Dr. Tim Hodges, Gallup Education Practice’s Director of Research, published an opinion blog on the Gallup website on Tuesday, March 10, to express his support for CTE and share a variety of statistics related to trends in the field. Hodges noted that despite building support among policymakers and leaders from business and industry, lingering stigma about CTE continue to plague the field. Hodges specifically noted the misperception that students pursuing CTE courses in high school do so at the expense of college preparation, and pointed to data that indicate CTE students enrolled in college preparatory courses outperformed their non-CTE peers by 17 percent by standards for college and career readiness.
“Students should no longer need to decide between college readiness and career preparation – it’s possible and increasingly necessary to achieve both,” Hodges said. “CTE should not just play a prominent role for a few students; it should be the new normal in education.”
Hodges also described how his his personal experiences as a CTE student prepared him for professional success, noting that while his experiences with livestock judging may not directly apply to his career with Gallup, the employability and practical skills he gained in CTE do.
It’s critical that thought leaders like Hodges use media outreach to build awareness and support for CTE, and ACTE members have demonstrated enormous success in writing and placing similar pieces nationwide. To learn more about how you can share your support for CTE with media outlets in your area, visit the ACTE Advocacy Toolkit here.
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