Drone Education Programs in 2026: Middle School to Jobs

In short: Drone education in the US exists at every level, from middle-school coding drones to university UAS degrees, but it's thin in the middle. High school career and technical education (CTE) reached 8.6 million students in 2023-24, yet only a handful of states have a dedicated drone course in their catalog. Most programs teach students to fly or to pass the FAA Part 107 test; few teach them to design, build, and apply a drone to a real problem. This guide maps what exists at each level and where the gaps are.

Key takeaways

Every level has something: K–8 kits and outreach, high school CTE courses, community college certificates, university degrees, and Part 107 for adults.
High school is the biggest opportunity and the thinnest layer. We confirmed state drone course codes in Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. There's no national count.
The classroom hardware just changed. The Tello coding drone is discontinued, and new federal rules restrict DJI and Autel purchases with federal funds.
The teacher is the constraint. North Carolina requires drone course teachers to hold a Part 107 certificate, and the FAA's own workforce grants fund teacher training alongside curriculum.
Design and build is the least-served skill at every level below college.

Two students, two zip codes

Picture two 15-year-olds who both love flying a cheap drone in the backyard. One lives in a district with a state-approved drone course, a teacher who holds a Part 107 certificate, and a team that competes in the spring. By graduation she can hold an FAA credential and has built and flown an aircraft for a class project. The other lives twenty miles away, in a district with no drone course at all. He keeps flying in the backyard, and nobody tells him it could be a career.

Both paths exist in the US today. Which one a student gets depends mostly on where they go to school. Here's what's out there at each level.

The map: what exists at each level

Level	What exists	Examples
Elementary and middle school	Coding drones, kits, after-school and youth programs, federal outreach	Civil Air Patrol STEM kits, 4-H, DroneBlocks, Drone Legends, FAA STEM AVSED, Air & Space Forces Association educator grants
High school (CTE)	State-approved drone courses and pathways aligned to Part 107; aviation curricula with a drone track; competitions	Virginia course 8910; Texas Drone (Unmanned Vehicle) program of study; North Carolina Drone Technology; Tennessee UAS Pilot; AOPA high school curriculum; SkillsUSA, TSA, and RECF Aerial Drone competitions
Community college	Certificates and associate degrees; FAA-recognized collegiate programs; a federally funded national center	FAA UAS Collegiate Training Initiative; National Center for Autonomous Technologies (Northland CTC, Minnesota)
University	Bachelor's degrees in unmanned aircraft systems; FAA-funded research	University of North Dakota, Kansas State Salina, Embry-Riddle, Purdue; the ASSURE research consortium
Adult and workforce	FAA Part 107 certificate; a few registered apprenticeships; public-safety programs	Fullerton College commercial drone pilot apprenticeship; agency and department training

Elementary and middle school: reach is easy, flight time is hard

Younger students mostly meet drones through kits and outreach. The Civil Air Patrol has distributed more than 75,500 free STEM kits to educators since 2013. The Air & Space Forces Association gives $600 grants to about 40 K–12 teachers each year. When 4-H made drones its national youth science challenge in 2016, it reached about 100,000 young people, using a paper-and-foam kit rather than a flying drone.

The classroom standard for years was the small Tello coding drone. It has been discontinued, and schools are either keeping old fleets running or moving to other platforms. That's a reminder that a program built around one device is fragile.

High school: the biggest audience, the thinnest layer

CTE is enormous. In 2023-24, 8.6 million high school students participated in CTE, up 10.3% in a year, and 85% of 2019 graduates had taken at least one CTE course. Drone courses are a tiny slice of that.

The states we could confirm with a dedicated drone course or program of study:

Virginia: course 8910, Unmanned Aircraft Systems, grades 10–12, 140 hours, aligned to Part 107.
Texas: a Drone (Unmanned Vehicle) regional program of study aligned to Part 107.
North Carolina: Drone Technology Fundamentals and Drone Technology I. The teacher must hold a Part 107 certificate.
Tennessee: UAS Pilot and UAS in Agriculture courses.

