Career And Technical Education Courses Research Articles

Mississippi Career and Technical Education Teachers’ Perception Toward Implementing a Food Science Toolkit Designed to Increase Food Science Curriculum Use in Mississippi

A pilot test implementing a food science toolkit designed to increase student awareness, interest, and knowledge of food science academic and career pathways in Mississippi Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses was conducted to determine teachers’ perceptions of the food science education resources. After implementing the food science toolkit in their CTE course, four teachers individually participated in a semi-structured interview to capture each teacher’s detailed experience implementing the food science toolkit. The results of this study revealed that teachers are interested in teaching food science at the secondary education level to increase student knowledge of food science and enhance student performance at the FFA food science career development event. Teachers also revealed their positive experience implementing the food science toolkit and their intentions to continue to use the food science toolkit in their CTE courses to further increase their exposure to food science competencies. Teachers perceived that the food science toolkit increased student exposure to, engagement in, and interest in food science academic and career pathways, which encourages students to select and pursue a career in food science.

Explaining Course Enrollment Gaps in High School: Examination of Gender-Imbalance in the Applied Sciences

Federal policy in the United States has urged high schools to expand offerings in career and technical education (CTE) coursework to address persistent gender inequities in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical (STEMM) fields. Unfortunately, gender composition in engineering and health sciences CTE enrollment is highly imbalanced and reflects postsecondary and labor market trends. Using data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, we use decomposition techniques to examine which student, family, and school factors explain gender-imbalanced enrollment in STEMM-focused CTE courses. The results indicate student occupational expectations were the largest contributor to gender gaps across content areas.

Does High School STEMM Career Coursework Align With College Employment?

Background/Context: Career and technical education (CTE) coursework in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical/health (STEMM) fields has been supported by policy makers as a way to align the secondary-to-postsecondary-to-career pipeline. Yet, in the research, the focus has been on whether STEMM CTE coursetaking in high school predicts college-going or whether it predicts employment for non–college goers. Little attention has been paid to whether STEMM CTE coursetaking in high school aligns with college employment opportunities. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study investigates the relationship between one promising educational practice—STEMM career and technical education (STEMM CTE) coursetaking—and outcomes along students’ college employment pathways. Specifically, we asked the following research questions: Does taking more STEMM CTE courses in high school link to “general” college employment outcomes? Does taking more STEMM CTE courses in high school link to “STEMM-specific” college employment outcomes? How do these relationships vary across important student subgroups, namely, those identified by the National Science Foundation as traditionally underrepresented in STEMM fields: low-income students, students with learning disabilities, women, and Black and Hispanic students? Research Design: We relied on data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS). Administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), HSLS is the most current, nationally representative data set that follows a cohort of more than 20,000 ninth-grade students across the United States throughout high school and after graduation. Our regression analyses relied on data collected during the baseline year school-level survey (2009), the high school transcript update (2013), and student-level surveys from all four data-collection waves (2009, 2012, 2013, 2016). Conclusions/Recommendations: Using these national data, we find that taking more STEMM CTE courses was associated with a higher chance of having a STEMM job during college and having higher expectations for future STEMM employment, though not with general employment outcomes such as wages. The findings were different for students from some underrepresented backgrounds in STEMM fields, and implications are discussed.

A national study examining safety factors and training associated with STEM education and CTE laboratory accidents in the United States

Safety remains a core component of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and career and technical education (CTE). However, research has shown accidents continue to occur in STEM and CTE courses. This study analyzed the survey responses of 718 STEM and CTE teachers from 42 states in the United States. Exploratory correlational analyses were conducted to estimate the magnitude of the associations between various safety factors and the occurrence of minor and major accidents over a five-year period. Eight factors were found to be significantly associated with increased accident occurrences, and 17 factors were significantly correlated with reduced accident occurrences. A series of logistic regressions were then conducted to estimate the change in odds of an accident occurring according to safety training completed after controlling for various safety factors. This revealed classes with enrollments over 24 students had a 48 % increase in the odds of an accident occurring (β = 0.3967, p = 0.08, OR = 1.48). Additionally, after controlling for various safety factors, it was found that teachers who received comprehensive safety training had a 49 % reduction in the odds of an accident occurring (β = -0.68, p = 0.0073, OR = 0.505). Departments of education, higher education institutions, teacher preparation programs, schools, teachers, administrators, school safety officers, architects, and others involved with facility design and instruction related to hands-on STEM education and CTE programs should utilize these research findings to improve facilities, safety practices, safety policies, and reduce liability.

