Latest Postsecondary Enrollment Data: The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center recently released spring 2025 postsecondary enrollment data. Major takeaways include:
- Total postsecondary enrollment grew by 3.2% compared to spring 2024.
- Growth occurred at all institutional levels, with community colleges seeing the greatest increase in enrollment (+5.4%) for both men and women.
- Undergraduate certificate enrollment grew by 4.8% and is now 20% higher compared to 2020. Community colleges accounted for two-thirds of this growth.
- Public two-year schools that strongly focus on CTE program areas saw their third consecutive year of significant growth (+11.7%). Compared to 2020, enrollment has increased by 19.4%.
- Among two-year colleges, programs that saw significant growth include construction trades (+15%), health professions (+11.7%) and precision production (+8.9%).
- Most racial/ethnic groups saw enrollment growth, led by Black students with a 10.3% increase in enrollment. White students experienced their first enrollment increase since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Assessing the Professional Development Needs of Traditionally and Alternatively Certified CTE Teachers in Virginia: An article by Natalie Ferand, Bradley Bowen and Brett Milliken in the May 2025 issue of the Journal of Research in Technical Careers examines the professional development needs of traditionally and alternatively certified CTE teachers in Virginia. The researchers surveyed traditionally and alternatively certified CTE teachers along with teachers traditionally certified in a non-CTE subject area who later received a CTE endorsement.
The researchers found varying professional development needs for each group:
- Alternatively certified CTE teachers were most interested in information about CTSOs and adapting instruction for students with special needs.
- Traditionally certified CTE teachers were most interested in information about managing stress, student behavior and work/life balance.
- Traditionally certified non-CTE teachers who later received a CTE endorsement were most interested in information about motivating students, managing stress and Perkins funding.
- Teachers across all three groups need help with managing stress. Managing time, Perkins funding and supporting students with special needs were other professional development needs shared across teachers from different pathways into the profession.
Curricular-credential Decoupling: How Schools Respond to CTE Policy: A report from the Annenberg Institute examines the implementation of CTE and industry-based certification (IBC) policy in Texas, including House Bill 5 (2013) that created five areas of concentration; 2017 legislation that added IBCs to the state’s accountability system; and 2019 policy that incentivized schools for student attainment of IBCs.
Analysis of state longitudinal data reveals that there was a nine-point increase in the percentage of students completing a CTE program from 2017 to 2018, coinciding with the first class to graduate under House Bill 5. From 2018 to 2022, the CTE program completion rate held steady.
In comparison, from 2017-2022, the rate of IBC attainment increased by much more: 25 percentage points. However, over this same period, the rate of students earning IBCs aligned to their CTE program areas decreased by 16 percentage points. Business, manufacturing and construction had the highest CTE-IBC alignment; conversely, health sciences, human services and public service had the lowest CTE-IBC alignment.
The researchers suggest that the financial incentive may have encouraged schools to focus on quick, easy-to-earn IBCs regardless of those credentials’ alignment to CTE program areas.
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