Career Technical Education Research Articles

Socioeconomic Status, Higher-Level Mathematics Courses, Absenteeism, and Student Mobility as Indicators of Work Readiness

Work readiness has been discussed in the literature since the 1980s as economic difficulties and increasing competitiveness of global markets led American manufacturers to reconsider roles, responsibilities, and skills needed of workers (O'Neil, Allred, & Baker, 1992;U. S. Department of Education, 1983). Assessing the work readiness of high school students is important because they tend to be employed in entry–level jobs after graduation and increasingly these jobs require higher skills and knowledge than students may possess (Alvarez, Gillies, & Bradsher, 2003;Lippman & Keith, 2009;National Governors Association, 2010). This skills differential is important to career technical education (CTE) because CTE has been at the forefront of providing workplace skills training in secondary and postsecondary schools throughout the past century (Scott & Sarkees–Wircenski, 2008).

Actions Against Poverty

There is clear and convincing evidence that students with disabilities living in poverty are facing the double jeopardy of dealing with issues associated with their disability, as well as the challenges of living in minimal conditions. Improving outcomes for this population requires the identification and implementation of effective programs. This study analyzed program factors and post-school outcomes of 500 former students with disabilities to determine to what extent predictions regarding employment for these students can be determined. Findings suggest that in high-relative poverty areas, participation in career technical education is associated with higher rates of employment during and after high school.

The Viability of Combining Academic and Career Pathways: A Study of Linked Learning

In an attempt to reform high schools and prepare students with the knowledge and skills needed for the 21st century, educators and policymakers have turned to programs that combine career and academic pathways. One such program, Linked Learning, has taken up the reform challenge by relying on technical adjustments, rearranging students’ schedules, and integrating career technical education (CTE) with a set of courses that support students’ eligibility for their state and university college system. Linked Learning has attempted to avoid the pitfalls often associated with an earlier vocational education model. This article reports findings from a year-long study of eight schools in five districts whose district leaders and principals have placed Linked Learning at the core of their platform for school reform. Interviews with these educators reveal that while changing the structure of students’ course schedules offered some advantages for students, school principals were challenged to keep their academic and career promises. This qualitative investigation has shown that to understand reform challenges it is essential to examine the broader school, district, and state context in which the reform is embedded. Both structural and cultural considerations must be addressed if high school reform is to more effectively support students.

California's New ICT Standards: The 2013 Revised K-12 Career Technical Education Model Curriculum Standards

This conference paper provides an overview of the new California Career Technical Education (CTE) Model Curriculum Standards for the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Industry Sector, including briefly how the standards were developed, understanding why they are important, how they relate to each other, and some ideas on different ways they could be implemented.

Students' Perception of Career and Technical Education in Traditional High Schools

Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this study is to determine if the perceptions of Career Technical Education (CTE) influences students' choices in their path of study upon entering high school. The counselors' knowledge of the curriculum paths students must choose affects the guidance offered to students when choosing a path of study in high school. Students must choose a path upon entering the ninth grade and school counselors help provide input into the students' decision making process. In studying the perceptions, both positive and negative, of career technical education of middle and high school counselors, the results would provide an image of career technical education held by school counselors. Research Questions: This study will seek to evaluate students' perception of career and technical education in traditional high schools. 1. What are the identifiable perceptions of students in traditional high school regarding Career Technical Education? 2. Is there a predictive relationship between the perceptions of students in traditional high school and non-traditional high school students in choice of career? 3. What are the students' perceptions of the role guidance counselors in facilitating career guidance?

Factors that Promote Motivation and Academic Engagement in a Career Technical Education Context

Factors that Promote Motivation and Academic Engagement in a Career Technical Education Context

Treatment of Race/Ethnicity in Career-Technical Education Research

Treatment of Race/Ethnicity in Career-Technical Education Research

Use of <i>t</i>-test and ANOVA in Career-Technical Education Research

Use of <i>t</i>-test and ANOVA in Career-Technical Education Research

High School Teachers Teaching College Courses to Career Technical Education Students? A Story of Success

A university and a career technical education (CTE) center joined forces to offer dual credit courses. Two institutions worked together to create and implement five different dual credit courses in the areas of physics and mathematics. This paper presents two major findings. First, results of the student’s evaluations of their dual credit experience at a CTE center are presented and discussed. Sixty-four students in the program were telephone interviewed and two different groups of students participated in focus groups. Second, the development and implementation of the program is described. Emphasis is placed on relationships, course identification, mentoring, rigor, assessment, authenticity and providing a showcase for the work. This paper provides evidence that successful dual credit programs at CTE centers can be implemented with a university partner in a very short period of time and provides guidelines for those wishing to do the same.

