The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has published its annually mandated Condition of Education report, which presents key indicators on the status of education at all levels throughout the country. This year the report includes a special highlight section about CTE. Findings and insights are below.
Staffing challenges and qualifications of CTE teachers
Data from academic year 2020-21 demonstrates challenges in hiring for open CTE teaching positions across the United States. During the first full school year of the COVID-19 pandemic, 31% of public schools with open teaching positions in CTE reported having difficulties with or being unable to fill CTE instructor roles. This percentage was higher than for many other subject areas.
- CTE teachers were the most likely of all grades 9-12 public school instructors to be newer to the profession, with 10% having less than three years of teaching experience. In addition, 29% had three to nine years of experience, 36% had 10 to 20 years of experience and 25% had over 20 years of experience.
- 13% of CTE teachers had less than a bachelor’s degree as their highest degree (compared to 2% of teachers overall), 44% had a master’s degree as their highest degree (vs. 54% overall) and 6% of CTE teachers had an education specialist degree as their highest degree (vs. 8% overall). The percentage of CTE teachers with a bachelor’s degree as their highest degree (35%) was similar to the percentage of public school teachers overall.
Participation in CTE during school
This next set of data points looked at CTE course participation and completion among 2019 high school graduates.
- 85% of high school graduates earned at least one Carnegie credit, with information technology (29%), human services (28%) and business and marketing (21%) having the highest participation.
- Participation in CTE was higher among young men, with 87% having earned at least one Carnegie credit in comparison to 82% of young women.
- CTE participation was highest among students from rural areas (92%) and towns (91%) in comparison to students from suburban areas (83%) and cities (80%).
- Asian American learners had the lowest participation rate (77%), with American Indian/Alaska Native (87%), Black (86%) and white (86%) students participating at the highest rates.
Trends in CTE degree and certificate completion
This section of the report looked at the completion levels of subbaccalaureate CTE programs at the certificate or associate degree levels in school year 2021-22.
Subbaccalaureate certificates:
- More than 888,000 CTE-focused subbaccalaureate certificates were conferred, with health sciences (30%) and manufacturing, construction, repair and transportation (21%) being the top fields.
- Four CTE fields of study -- agriculture and natural resources, computer and information sciences, education, and business and marketing -- saw increases of more than 50% in certificates awarded between 2011-12 and 2021-22. In contrast, there was a 35% decrease in health science certificates awarded during this time frame. Health sciences remained the most common program area for CTE certificates awarded despite this drop.
Associate degrees:
- More than 499,000 CTE-focused associate degrees were conferred, with health sciences (36%) and business and marketing (21%) being the most prevalent fields of study.
- Public, legal and social services; protective services; engineering, architecture and science technologies; and consumer services all experienced decreases of more than 20% in certificates awarded between 2011-12 and 2021-22. In contrast, agriculture and natural resources; communications and communications technologies; and manufacturing, construction, repair and transportation saw increases in the same time range.
Postsecondary pathways of public school CTE concentrators
This section provided insights about the postsecondary and workforce outcomes of CTE concentrators -- defined as individuals who earned two or more credits in the same CTE area during high school -- who graduated high school in 2013. By June 2021, eight years after high school graduation, 80% of secondary CTE concentrator graduates had ever enrolled in postsecondary education.
- CTE concentrators and non-concentrators enrolled in postsecondary education had similar rates of credential attainment. However, more CTE concentrators (14%) than non-concentrators (9%) received an associate degree as their highest postsecondary award, while non-concentrators (54%) were more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree as their highest credential than CTE concentrators (48%).
- More CTE concentrators (74%) than non-concentrators (64%) who earned any postsecondary degree or certificate earned their highest award in a CTE field of study. About 27% of these CTE concentrators earned their award in the same field as their high school concentration, most prevalently with public services (54%) and health care (44%).
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