What the Research Says about the Effectiveness of Career and Technical Education

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What the Research Says about the Effectiveness of
Career and Technical Education

• John Mulcahy
• Administrator for Career and Technical Education
• Peoria Unified School District

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What do we knowCTE in High School Today

• CTE programs in over 15,200 comprehensive high
  schools, several hundred technical high schools,
  1,400 area vo-tech centers, and 900 Voc/Tech HS
• 97 of high school students take at
  least one CTE course
• More than 40 invest in 3 or more
  SLMP courses
• 1 in 4 students major in CTE by
  taking 3 or more courses in a single
  SLMP
• Source MPR, 2000 Lynch, 2000

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What we know CTE in High Schools Today

• According to the U.S. Department of Education,
  enrollment in CTE has shot up in the past decade
  by 57 from 9.6 million students in 1999 to 15.1
  million in 2004.

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Engagement
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Percent of 9th Graders who complete High School
68
Source One-Third of a Nation (ETS, 2005)
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National Graduation Rates for the Class of 2001
Urban Institute, 2002
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Why do they leave?
The silent epidemic Perspectives of high school
dropouts Civic Enterprises, 2006
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Carnegie Units

• Is more the answer?

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Carnegie Grows!
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Reading Performance17 year olds
A Nation At Risk
NAEP Scores cited in Stringfield, Castellano,
Stone, 2001
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Math Performance of American Youth
NAEP Scores for 17 Year olds
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Science Performance
A Nation At Risk
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Is more the answer?
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Student Transition
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Transition to college the Challenge
100 Start 9th Grade
68 Graduate HS in 4 Years
31 Leave with 0 Credits
40 Start College
27 Start Sophomore Year
18 Graduate College in 4 Years
Source Education Weekly March 2005
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College for All The Reality
Percentages by Race and Ethnicity

• By age 29
• 34 of white
• 18 of African Americans
• 10 of Hispanic
• Have bachelors degrees

Venezia, A., M. W. Kirst, et al. (2003) -
Hoffman, N. (2003)
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Finishing college The Reality

• After 10 years, 37 had obtained degree (14 of
  lower academic half)1
• 43 of graduates report underemployment two years
  later2

Rosenbaum, 2002
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(No Transcript)
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Associate Degree

• There will be a 35 increase in the number of
  jobs requiring an associate degree between 2000
  and 2010.
• Compensation for graduates with technical degrees
  is rising faster than that for graduates of four
  year programs.
• 
  

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
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Four Year Degrees

• On average, workers with associate degrees earn
  less than those with bachelors degrees, but 83
  percent of workers with associated degrees earn
  the same as workers with bachelor's degrees.
• Camevale and Desrochers,
  Standards for What?, 2003

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So, why not CTE?
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Earnings - CTE Works!

• CTE leads to higher short term and medium term
  earnings for students who complete CTE programs
  (Castellano, Stone, Stringfield, Farley and
  Wayman, 2004).
• Each high school CTE course taken is associated
  with an almost two percent increase in annual
  earnings (Silverberg, Warner, Goodwin and Fong,
  2004).

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Earnings - CTE Works!

• A literature review conducted by Harvey in 2001
  concluded that students with disabilities showed
  significant improvement in post school employment
  as a result of their involvement in CTE (2001).

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Student Engagement

• Can we do better?

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Total CTE Program Includes
Integration
Academic
Business Advisory Council
Classroom Instruction
Laboratory Instruction
Personal and Leadership Development (CTSO)
Work-Based Learning
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Strategies CTE Based

• Students with Career Majors are 16 more likely
  to graduate from high school.
• Students in Tech Prep are 30 more
  likely to complete high school.
• Students who participated in
  specific STW activities are 18
  more likely to complete high school

Stone Aliaga, in press
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Predicted Probability of Dropping Out, as
CTE/Academic Course-Taking Ratio Varies, for
a White Male of Average Family SES
Probability of dropping out
CTE/Academic course-taking ratio
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Dropout Reduction

• Plank found that the risk of dropping out was
  four times higher when students were not involved
  in CTE than when students completed three
  Carnegie units of CTE courses for every four
  units of academic subjects (2001).

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The Research Says

• Casual vocational exploration is not enough
• Major concentration in a CTE program is more
  helpful in student retention
• Source Jim Stone, National
  Center for Research in Career Technical Education

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CTE Reduces Dropouts

• Boesel Studies (1994)
• High Schools That Work Sites (1992-1998)
• Career Academy Studies (2000)
• Planks Study (2001)

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CTE Works!

• Students involved in CTE are less likely to drop
  out of school.

