COVID-19 Global Pandemic Upheaval: CTE Teachers Response in the United States

The integration of career and technical education (CTE) and academic curricular content represents a challenge for CTE professionals. Currently, little is known about the process of integrating science into secondary CTE programs. Grounded theory method was employed to create information about CTE teachers' perspectives of and experiences with the process of CTE and science content integration. From the perspective of the CTE teachers involved, integrating CTE and science content resulted in their programs of study being adapted into something very different than they were before the process of integration was begun. The CTE teachers revealed that evolutions in their programs of study and themselves were associated with three other categories within the grounded theory: connecting; enacting; and futuring. The findings indicate that the process of CTE and science content integration represents a deep and complex episode for CTE teachers. The findings also reveal that the process of CTE and science content integration requires connecting to others, putting ideas into action, and an orientation towards the future.

Distance learning opportunities have rapidly burgeoned in educational environments across disciplines. The result of its growing use has been felt by the career and technical education (CTE) teacher education community. This chapter examines the literature and implications regarding the implementation of distance education in the delivery of CTE teacher preparation programs, along with the issues and challenges it brings. First, a brief historical account of distance education in institutes of higher education is provided. Secondly, a review of the research on distance education’s presence in (CTE) programs is discussed. Thirdly, future trends are articulated for CTE teacher educators, CTE teacher candidates, and CTE researchers.

The progressive interests in retaining teachers has long been studied in numerous educational settings. Extensive research pointed out the essential factors towards retaining teachers and understand their job satisfaction to ensure the quality of education is served. Unfortunately, far too little attention has been paid to research pertaining Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers’ job satisfaction and retention. The role of CTE teachers in preparing skilled-and semiskilled workers for employment is significant. This study focused on factors that affect whether or not CTE teachers stay in the teaching profession by using an online survey. From a population of 2607 teachers with valid email addresses, the total number of completed surveys was 581 participants. A two-phase of multiple linear regression was carried out. Five factors were found to be significant with the teachers’ retention plan: salary, administrative workloads, teachers’ evaluation, and assessment, motivation, and job satisfaction. A chi-square test was employed and showed significant relationships between the teachers’ age when entering the profession and their satisfaction with teaching. The findings contribute implications for educational stakeholders in strategizing plan and action to retain CTE teachers in the CTE school system. To ensure CTE teachers, not only strive and survive in the teaching profession, understand their job satisfaction and reasons for them to remain in teaching is the essence of longevity of CTE school system in the educational paradigm.

Career and technical education (CTE) teachers are unique because they often enter teaching with previous workplace experience in industry. Understanding these prior work experiences and the financial benefits (or losses) they face when entering teaching can offer insight into how to attract and retain these educators, yet very little is known about this “front end” of the CTE teacher pipeline. In this paper, we link employment and earnings data from unemployment insurance records with data on staffing and certifications for incoming CTE teachers in Washington state to provide a descriptive look at CTE teachers’ entry into the profession. We find that CTE teachers come from a wide range of industries, but that the proportion with prior work experience in the most high-demand CTE clusters is relatively low. We also find that previously employed CTE teachers see substantial pay increases, about $13,000 in annual earnings on average, upon first entering teaching. This increase is widely felt, with the median teacher from every industry group receiving increased annual earnings, but earnings increases were particularly large for CTE teachers entering through traditional pathways and, among teachers entering through the state’s Business and Industry pathway, for CTE teachers coming from industries with lower average pay.

Retaining qualified career and technical education teachers (CTE) is crucial to the continued supply and reduced demand of these types of teachers. Demographic data and emerging trends of CTE teachers were analyzed for those teachers who completed a summer workshop as part of alternative licensure. Some of the emerging trends included shifts in retention rates during certain school years, years in which enrollment was highest for each gender, and changes in employment status within education. Conclusions and discussions derived from the study were a need for teacher educators to become aware of a diverse classroom of alternative CTE teachers, CTE teachers completing continuing education and degree requirements, and legislative policies that impact retention rates.

