In recent years, the rapid development of higher education has profoundly impacted the rationality of the curriculum design for public practical courses in high schools, affecting students’ applied knowledge and learning abilities. To better align the management of practical courses with students’ actual needs, conducting an applied analysis of practical teaching in public higher education is necessary. This paper uses the decision tree algorithm to study the application of practical teaching and influencing factors in higher education public education. Unlike the traditional teaching mode of practical courses in higher education, this research emphasizes teaching forms, structures, contents, methods, evaluations, and more. By employing research methods such as literature review, data analysis, and statistical analysis and focusing on higher education public education students as the research subjects, the decision tree algorithm is employed to explore the influencing factors of practical teaching in public education from a holistic and systematic perspective. Finally, strategies and suggestions are proposed concerning changes in students’ abilities, interest development, and teacher competence. The research results indicate that applying the decision tree algorithm in the practical teaching of higher education is effective, providing valuable references for reforming future practical courses.