CTE courses provide opportunities that appear to positively affect students’ lives after high school, according to researchers Dan Kreisman and Kevin Stange’s new study published in EducationNext, an update of prior research ACTE shared back in 2017.
Kreisman and Stange researched two questions: What is the relationship between CTE coursework and high school graduates’ success in college and the workforce? And is CTE a track for less successful students, or a pathway to education and career success?
The study examined high school and college transcripts as well as labor market outcomes for a nationally representative sample. After controlling for student characteristics such as parental education and family income, among other factors, Kreisman and Stange conclude that:
- CTE coursework may enable students to make more informed education and career choices.
- Completing more specialized CTE coursework in high school is associated with earning higher early-career wages, with a wage increase of 2 percent for every advanced CTE class taken.
- Taking CTE courses had little to no relationship with a student’s likelihood of attending college.
This research illustrates the value of CTE courses in high schools that help students pursue specialized skills in a range of career fields. It’s worth noting that the dataset Kreisman and Stange used looked at outcomes for individuals who took part in secondary CTE during the 1990s and early 2000s, prior to more recent innovations. We may expect different results when looking at outcomes of students who have participated in CTE more recently.
Studies such as this add to the growing body of information on CTE outcomes. ACTE is a partner in the Institute of Education Sciences’ CTE Research Network, which aims to increase the number of CTE impact studies and strengthen the capacity of the field to conduct and use rigorous CTE research.
Extremely interesting. Thank you for giving such an informative blog.
Posted by: philsca | 08/08/2021 at 11:12 PM