This study examines the professional development needs of secondary career and technical education (CTE) teachers. Fourteen traditionally or alternatively certified CTE teachers participated in an in-depth telephone interview to provide responses related to their background, experience, participation in professional development opportunities, and opinions concerning professional development. While most CTE teachers felt adequately prepared by their teacher preparation program, areas in which more preparation would have been helpful included classroom management and working with special populations. Most of those who participated in a mentoring program found the experience valuable; the quality of the relationship was key. Results point to the need for a range of professional development opportunities that will meet the varied and specific needs of CTE teachers. Furthermore, an increase in support for professional development opportunities can assist with the retention of teachers in their first years of teaching.

<blockquote>Teacher turnover inhibits student achievement, and professional development can reduce the onset of teachers leaving the profession ( <a href="https://ejournals.lib.vt.edu/JCTE/article/view/477/652#center"> The Center for Comprehensive School, 2007 </a> ). No Child Left Behind and the new Perkins Act have redefined teacher professional development. In Illinois, according to the <a href="https://ejournals.lib.vt.edu/JCTE/article/view/477/652#illinoisnd"> Illinois State Board of Education (n.d.) </a> , meaningful professional development must be standards led and research based. This study provides research based professional development needs of Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers in Illinois based upon the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards. The study provides answers to the following questions:</blockquote><p style="margin-left: 2em;"><em>1. What are the professional development needs of CTE teachers?</em> <p style="margin-left: 2em;"><em>2. What motivates CTE teachers to participate in professional development?</em> <p style="margin-left: 2em;"><em>3. What barriers exist for CTE teachers in professional development?</em>

Based on a qualitative study of 19 new career and technical education (CTE) teachers' induction during COV=D we asked how did the new teachers work collaboratively and develop as a group with other teachers during the pandemic? Although teachers encountered challenges relatively consistent with prior studies (e. g., frustrated with decisions and policies, placed on the fringes of the school's operations) our findings reveal that induction challenges and effects became more pronounced as perceived non-core teachers, requests to remedy matters became more urgent, engagement with external networks became more distant and unprioritized, and the role of induction became even more significant than prior academic years. At the same time, CTE teachers recognized the equalizing effect between CTE and non-CTE teachers with online instruction and uncertainties caused by the pandemic. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Despite significant interest in Career and Technical Education (CTE), little is known about CTE teachers. Using ten years of Maryland administrative data, we find that almost one-fifth of CTE teachers enter the profession with a high school diploma or associate’s degree, reflecting state policies allowing trade/industry professional experience to substitute for higher degrees. Relatedly, CTE teachers are roughly twice as likely as non-CTE teachers to enter through alternative licensure pathways that bypass traditional teacher education (68% vs. 36%). In Maryland, there is a larger share of Black teachers in versus out of CTE (37% vs. 22%), leading to greater race matching opportunities for Black students. This pattern extends across nine out of the eleven total CTE career clusters. We hypothesize that these patterns are related: decreased barriers to entry may support more Black individuals to become CTE teachers, with potential implications for their Black students’ career success.

Ensuring a stable pool of teachers is critical to building a pipeline of future workers, especially in career and technical education (CTE), where programming can lead to immediate post-school employment or postsecondary enrollment. We use longitudinal state data with unemployment insurance records to document workforce dynamics among CTE teachers. We find that teachers in hard-to-staff CTE areas are more likely to leave teaching and are difficult to replace, creating net reductions in the number of students who can be served. We demonstrate that teachers with the greatest likelihood of leaving are also those who earn the most money in their post-teaching employment, suggesting actionable dimensions for policies to help retain or recruit teachers in these areas. Ensuring a steady and stable pool of high-quality teachers is critical to building a pipeline of future workers and professionals to support economic stability, especially in growing and high-wage fields. This is particularly true in career and technical education (CTE) where programming in high school can lead to immediate postschool employment or enrollment in aligned postsecondary programs. Increased policy focus on CTE has expanded program offerings over the last 15 years, and new federal requirements that programs align with in-demand occupations and industries have heightened potential tensions between the private and public employment opportunities for current or potential CTE teachers (Perkins V, 2018). Even before the new federal mandate, CTE teachers were a hard-to-staff group, with school administrators citing higher turnover and difficulty hiring (Hensley et al., 2017). Though the quantitative research on CTE teachers is limited, evidence does suggest that teachers who score higher on content-specific certification exams produce graduates who earn more money in their early years of post–high school employment, bolstering the claim that these teachers are important (Chen et al., 2023).