Net Impact Estimates of the Workforce Development System in Washington State

This study estimates the net impacts and private and social benefits and costs of nine workforce development programs administered in Washington State. Five of the programs serve job-ready adults: Community and Technical College Job Training, Private Career Schools, Apprenticeships, Job Training and Partnership Act (JTPA) Title III programs, and Community and Technical College Worker Retraining. Two of the programs serve adults with employment barriers: Community and Technical College Adult Basic Skills Education and JTPA Title II-A programs. The other two programs serve youth: JTPA Title II-C programs and Secondary Career Technical Education. The net impact analyses were conducted using a nonexperimental methodology. Individuals who encountered the workforce development programs were statistically matched to individuals who did not. Administrative data with information from the universe of program participants and Employment Service registrants (who served as the comparison group pool) supported the analyses. These data included over 10 years of pre-program and outcome information including demographics, employment and earnings information from the Unemployment Insurance wage record system, and transfer income information such as Food Stamp and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipiency and benefits. A variety of estimation techniques were used to calculate net impacts including comparison of means, regression-adjusted comparison of means, and difference-in-difference comparison of means. We estimated short-run net impacts that examined outcomes for individuals who exited from the education or training programs (or from the employment service) in the fiscal year 1999/2000 and longer-run impacts for individuals who exited in the fiscal year 1997/98. Short- run employment impacts are positive for seven of the nine programs and negative for the other two. Short-run earnings impacts are insignificant for four of the programs, negative for two, and positive for the remaining three. The longer-run impacts are more sanguine. Employment impacts are positive for all nine programs, and earnings are positive for seven and insignificantly different from zero for the other two. The benefit-cost analyses show that all of the programs have discounted future benefits that far exceed the costs for participants, and that society also receives a positive return on investment.

"Reaching the Stars" Career Technical Education summit

"Reaching the Stars" Career Technical Education summit

Multiple Choices, Multiple Chances: Fostering Re-entry Pathways for First Generation College Students

Student or program deficiencies are the classic explanation for student departure from community college partners of career technical education programs. However, a complex set of factors impact college attendance, persistence, and departure decision-making. Participants' experiences both within and outside program structures can reshape long-term goals. Based on a 7-year study of a population of 256 students, this article examines detailed case studies of 2 students' experiences leaving and reentering community college. It reveals how one program supported multiple exit and entry points. Interconnected educational and career pathways were made visible with the creation of a visual model that situated program experiences in a broader educational and career pathway. Additionally, both the use of creative solutions and adherence to rigid program parameters impacted students' career and educational trajectories. For more effective results, programs should support parallel career planning and encourage participants to question program structures in relation to their needs.

Establishing Conceptual Boundaries: What is an Adult Education Project?

In a movement toward workforce development as an academic entity, the identity of adult education as projects for inquiry is troubled. In some academic programs, adult education has been termed adult learning in the service of promoting teaching and learning for the workplace. However, adult education's inquiry, its projects, might be more than just teaching adults or researching how adults' learn. This paper presents an argument that adult education projects might have a social justice focus. Adult education might serve as a critique of social, educational, and political policies concerning work and the workplace.

"Goin' Somewhere": How Career Technical Education Programs Support and Constrain Urban Youths' Career Decision-Making

"Goin' Somewhere": How Career Technical Education Programs Support and Constrain Urban Youths' Career Decision-Making

The impacts of career-technical education on high school labor market success

The paper assesses the effects of offering upper-secondary students the opportunity to pursue vocational education in high school on completion rates and subsequent earnings. Analysis of international cross-section data found that nations enrolling a large proportion of upper-secondary students in vocational programs have significantly higher school attendance rates and higher upper-secondary completion rates. Test scores at age 15 and college attendance rates for people over age 20 were not reduced. Analysis of 12 years of longitudinal data found that those who devoted about one-sixth of their time in high school to occupation-specific vocational courses earned at least 12% extra one year after graduating and about 8% extra seven years later (holding attitudes and ability in 8th grade, family background and college attendance constant). This was true both for students who did and did not pursue post-secondary education. Computer courses had particularly large effects on earnings eight years after graduating.

The impacts of career-technical education on high school labor market success

The paper assesses the effects of offering upper-secondary students the opportunity to pursue vocational education in high school on completion rates and subsequent earnings. Analysis of international cross-section data found that nations enrolling a large proportion of upper-secondary students in vocational programs have significantly higher school attendance rates and higher upper-secondary completion rates. Test scores at age 15 and college attendance rates for people over age 20 were not reduced. Analysis of 12 years of longitudinal data found that those who devoted about one-sixth of their time in high school to occupation-specific vocational courses earned at least 12% extra one year after graduating and about 8% extra seven years later (holding attitudes and ability in 8th grade, family background and college attendance constant). This was true both for students who did and did not pursue post-secondary education. Computer courses had particularly large effects on earnings eight years after graduating.

Strengthening Ties Between Career-Technical Education and Human Resource Development

Strengthening Ties Between Career-Technical Education and Human Resource Development

Instructional Technology Competencies Perceived as Needed by Vocational Teachers In Ohio And Taiwan

This study explored and described the perceptions of vocational and career-technical education teachers for the knowledge, importance, and educational needs of instructional technology and compared perceptions of teachers in Ohio and Taiwan. All vocational education teachers working at 44 comprehensive high schools and six Joint Vocational Schools (JVS) in the central region of Ohio and 22 vocational high schools in Kaohsiung district, Taiwan during 2001-02 academic years participated. The Borich needs assessment model was adapted to determine the need for instructional technology knowledge and skills. A questionnaire was designed to gather information about vocational teachers’ school and program characteristics and their perceptions of the instructional technology importance and knowledge in their program. The questionnaire was developed in both English and Mandarin Chinese.