Promoting persistence: Can computer science career and technical education courses support educational advancement for students with learning disabilities?

Information technology and computer science represent one area of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) that have experienced significant growth in recent years. As such, federal policy has urged schools to embed new types of STEM courses into the curriculum. As one very prominent example, computer science (CS)-focused courses are a growing branch of career and technical education (CTE)—that is, CS-CTE. While previous research has examined coursetaking patterns and subsequent outcomes of CS-CTE courses for the general student population, little is known about how participation in these courses may benefit students with learning disabilities (SWLDs). From a pedagogical perspective, CS-CTE courses, and CTE courses in general, may be uniquely positioned to improve schooling outcomes for SWLDs. Using data from the nationally representative High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, we explored characteristics of CS-CTE participants, how CS-CTE may promote the development of key STEM attitudes (e.g., identity, self-efficacy, and utility), and how any relationships may differ by learning disability status. Using a double propensity score matching estimations, we found CS-CTE participation related to positive development of STEM identity and STEM self-efficacy for students without learning disabilities. For the SWLD population, CS-CTE participation was associated with growth in STEM self-efficacy and STEM utility. Policy implications discuss the gap in computer science employment between SWLDs and non-SWLDs, the prevalence of state-related computer science policies, and how to continue to promote STEM identity growth.

Sometimes Less, Sometimes More: Trends in Career and Technical Education Participation for Students With Disabilities

We leverage nationally representative data and statewide data from Washington to investigate trends in occupational career and technical education (CTE) participation for students with and without disabilities. Consistent with prior work, we document declines in occupational CTE participation since the early 2000s, but we provide the first evidence that this decline can be explained by movement out of courses that are no longer considered CTE. Under the definitions operating at the time, though, we show that participation by students with disabilities in applied science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical/health (STEMM) CTE courses has increased over time, both nationally and in Washington. These trends are encouraging given prior evidence linking applied STEMM-CTE participation to better long-term outcomes for students with disabilities.

Improving Measurement in Career and Technical Education Research

Nationwide in 2013, more than half of all high school graduates (58%) earned two or more credits in a career and technical education (CTE) subject area. Among college students, more than two thirds of all undergraduate credentials (68%) were awarded in an occupational area. Yet although CTE is well subscribed, little is known about the efficacy of this programming. Most studies of CTE have not used research designs that support causal inference, relying instead on information from nationally representative or statewide datasets to estimate relationships between students' CTE course taking and subsequent education and employment outcomes These studies tend to associate students' in-school experiences and postprogram results with levels of credit accumulation, but they do not account for other measures of experience that educators and policymakers argue are likely to contribute to any potential impact. As a result, the literature has failed to fully capture the effect that CTE programming has on individuals who concentrate their studies in a comprehensive, high-quality CTE program of study. Reauthorization of federal CTE legislation and increasing attention to the career preparation of youth will continue to draw attention to the field; for this reason, there is a need to strengthen the rigor of CTE research to estimate the impact of CTE exposure on students. We catalog the measures of CTE exposure used in prior studies, document measures and outcomes in more recent causal studies, and offer a framework for how to measure CTE exposure and outcomes in the future to contribute to this work.

