FETC 2027 adds new CTE track with four featured educators

The Future of Education Technology Conference will debut a Career and Technical Education track at its 2027 event in Orlando to help K-12 leaders respond to worsening skills shortages and expand workforce pathways. The track will spotlight four national educators building CTE programs tied to local jobs and student career access.

Why it matters: - Businesses are reporting persistent skills shortages, and education leaders are under pressure to prepare students for jobs that need transferable, work-ready skills. - Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce projects an additional 5.25 million workers will be needed by 2032. - FETC is positioning CTE as a core part of the K-12 response, not a side topic.

What happened: - The Future of Education Technology Conference 2027 is launching a new CTE track. - The track will feature four national CTE educators. - FETC 2027 runs Jan. 26-29 in Orlando, Florida. - Registration is open at fetc.org.

The details: - Joe McBreen, assistant superintendent of innovation at St. Vrain Valley Schools, founded the world’s first high school drone performance team. - McBreen is also a pioneer in K-12 quantum information science. - Janel Humphries, director of CTE at Dallas ISD, is building districtwide career pathways in one of the country’s largest urban districts. - Dr. Christopher Nesmith, superintendent of Elma School District in Washington, created Washington State’s first in-school manufacturing youth apprenticeship. - Nesmith also co-designed Career Connect Washington and studied the Swiss dual education model at ETH Zurich. - Dr. Sandra Adams, area CTE director for Fort Wayne Community Schools and vice president of ACTE, has authored four books on CTE instruction. - Adams has also driven 10% annual growth in college completions across 10 career pathways for five consecutive years. - The CTE speakers will join peers in concurrent sessions, roundtables, hands-on workshops and deeper learning seminars. - FETC says those formats will give attendees multiple ways to build, refine or scale workforce-ready programs in their districts.

Between the lines: - FETC is expanding its programming toward practical workforce strategy as districts look for models that connect classroom learning to local labor market needs. - The speaker lineup blends innovation, apprenticeship design, district pathway building and instructional leadership, signaling that FETC wants CTE to be treated as an implementation challenge, not just a policy conversation.

What’s next: - FETC attendees can use the new track to compare CTE models and bring back implementation ideas for their own districts. - The Orlando conference will serve as a showcase for district leaders looking to expand career pathways and job-aligned learning.

The bottom line: - FETC 2027 is betting that CTE will be one of the biggest practical answers to the K-12 skills gap.