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(No Transcript)
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CTE Works!

• CTE concentrators are more likely to graduate
  from high school and go on to college in larger
  numbers (Schargel and Smink, 2001).

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College Attendance

• Hughes, Bailey and Mechur have found that CTE
  concentrators are likely to go on to college in
  higher numbers than their non-CTE peers (2001).

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College Attendance

• Participation in career-related programs does not
  generally impede college attendance, higher
  ratios of CTE-to-academic courses are associated
  with reductions in the chances of college
  attendance, even after adjusting for selection
  characteristics often associated with course
  trajectories. (NRCCTE, 2006)

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College Attendance and Completion
NAVE, 2004
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Credential Acquisition
NAVE, 2004
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CTE Works!

• While it is not conclusively proven that
  involvement in CTE sends students on to college
  in larger numbers it does result in greater
  acquisition of credentials.

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Academic Achievement
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Academic Achievement

• The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988
  showed that CTE courses neither add to nor
  detract from achievement gains (Rasinski and
  Pedlow, 1994).

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Academic Achievement

• A National Research Center for Career and
  Technical Education study in 2001 concluded that
  CTE course-taking had no positive impact on
  academic performance. In fact, the report noted
  that 1992 graduates with only a vocational
  concentration showed significantly lower test
  scores gains in reading, math and science than
  those with only college preparatory curriculum
  (Plank, 2001Wonacott, 2001).

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Academic Achievement

• Students who combine a college-preparatory
  academic curriculum with a specific CTE sequence
  had gains in math, reading and science test
  scores during high school that were similar to
  the gains of students who took only the
  college-prep curriculum (Levesque, et al. 2000)

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Academic Achievement

• Students with both a CTE concentration and a
  college preparatory curriculum not only
  outperformed CTE concentrators, but were also
  statistically indistinguishable from those who
  completed a college preparatory curriculum only
  (National Center for Educational Statistics
  NCES, 2000)

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Academic Achievement

• 2004 NAVE concludes, there is little evidence
  that vocational courses contribute to improving
  academic outcomes (Silverberg et al., p. 7).
• However, it is well to note that CTE
  concentrators did make substantial progress on
  academic achievement

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NAVE Conclusions

• Students who take both a strong academic
  curriculum and a vocational program of
  studystill only 13 percent of high school
  graduatesmay have better outcomes than those who
  pursue one or the other.

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Theres still more

• CTE and non-CTE students are equally college
  ready. There is no significant difference in
  college-readiness between CTE and non-CTE
  students as measured by the ACT Test
  (Mulcahy, 2007).

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CTE Students are Improving Adding more rigor to
the school day and the results
NAVE 2004
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But wait, theres more . . .

• A study of Arizona high school students
  Stanford-9 scores, found that when they
  statistically controlled for extraneous variables
  (e.g., disproportionately large numbers of
  students from special population groups in CTE
  programs), apparent test score deficits for CTE
  students were negligible. The same is true for
  the AIMS test.

Elliot and Knight (2002)
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HSTW Data - Students who complete upgraded
academic core and a career concentration

• Equal or exceed scores of college prep students
  on HSTW assessments
• Continue studies after high school at a higher
  rate
• Have a higher grade point average and more likely
  to remain in college

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CTSO ResearchCTE Works!

• Camp, Navaratnum and Jeffreys (1987) concluded
  that CTSOs produce a positive contribution to
  student achievement as measured by student
  grades. Camp (1990) found that academic
  achievement is generally enhanced by
  participation in extracurricular activities.

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Work-Based Learning CTE Works!

• Studies have found increases in academic
  achievement as measured by standardized tests
  (Bailey Merritt, 1997 Phelps, 1998 Steinberg,
  1998).

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Conclusions

• CTE leads to higher short term and medium term
  earnings for students who complete CTE programs.
• Each high school CTE course taken is associated
  with an almost two percent increase in annual
  earnings.
• Students with disabilities showed significant
  improvement in post school employment as a result
  of their involvement in CTE

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More conclusions

• Involvement in CTE reduces the risk of dropping
  out of high school.
• Involvement in CTE increases the likelihood that
  a student will graduate from high school.
• Involvement in CTE increases the chances of
  obtaining postsecondary credentials.

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Still more conclusions

• Students who take both a strong academic
  curriculum and a vocational program of study may
  have better outcomes than those who pursue one or
  the other.
• CTE students are equally college ready as non-CTE
  students.
• Involvement in CTSOs increases academic
  achievement.
• Involvement in work-based learning increases
  academic achievement

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CTE Works!