Other states have district-level pathways without a statewide course code. Many schools run drones through an existing engineering, aviation, or agriculture course instead. AOPA's free high school aviation curriculum includes a drone track, and competitions such as SkillsUSA, TSA, and the RECF Aerial Drone Competition give students a reason to keep going after class.

Students can take the Part 107 knowledge test at 16, so high school is the natural place for the credential. Whether it counts on your state's industry-credential list varies; check before you build a pathway around it. For how schools run Part 107 in a CTE schedule, see Part 107 in High School CTE.

Community college and university: the most mature layer

Post-secondary drone education is well established. The FAA's UAS Collegiate Training Initiative recognizes colleges that teach drone operations. The National Science Foundation funds the National Center for Autonomous Technologies at Northland Community & Technical College in Minnesota, which started one of the first drone maintenance programs in 2010. The University of North Dakota graduated the first class of UAS bachelor's students in 2011, and the FAA's drone research Center of Excellence, ASSURE, now includes 17 core and 8 affiliate universities.

For the jobs these programs lead to, see Drone Careers in 2026. The catch is that students have to know this path exists before they arrive. Most decide on a college program based on what they tried in high school.

Adults and workforce: one credential, few apprenticeships

For adults, the FAA Part 107 remote pilot certificate is the main way in. The FAA had issued 493,396 by December 2025. Structured on-the-job training is rare: Fullerton College's registered commercial drone pilot apprenticeship, launched in 2023, was billed as the first in the country.

Where the gaps are

The middle rung is missing. There's outreach for younger kids and degrees for college students, but a high school student in most states has no drone course to take.
Hardware churn. In under a year the most common classroom drone was discontinued, federal funds were restricted from buying DJI and Autel aircraft, and the FCC froze new authorizations for foreign-made drones and components. Programs need hardware plans that survive change.
Teachers carry the program. When a state requires the teacher to hold Part 107, or when a flight day needs a certificated remote pilot in command, the program depends on one trained adult. The FAA's own workforce grants have funded teacher training explicitly, such as Ohio State's award to prepare high school teachers to teach Part 107.
Few programs teach design and build. Most K–12 drone education is flying or test prep. Designing a frame, wiring and configuring a flight controller, and diagnosing faults are what the hobby world teaches itself, and what technical employers ask for.
Little spreads between schools. Competitions are growing (the RECF Aerial Drone Competition's first signature event in March 2026 drew 47 teams), but most programs run in isolation.

What a complete pathway could look like

Middle school: exploration with safe, simple aircraft and coding, plus a showcase for families.
Grades 10–12: Part 107 knowledge and flight operations, then a design-and-build project that applies a drone to a local question.
After graduation: a clear handoff to a community college program, an apprenticeship, or a job that uses the credential.
Throughout: a trained teacher, a club or competition, and a public showcase.

Where Drone Edge fits

Drone Edge's FAA Part 107 course is live for schools, with an org manager dashboard for tracking students' progress and scores. School packages start at $79 per seat. A Drone Building course for design, printing, and flight is in early access for January 2027. We don't sell the whole pathway, and other providers and programs listed above are good options too.

If you're planning a program for next year, book a free consultation and bring your grade levels, schedule, and state.

Questions answered

How old do you have to be to get a Part 107 certificate?

At least 16. Younger students can learn the material and fly recreationally under the TRUST rules, with adult supervision as appropriate.

Does Part 107 count as an industry credential for CTE?

In some states. It's aligned with state drone courses in Texas, Virginia, and North Carolina. Each state keeps its own approved list, so check yours.

Does a teacher need to be a certified drone pilot?

It depends on the state and the activity. North Carolina requires it for its drone courses. Teaching the knowledge material doesn't require a certificate everywhere, but flight operations for a class should have a certificated remote pilot in command.

Can schools still use DJI drones?

Drones a school already owns can still be flown. Federal rules now restrict buying or operating DJI and Autel drones with federal grant money, and how that applies to K–12 programs isn't fully settled. Check with your district before using federal funds for drones.

Sources

Last updated: October 2026. State course codes and federal purchasing rules change; verify for your state.