In-service teacher training more commonly referred to as Professional Development (PD) is a critical part of education especially in career and technical education (CTE). CTE programs have rapidly changing technological foundations (Panella, 2007;Cho & Imel, 2003) and CTE teachers’ primary focus is to prepare students for entry-level positions in their occupational areas. As such, CTE teachers must ensure that their own technical knowledge and skills remain current in order to adequately prepare students for these technically enhanced work environments. This becomes even more critical now that theCarl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006(Perkins IV) links funding to student outcomes. Students must now demonstrate proficiency on technical assessments covering industry-recognized standards.

High school principals and career and technical education (CTE) teachers throughout Illinois were subjects of this study which described principals' and CTE teachers' perceptions of the impact the Child Left Behind Act of2001 has had on high school CTE programs. Findings indicated principals and teachers collectively disagreed with No Child Left Behind has had a positive impact on the image ofCTE at your school. Both groups also agreed CTE courses can help schools meet the goals of all students will reach high standards, at a minimum of attaining proficiency or better in reading and mathematics and all students will graduate from high school. However, a statistically significant difference between the groups was found with No Child Left Behind has had a positive impact on CTE enrollment at your school. Findings indicated while the principals agree, the teachers conversely disagreed with the statement. Background of the Study In an effort to help children receive a quality education and learn the basic skills needed to be successful, President George W. Bush signed into law the Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. This legislation requires states to set clear standards for what every child should learn and holds schools accountable for student progress by requiring annual testing of students' abilities in the areas of language arts, reading, and math. The legislation's four goals are: increased accountability for results from states, school districts, and schools; more flexibility for states and local educational agencies in how federal education dollars are used; proven teaching methods; and more choices for parents and students attending low -performing schools (U.S. Dept. of Education, 2004). The focus of this legislation is undeniably on core academic subjects, which the legislation identifies as English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography (U.S. Dept of Education, 2004).

The purpose of this study was to describe Idaho superintendents’ perceptions of Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher’s professional development needs. A descriptive instrument based on <a href="https://ejournals.lib.vt.edu/JCTE/article/view/572/811#borich"> Borich's (1980) </a> Needs Assessment Model was completed by 78 respondents (n = 78). Items related to teaching in a CTE program were assessed for importance, as well as competence of teachers towards the item. Mean Weighted Discrepancy Scores (MWDS) were used to prioritize perceived professional development needs. Teaching critical/creative thinking skills and proper safety attitudes were the items with the highest importance ratings. CTE teachers were perceived to be most competent at teaching safety attitudes and practices. Integrating reading and writing standards into CTE curricula were found to be the highest rated perceived in-service priorities as measured by the MWDS. The findings offer direction for pre-service curriculum and in-service activities for CTE teachers. Input from district educational leaders and other stakeholders are a foundation for CTE in-service planning.

The preparation and professional development of teachers of career and technical education (CTE) in the United States closely interlink with the tremendous number of programs available at both secondary and postsecondary level. The range of education delivery programs sets the scene for the broad variety of work contexts of CTE teachers, which this chapter more closely examines. It further describes the different routes of preparation of teachers for CTE and qualification requirements at the level of secondary schooling, postsecondary education, and college level preservice teacher education. Alternative routes into teaching are also being discussed as well as current challenges for CTE teachers: high school quality, teacher preparation, and the conditions of teaching in contemporary American society.

This article describes a CTE pre-service teacher preparation class project requiring students to identify academic standards of learning relating to the competencies that they teach in their program areas with a view to encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration between CTE teachers and colleagues in academic disciplines. Demonstrating that CTE can contribute significantly to academic growth as measured by SOLs should help in de-stigmatizing CTE.