Who’s Taking What? “Applied STEM” Coursetaking for High School Students With Learning Disabilities

Increasing and improving the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational pipeline has been a point of emphasis for decades, and federal policy in the United States has urged high schools to embed new types of STEM courses into the curriculum. As one example, applied STEM courses—one growing branch within career and technical education (CTE)—are designed to reinforce traditional academic STEM content and to motivate students’ interests and long-term pursuits in STEM areas. That said, little is known about who takes these courses, and applied-STEM-CTE enrollment in these courses has not been explored in the research for students with learning disabilities. Using the High School Longitudinal Study (a nationally representative data set of high school students), we asked whether CTE coursetaking differed for students with learning disabilities compared with those without disabilities, and whether there were specific coursetaking differences in applied-STEM-CTE. We found that students with learning disabilities were more likely to earn more units in CTE courses compared with students without disabilities. Yet, when looking at applied-STEM-CTE courses, we see that although students with learning disabilities earn more CTE units than students without disabilities, students with learning disabilities do not take different amounts of applied-STEM-CTE courses. Implications are discussed.

Career and Technical Education Experiences Relationship to Technology Attitudes, Self-regulation and Grit

Career and Technical Education (CTE) secondary school experiences have a positive impact on career development and academic achievement. This study explores other positive impacts such as technology attitudes, persistence, and cognitive traits that are associated with career and academic success. This study investigated the relationships between high school CTE experiences of 103 pre-service education students and technology attitudes, grit, and self-regulated learning. The results demonstrate a statistically significant positive correlation between the number of CTE courses taken in high school and technology dependence. Similarly, there is a positive correlation between CTE courses and self-regulatory skills. Grit was positively correlated with internship experiences in high school.

It's Good Until It's Not: The Curvilinear Relationship Between Affective School Engagement and Career and Technical Education Participation

Practitioners, researchers, and policymakers are interested in the potential of Career and Technical Education (CTE) to improve student outcomes by increasing students' affective engagement - their feelings of belonging at school and valuing what they are learning. Little research has studied the relationship between the breadth of participation in CTE and affective engagement; however, to help fill in this gap, this paper draws on data from a large, multi-ethnic high school, to examine the linear and non-linear relationships of participation in CTE with affective engagement at school. Results of multiple regressions revealed curvilinear relationships between students' affective engagement and the number of CTE courses they took and the number of afterschool and weekend hours spent working on CTE related businesses. These findings suggest a middle-range mix of CTE and academic courses are associated with higher levels of affective engagement with school.

Career and Technical Education: Academic Achievement as Measured by National Testing

Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs at secondary and post-secondary levels are gaining more and more attention from students, parents, and communities. Evaluating the merit of educational programs is a necessary practice. This study examined the academic achievement of CTE completer high school graduates and non-CTE graduates as measured by nationwide testing. Results indicate (ρ < .01), CTE completers had statistically significantly higher ACT scores on the ACT composite, reading, writing, math, science, and English assessments than those of general academic student graduates who took one or no CTE courses. Empirical studies have found CTE attracts a diverse audience of students including those who are economically disadvantaged and historically perform at lower academic levels. The difference found in this study of CTE graduates accomplishing ACT composite scores 4% higher than non-CTE graduates deserves special attention given additional external challenges many CTE students experience.

Trending Up: A Cross-Cohort Exploration of STEM Career and Technical Education Participation by Low-Income Students

The ink from the reauthorization of the Perkins Act – the federal policy governing career and technical education (CTE) – in the summer of 2018 is still fresh. This much-needed update builds upon some of the major tenets of the 2006 version, including emphases on increasing the participation of low-income students in CTE and encouraging CTE coursework that focuses on building math and science skills while also providing technical skills for participation in high-skill, high-demand careers. Using two nationally representative datasets, in between which the 2006 Perkins Act was reauthorized, we explore whether there were any observable differences in participation in these math and science based CTE courses by low-income students over time. Implications are discussed.

