Postsecondary Teacher Quality and Student Achievement in Florida's Career Certificate Programs Using a Causal-Comparative Study

Abstract

Teacher quality and student achievement have shown positive relationships in prior studies of elementary and secondary grade levels in the United States. However, postsecondary career and technical education (CTE) teacher quality and student achievement is an understudied topic. According to the literature, teacher quality is measured by pedagogical knowledge, level of education, and professional development. For postsecondary CTE teachers, occupational experience is a hiring requirement for teacher quality. Student achievement is measured by test scores and graduation rates. Postsecondary career certificate programs usually have a summative evaluation with an industry-specific certification test, which assesses the student's employability in the program's field of study by industry standards. The purpose of this retrospective causal-comparative study was to examine the relationship between postsecondary CTE teacher quality and student achievement in Florida's career certificate programs. An online survey was conducted with 203 postsecondary CTE teachers in Florida. Findings revealed a statistically significant positive relationship between the level of pedagogical knowledge and educational degree attainment of postsecondary CTE teachers and students' passing an industry certification test. This finding is consistent with prior studies in K-12 grade levels. Recommendations include increasing the pedagogical knowledge and educational degree attainment of postsecondary CTE teachers to improve student learning outcomes.