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13 Nov 2019
Report

Career and Technical Education in High School and Postsecondary Pathways in Washington State

James Cowan, AIR/CALDER
Dan Goldhaber, AIR/CALDER/University of Washington
Harry J. Holzer, AIR/CALDER/Georgetown University
Natsumi Naito, University of Washington
Zeyu Xu, AIR/CALDER

Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, nearly every state has included improvement in students’ career readiness as a strategy in their state plans. Career and technical education (CTE) coursework is perhaps the most common way students earn vocational skills during their secondary schooling. Despite the prominence of CTE coursework as a policy lever to improve career readiness, however, there is relatively little evidence about its relationship to key postsecondary outcomes.

In this study, we describe the high school completion rates and postsecondary transitions of students taking CTE courses in high school using administrative data on one cohort of high school students from Washington State. Conditional on observable characteristics, CTE concentrators—high school graduates who complete at least four CTE credits—are about 4 percentage points less likely to enroll in college than other high school graduates. However, CTE students are significantly more likely to enroll in and complete vocational programs, especially in certificate programs in applied STEM and public safety fields.

Among students not enrolled in college, CTE students are also more likely to obtain full-time employment—and to work more intensively—within the first three years following high school graduation. Although the improvements in employment outcomes do not offset reductions in college enrollment, the higher completion rates of vocational credentials among CTE concentrators indicate some important positive outcomes for this population.

Career and Technical Education in High School and Postsecondary Pathways in Washington State (PDF)

Related Centers

Center

National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER)

The National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) is a joint project of AIR and scholars at Duke University, Northwestern University, Stanford University, the University of Missouri, the University of Texas at Dallas, and the University of Washington.

Related Projects

Project

Career and Technical Education Research Network

Career and technical education (CTE) prepares students with academic, technical, and employability skills for success in the workplace and in further education. More research is needed to understand its effects on student outcomes. The CTE Research Network seeks to meet this need by increasing the number of impact studies and strengthening the capacity of the field to conduct and use rigorous research.

Related Work

1 Feb 2021
Spotlight

Career and Technical Education: Preparing Students for College and Career Success

Career and technical education (CTE) is a critical strategy for preparing youth and adults for careers and addressing the skills gap—a disparity between the skills job-seekers offer and the skills that employers need. Nationwide, AIR is supporting organizations large and small to strengthen CTE through rigorous research, evaluation, and technical assistance.
Topic: 
Education, College and Career Readiness

Further Reading

  • American Institutes for Research Experts to Present About Education and Workforce at National Public Policy Conference
  • AIR Experts to Discuss Education Research Issues at Association for Education Finance and Policy Annual Conference
  • American Institutes for Research Experts to Present at the 46th Annual Association for Education Finance and Policy Conference
  • AIR Index: Who Completes College?
  • “Making College Work” Offers Policy Recommendations to Better Support Disadvantaged College Students
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James Cowan

Senior Researcher
Dan Goldhaber

Dan Goldhaber

AIR Vice President and Director, CALDER

Topic

Education
College and Career Readiness
Postsecondary Education

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