standards
• Healthcare and Human Services Middle School Standards
• Hospitality, Events, and Tourism Middle School Standards
• Management and Entrepreneurship Middle School Standards
• Marketing and Sales Middle School Standards
• Public Service and Safety Middle School Standards

To provide schools with more adaptable programming, the Nevada Department of Education supported a grant-funded pilot project to develop a highly flexible middle school framework. Developed collaboratively by educators from the Carson, Elko, Lyon, and Clark County School Districts—alongside teachers from schools including Carlin Combined, Jim Bridger, Spring Creek, Dayton Intermediate, Eagle Valley, and Lied STEM Academy—this framework moves beyond traditional, isolated electives.

This new model allows districts to offer "Explore" courses (e.g., "Explore Agriculture" or "Explore Digital Technology") that can be scaled anywhere from a 9-week module up to a comprehensive 3-year sequence. Rather than serving as a rigid checklist of technical tasks, the framework acts as a versatile vessel where specific industry content is woven into four foundational pillars:

1. Understand Careers and the Nature of Work: Exploring pathways, credentials, and the job market.
2. Safety and Best Practices: Applying industry-specific safety, sustainability, and digital wellness.
3. Employability Skills: Developing critical thinking, adaptability, and professional communication.
4. 4PBL (Phenomenon, Place, Project, Problem): Applying concepts to real-world tasks and presenting solutions.

This structure allows students to build a clear occupational identity and seamlessly "on-ramp" into high school CTE programs.

• Nevada Middle School CTE Framework