The pandemic has impacted the teaching of Career and Technical Education classes within Missouri’s schools. Career and technical programs provide students with learning experiences in skilled trades in agriculture, culinary arts, engineering, and healthcare. During Tuesday’s State Board of Education meeting, Bart Washer, the vice-chair of Missouri’s Career and Technical Education Advisory Council, says many of those courses, offered in grades nine through twelve, require in-person learning.

He says industry-recognized credentials dropped among Missouri Career and Technical Education students by about four-thousand in 2020.