The Impact of Mathematically Enhanced Curriculum on Career and Technical Education Student Math Scores

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that students who participated in mathematically-enhanced, high school career and technical education (CTE) curriculum would reflect a better understanding of basic math concepts. This hypothesis was based on the posit that learning may be more difficult to achieve outside of a contextual setting (Piaget, 1970) and that teachers may, at times, struggle to convey abstract concepts to their students (Dewey, 1943). This study included teachers and students enrolled in at least one CTE course in the fall of 2017. Students continued their studies through the spring of 2018. The Kentucky Online Testing (KYOTE) mathematical placement exam was used to determine students' levels of mathematical comprehension. Students were tested before implementation of the mathematically enhanced curriculum and at the end of the course of study. A t-test was used to compare student scores. The pre- and post-test score analysis indicated that the results of the KYOTE exam were statistically significant suggesting that the curriculum had a positive influence on math comprehension. Due to variance in testing environment and teaching implementations, a replication of this study is recommended.

Singing in School Culture: Exploring Access to Participation in a Rural Choral Program

Abstract Music programs interact in complex ways with the schools and communities in which they reside. This article explores ways that access to participation in a secondary rural choral program was impeded or enabled by facets of the school culture. Data generation for this case study included 34 hours of observation, semistructured interviews, and document analysis. Participants included the choir teacher, students in grades 7–12, parents, and school staff. Findings suggest the choir teacher’s beliefs and practices, perceived benefits to choir participation, and academic and social features of the choral program enabled participation by aligning with school and community values, including a well-rounded education, academic excellence, career exploration and college preparation, and relationships. Factors impeding access to choir participation included social meanings of singing related to gender and class and curricular programs, including the scheduling of career and technical education (CTE) and Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Students disrupted stereotypes related to class, gender, and choir participation utilizing resources such as relationships and the value of well-roundedness. Students enrolled in CTE courses missed a year of choir and other electives, while conflicts that arose between limited AP offerings and choir courses were overcome with accommodations requested by students and families and agreed to by the choir teacher. The community and school valuing of access to music for all students as part of a well-rounded education was in tension with limited resources and the value placed upon providing varied career exploration opportunities to students living in an economically depressed area.

Is There a Career and Technical Education Coursetaking Pipeline between High School and College?

Background Previous studies have explored the relationship between career and technical education (CTE) on numerous secondary and college outcomes. However, a key oversight in the literature is the examination of the CTE coursetaking pipeline as it makes a direct connection between high school and college. Research Questions We asked the following research questions to address the gap in CTE literature around secondary to postsecondary pipelines: (1) Does taking CTE courses in high school predict taking CTE courses in college? (2) Does this relationship differ between students who attend 2- and 4-year colleges? (3) Does the relationship differ by different areas of CTE? Research Design To respond to these questions, we used the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), a nationally representative dataset. We employed basic logistic regression, school fixed effects, and instrumental variable estimations to reduce biases in our estimations in the relationship between high school and college CTE coursetaking. Results We found that CTE coursetaking in high school linked to overall CTE coursetaking across all years of college. When examining 2- and 4-year college coursetaking independently, only the relationship between high school and 4-year college CTE coursetaking was significant. We also found that there existed differential linking based on type of institution in which the courses were completed and area of CTE—specifically, applied STEM, business, trade and industry, and health. Conclusions A first implication from these findings is that CTE in high school, which is itself funded through the current iteration of the Perkins legislation, appears to be having a noticeable link to CTE participation in college. From the second research question, there could very well be a strong connection between high school CTE and 2-year enrollment that is not reflected in first year CTE coursetaking at the 2-year level. Finally, the implications from the third research question speak to the need to focus on CTE as a group of individual categories as opposed to a single overarching group.

Career and Technical Education, Inclusion, and Postsecondary Outcomes for Students With Learning Disabilities

We used longitudinal data from Washington State to investigate the relationships among career and technical education (CTE) enrollment, inclusion in general education, and high school and postsecondary outcomes for students with learning disabilities. We replicated earlier findings that students with learning disabilities who were enrolled in a “concentration” of CTE courses had higher rates of employment after graduation than observably similar students with learning disabilities who were enrolled in fewer CTE courses. We also found that students with learning disabilities who spent more time in general education classrooms in high school had higher rates of on-time graduation, college attendance, and employment than observably similar students with learning disabilities who spent less time in general education classrooms in these grades.

