Examining CTE Programs in the Round Rock Independent School District

Round Rock Independent School District (ISD) wanted to enhance its high school career and technical education (CTE) programming—because of recent decreases in two-year college enrollment and opportunities arising from Perkins V—to prepare CTE graduates to either enter high-wage, in-demand careers in Central Texas or continue their education after high school. However, district leaders lacked key information about the district’s CTE programming.

This study investigated the percentage of Round Rock ISD graduates from 2012/13 through 2017/18 who completed one or more CTE programs of study. The study also examined the percentage of CTE programs of study in Round Rock ISD that were aligned with high-wage, in-demand career pathways in Central Texas, including the percentage of graduates who completed programs of study aligned with those high-wage, in-demand career pathways, plus the postsecondary outcomes of these graduates who completed a program of study.

Key study findings include the following: 

• The percentage of students who graduated with one or more CTE programs of study increased more than 10-fold across the six graduating cohorts, from 4 percent for the 2012/13 cohort to 47 percent for the 2017/18 cohort. 
• Seventy-six percent of the CTE graduates completed course requirements in the 13 programs of study aligned with regional high-wage, in-demand career pathways in the Central Texas labor market. 
• More than 80 percent of the CTE graduates from each cohort enrolled in two- or four-year colleges or were employed within one year of high school graduation.