Recently, researchers affiliated with the CTE Research Network (CTERN) released several briefs describing findings of ongoing research on the impacts of CTE. ACTE is one of the CTERN leads and supports the network in its efforts to promote causal research into how CTE affects learner outcomes.
CTE-Focused Dual Enrollment: Participation and Outcomes: In an ongoing study conducted by a CTERN team at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in conjunction with the RAND Corporation, researchers examined North Carolina’s Career & College Promise CTE dual enrollment pathway and found that approximately 9% of the state’s students participated in CTE dual enrollment. The study aimed to examine the implementation, impact and cost of the program’s three dual enrollment pathways, as well as to expand the research available about the implementation and impact of CTE-focused dual enrollment courses to help policymakers and practitioners make better decisions around opportunity and equity. In the study, researchers compared participating students to nonparticipating students and looked at the impacts at the high school, postsecondary and workforce levels. Notable findings include:
- Disparities in participation among learner groups were less in CTE-focused dual enrollment courses than for college transfer dual enrollment courses.
- Participation in CTE dual enrollment is positively associated with students earning college credits in high school and graduating from high school.
- CTE dual enrollment participation has a positive relationship with enrollment in North Carolina public colleges, especially for underrepresented ethnic groups and economically disadvantaged students.
NYC as a Laboratory for Learning About CTE: The Research Alliance for New York City Schools recently published a report of a multi-year study of the city’s CTE-dedicated high schools in collaboration with researchers from MDRC, Boston College and the University of Connecticut. The research focuses on 37 CTE-dedicated high schools in the NYC metropolitan area, which are all structured in a way to ensure CTE participation of students in grades 9-12. Researchers found that the 37 high schools had a lot of variation in their programming, which also led to different outcomes, but in general they offer coursework around industry-aligned themes such as construction, IT and health services as well as work-based learning opportunities and access to aligned college-level coursework.
Researchers examined the experiences and outcomes of nearly 19,000 students who attended a CTE-dedicated high school between 2013 and 2016 and did a comparison with similar students who also applied to CTE programs but were assigned to another type of high school. Here are some key findings:
- A majority of CTE-dedicated high school students completed the required CTE credits with one quarter engaging in work-based internships.
- There was no evidence that CTE programs impede students’ ability to meet academic requirements — in fact, CTE-dedicated high school students were more likely to be on track for a New York State Regents diploma.
- On average, students graduated from CTE-dedicated high schools and enrolled in college at similar rates to their non-CTE counterparts.
- The newer generation of smaller, nonselective CTE schools with narrower sets of career themes that prepare students for pathways that can lead to bachelor’s degrees led to better graduation and postsecondary enrollment rates than the older, larger and more selective CTE schools with a wider range of programs preparing students for positions requiring limited postsecondary education.
Further report releases will include information on students’ employment, earnings and longer-term college enrollment as well as persistence and completion outcomes.
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