The Effects of Disability Awareness Trainings with Career and Technical Educators Teaching in High Need Rural Schools

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a series of disability awareness workshops and their effects on rural career and technical education teachers who have students with disabilities in their classrooms. Two research questions were posed: (a) Will career and technical education teachers who receive a disability awareness workshop demonstrate a greater knowledge base in disability issues and legislation? and (b) Will employees who receive a disability awareness workshop alter their attitudes toward students with disabilities? Sixteen career and technical education teachers from the Genesee Valley Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) participated in this study. The teachers attended four disability awareness workshops over the span of one school year. The Facts on Disabilities Scale (FAD) and the Interaction with Disabled Persons Scale (IDP) were used as pretest/posttest measurements of knowledge about disabilities and attitudes towards students with disabilities. Results indicated an increase in degree of knowledge of issues pertinent to people with disabilities and an increase in positive attitudes toward a person with a disability.

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Partnering to Improve Career and Technical Education for Students With Disabilities: A Position Paper of the Division on Career Development and Transition

Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals ◽

10.1177/2165143419887839 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 43 (2) ◽

pp. 67-77

Author(s):

Michael W. Harvey ◽

Dawn A. Rowe ◽

David W. Test ◽

Catherine Imperatore ◽

Allison Lombardi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Professional Development ◽

Career Development ◽

Students With Disabilities ◽

Career And Technical Education ◽

Research Policy ◽

Technical Education ◽

Position Paper ◽

Personnel Preparation ◽

High Quality Research ◽

Career And Technical

This article describes the Division of Career Development and Transition’s (DCDT) position regarding Career Technical Education (CTE) and provides recommendations regarding more intense collaboration to improve access to and persistence in CTE for students with disabilities. Professional groups, such as the DCDT and the Association for Career and Technical Education, as well as policy makers, should strengthen collaboration in this area. This position paper: (a) explores CTE’s effectiveness as a secondary special education and transition service; (b) summarizes relevant federal legislation; and (c) presents key recommendations for policy, practice, personnel preparation and professional development, and research. Policy and practice recommendations emphasize access and equity, personnel preparation and professional development recommendations promote an understanding of related legislation and instructional practices, and research recommendations emphasize collaborative high-quality research.

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Sometimes Less, Sometimes More: Trends in Career and Technical Education Participation for Students With Disabilities

Educational Researcher ◽

10.3102/0013189x211006361 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0013189X2110063

Author(s):

Roddy Theobald ◽

Jay Plasman ◽

Michael Gottfried ◽

Trevor Gratz ◽

Kristian Holden ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Students With Disabilities ◽

Career And Technical Education ◽

Technical Education ◽

Long Term Outcomes ◽

Career And Technical ◽

Engineering Mathematics ◽

Education Participation ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

Occupational Career

We leverage nationally representative data and statewide data from Washington to investigate trends in occupational career and technical education (CTE) participation for students with and without disabilities. Consistent with prior work, we document declines in occupational CTE participation since the early 2000s, but we provide the first evidence that this decline can be explained by movement out of courses that are no longer considered CTE. Under the definitions operating at the time, though, we show that participation by students with disabilities in applied science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medical/health (STEMM) CTE courses has increased over time, both nationally and in Washington. These trends are encouraging given prior evidence linking applied STEMM-CTE participation to better long-term outcomes for students with disabilities.

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The Impact of Career and Technical Education on Students With Disabilities

Journal of Disability Policy Studies ◽

10.1177/1044207318771673 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 29 (2) ◽

pp. 108-118 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Shaun M. Dougherty ◽

Todd Grindal ◽

Thomas Hehir

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

General Education ◽

Students With Disabilities ◽

Career And Technical Education ◽

Large Scale ◽

Technical Education ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

General Education Students ◽

Career And Technical ◽

The Impact

Evidence suggests that participating in career and technical education (CTE) in high school, on average, positively affects general education students when transitioning from education to the workforce. Yet, almost no large-scale causal research has explored whether academic benefits also accrue to students with disabilities in CTE. This omission is glaring given that students with disabilities participate in high school CTE programs at high rates. We use multiple years of administrative data from Massachusetts to estimate the effect of participating in CTE on the academic outcomes of students with disabilities. Compared with peers with similar disabilities who do not participate in CTE, students with disabilities in CTE programs perform comparably on standardized measures of student achievement but have higher probabilities of graduating from high school on time or earning industry-recognized certificates. Implications for policy and practice, particularly with regard to scaling access to similar programs, are discussed.

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Career and Technical Education, Work Study, & School Supervised Work: How Do They Impact Employment/or Students with Disabilities?

Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling ◽

10.1891/0047-2220.47.2.10 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 47 (2) ◽

pp. 10-19 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Alfred W. Daviso ◽

Robert M. Baer ◽

Robert W. Flexer ◽

Richard Meindl

Keyword(s):

Learning Disabilities ◽

Students With Disabilities ◽

Career And Technical Education ◽

Technical Assistance ◽

Technical Education ◽

Secondary Analysis ◽

Multiple Disabilities ◽

Work Study ◽

Career And Technical ◽

Health Impairments

The researchers examined whether three predictors of post-school employment outcomes identified by the National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center (NSTTA C, 20 J 3) remained significant for five subgroups of students with: (a) learning disabilities, (b) intellectual disabilities, (c) multiple disabilities, (d) emotional disabilities, and (e) other health impairments. The three predictors used in this study were: (a) vocational (career and technical) education, (b) work study, and (c) school-supervised community work while in high school. The researchers conducted a secondary analysis on a sample of5,307 youth with disabilities, of which 4,952 fell into one of the five disability subgroups used in this analysis. The authors found that competitive employment after graduation was predicted by career and technical education and work-study for students with other health impairments and learning disabilities and by school-supervised work experiences for students with multiple disabilities.

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Students With Intellectual Disabilities and Career and Technical Education Opportunities: A Systematic Literature Review

Journal of Disability Policy Studies ◽

10.1177/1044207318764863 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 29 (2) ◽

pp. 82-96 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Allison R. Lombardi ◽

Shaun M. Dougherty ◽

Jessica Monahan

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

Intellectual Disabilities ◽

Students With Disabilities ◽

Postsecondary Education ◽

Career And Technical Education ◽

Systematic Literature Review ◽

Technical Education ◽

Career Readiness ◽

Policy And Practice ◽

Career And Technical

Career and Technical Education (CTE) offers the potential for disadvantaged student subpopulations to utilize high school toward preparation for the workforce by encouraging specific career pathways. Yet, to date, very little is known about the intersection of CTE programs and disability. In this study, we conducted a systematic literature review of the vocational education and career readiness literatures, with a particular focus on students with disabilities and, specifically, intellectual disabilities, to identify best practices. Results show that few studies differentiate programs on the basis of disability type, and of those that do, intellectual disability was one of multiple disability types represented in studies. Moreover, the majority of studies focused on preparation of students with disabilities for low wage work, and very few focused on a more sophisticated career pathway and/or postsecondary education and training. Given the current policy climate that focuses on college and career readiness, the paucity of CTE and disability-focused studies in the literature is troublesome, and calls for more targeted research studies to be conducted to inform policy and practice.

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