Perceptions of Career and Technical Education by Pre-Service Students

Agricultural education programs are one component of Career and Technical Education (CTE). For CTE to be effective, educators teaching CTE courses must be able to make connections between the curriculum and real-life situations. This qualitative study explored self-reported perceptions of CTE by pre-service students. Wigfield and Eccles’ expectancy-value model of achievement was used as the framework for this study. Findings indicated that career and technical education provides benefits for everyone because it helps develop career skills. With the shortage of educators and budget cuts, career and technical education cannot continue to survive. Participants also describe characteristics of successful career and technical education teachers.

Preparing for Local Labor: Curricular Stratification across Local Economies in the United States.

I investigate how the educational demands of local labor markets shape high school course offerings and student course taking. Using the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 linked to the U.S. Census 2000, I focus on local economic variation in the share of jobs that do not demand a bachelor's degree. I find that schools in local labor markets with higher concentrations of subbaccalaureate jobs devote a larger share of their course offerings to career and technical education (CTE) courses and a smaller share to advanced college-preparatory courses compared to schools in labor markets with lower concentrations of subbaccalaureate jobs, even net of school resources. Students in labor markets with higher concentrations of subbaccalaureate jobs take greater numbers of CTE courses, and higher-achieving students in these labor markets are less likely to take advanced math and Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate courses. These course-taking disparities are largely due to school course offerings. This study shows how local economic inequalities shape high school curricular stratification, and suggests that school curricula linked to the educational demands of local jobs delimits the college preparation opportunities of high-achieving students.

Achievement Outcomes Among High School Graduates in College and Career Readiness Programs of Study

This study investigated the relationships between completing the high school portion of a college- and career-preparatory program of study and high school achievement outcomes in a large urban district in the West. Programs of study are secondary-to-postsecondary educational programs mandated by the federal legislation (Perkins IV) governing career and technical education (CTE) in the United States. At graduation, 49.5% of students in the sample who began a program of study had completed their programs. Using multiple regression models, we compared graduates who completed a program of study (hereafter POS completers) to graduates who completed a number of CTE courses in a specific occupational area (CTE concentrators), and to graduates who may have taken a CTE course or two during high school but were neither POS completers nor CTE concentrators (All Others). POS completers were more likely to (a) have a higher overall GPA, (b) have a higher CTE GPA, and (c) earn more STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) credits than All Other students. Compared with CTE concentrators, POS completers were more likely to (a) have a higher overall GPA and (b) earn more STEM credits. Qualitative data describe contextual elements of programs of study as offered in West District that could explain these results. Study results suggest that districts should consider implementing career-themed programs such as programs of study that enhance their existing college- and career-readiness initiatives. We also call for further study of the postsecondary and labor market outcomes associated with programs of study in order to generate a clearer picture of their potential to increase academic and technical achievement and promote successful student transitions to higher education and the workplace.

Gender, Career and Technical Education (CTE) Nontraditional Coursetaking, and Wage Gap

The two main objectives of this study were to examine the relationship between high school student (9th – 12th) gender and nontraditional career and technical education (CTE) course taking, and the combined effects of gender and program area on estimated future wage earnings for male and female CTE completers. A Midwestern state CTE database (143,510 male and 125,562 female students) designed to fulfill the data collection requirements mandated by the Perkins IV legislation was utilized to answer the two research questions. Findings from logistic regression showed that gender was a statistically significant predictor of nontraditional course taking pattern, with males taking more nontraditional courses than females. Findings from factorial analysis of variance indicated that the effect of gender on estimated future wage earnings measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics was largely dependent on program area. These findings collectively suggest that although gender pattern in CTE course taking still exists, gender wage gap may be decreasing. Implications of these findings as they relate to educational policy and occupational gender segregation perspective are discussed.