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

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.

Diversity Ideology and School Leadership: Obscuring Inequities for Emergent Bilingual Students in Career and Technical Education

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to examine the ways in which school leaders in career and technical education (CTE) conceptualized diversity and inclusion for emergent bilingual students (EBs) and how their beliefs about diversity manifested in institutional support (or lack thereof) for EBs. Research Method: This study draws on data collected during a year-and-a-half long qualitative case study at a large, nationally recognized CTE center. The primary sources of data were interviews with administrators, teachers, and students; local artifacts, student records, and state-level enrollment data were also used. Findings: CTE administrators adhered to diversity ideology when discussing issues of diversity and EBs' inclusion at their institution and believed that they cultivated an inclusive educational environment. This ideology resulted in superficial diversity and inclusion initiatives that did not ensure that EBs had equitable access to CTE program nor that teachers had a sufficient system of support to ensure EBs’ academic success, despite the administration's stated commitment to equal opportunity and inclusion. Implications: These findings suggest the need for administrators to critically examine their conceptualization of diversity and equity when considering how to support EBs in CTE programs.

New Pathways to NDT: 21st Century Technical Education Connects High School Students to Real-World Careers

High schools in the United States are taking a fresh look at the future of career and technical education with the implementation of new learning pathways that lead directly to the workforce, including the nondestructive testing (NDT) industry. These programs directly connect high school curriculums with post-secondary education and employment, reaching kids as young as junior high. This resurgence in technical education can be traced to the current demand for “new collar” jobs—jobs that require a post-secondary degree, although not necessarily a four-year college degree. The demand for new collar jobs continues to increase, as millions of jobs requiring only a high school diploma have disappeared. Harvard’s influential Pathways to Prosperity report, released in 2011, warned that nearly two-thirds of new jobs of the 2010s would require more than a high school education—yet only 40% of Americans had obtained an associate’s or bachelor’s degree by their mid-20s (Harvard 2011). In response, a new vision of 21st century vocational training is emerging across the United States. Vocational education has traditionally taught students how to weld or how to fix a car. Today’s career and technical education encompasses a wide variety of industries and skills. Students are learning to code software, design websites, or operate robots and artificial intelligence systems that have replaced manual labor jobs across much of the economy. Through new technical and career programs, high school students have the opportunity to learn valuable skills, gain job experience and support from participating sponsor companies and mentors, and complete coursework to graduate with a high school diploma and, often, an associate’s degree as well. This article explores new high school technical and career programs in Texas, Minnesota, and North Carolina that specifically provide a pathway to careers in NDT. These new initiatives are fueled by the desires of students, parents, and educators for options outside of the traditional four-year college path, as well as urgent workforce needs within industry. Support from local industry and academia (such as community colleges) are essential to the success of the programs.

CTE Teacher Licensure and Long-Term Student Outcomes

We use longitudinal data from Massachusetts that link high school course-taking records in career and technical education (CTE) to postsecondary student outcomes to provide the first empirical evidence linking characteristics of CTE teachers to later student outcomes. We find that CTE teachers who received better scores on subject performance tests required for licensure tend to have students with higher longer-term earnings than CTE teachers who received lower scores on these tests, controlling for other factors. Specifically, we estimate that a 1 standard deviation increase in teacher performance on these tests is associated with about a $1,000 increase in average expected earnings for the teacher's students 5 years after their expected graduation date, controlling for licensure test area and observable differences between students.