Postsecondary Occupational Education 

Among Students Who Took Career and 

Technical Education in High School

DATA POINT

April 2020

NCES 2020-019

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

A Publication of the National Center for Education Statistics at IES

This Data Point examines postsecondary education 

enrollment rates overall and in occupational areas of 

study, among 2013 public high school graduates as 

of 2016. The report uses data from the High School 

Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:2009), which initially 

surveyed a nationally representative sample of grade 9 

students in 2009, with follow-up surveys in 2012, 2013, 

and 2016 and a high school transcript collection in 2013. 

The analysis is based on approximately 11,600 HSLS:09 

ninth-graders who graduated from public high schools by 

August 2013, had complete transcripts, and participated 

in the 2016 follow-up.

The Data Point focuses on high 

school graduates who had been 

career and technical education 

(CTE) concentrators in high school. 

Graduates were CTE concentrators 

if they earned at least 2 credits 

in 1 of the 10 CTE subject areas 

listed in the figure notes (“2-credit 

concentrators”) or at least 3 

credits in 1 of these CTE subject 

areas (“3-credit concentrators”).1

Among 2013 public high school 

graduates, 38 percent were 2-credit 

concentrators and 20 percent were 

3-credit concentrators.2

About three-quarters of graduates 

who were CTE concentrators 

in high school enrolled in 

postsecondary education, 

although a lower percentage did 

so than among students who had 

not concentrated in CTE. 

Overall, 78 percent of 2013 public 

high school graduates enrolled 

in postsecondary education 

within 3 years of graduation, 

including 74 percent of 2-credit 

concentrators and 73 percent of 

3-credit concentrators. By contrast, 

enrollment rates for those who were 

not 2- or 3-credit concentrators 

were 80 percent and 79 percent, 

respectively (FIGURE 1). 

High school graduates’ postsecondary 

fields of study and credentials (degrees 

and certificates) were classified into 

nonoccupational and occupational 

fields, with occupational fields aligned 

to the 10 designated high school

CTE areas.3

After enrolling in postsecondary 

education, about three-quarters of 

CTE concentrators pursued an 

occupational field of study, but 

only about one-quarter were in 

a field aligned with their area of 

CTE concentration in high school. 

Overall, 70 percent of graduates

who went on to postsecondary 

education either had earned a 

credential in an occupational field 

FIGURE 1. Percentage of 2013 public high school graduates who enrolled 

in postsecondary education as of 2016, by career and technical education 

(CTE) concentrator status in high school: 2016 

 

NOTE: The 2- and 3-credit concentrators are students who earned at least 2 or at least 3 

credits, respectively, in at least 1 of the following 10 CTE areas: agriculture and natural 

resources; business, finance, and marketing; communications and communication 

technologies; computer and information science; construction; consumer services; 

engineering, design, and production; health care; mechanical repair and operation; and 

public services. See http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ctes/tables/H233.asp for more precise 

estimates and standard errors. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for 

Education Statistics, High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:2009), Base-year, 2013 

Update, Second Follow-up, and High School Transcript File. 

To learn more about the data used in this report, visit https://www.nces.gov/surveys/hsls09. 

For questions about content or to view this report online, go to http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2020019. 
Postsecondary Occupational Education Among Students Who Took Career and Technical Education in High School

by 2016 or, if they had not earned 

a credential, had an occupational 

field for their last field of study 

(FIGURE 2).4

 The percentage 

who did so, however, was higher 

among graduates who had 

concentrated in CTE than among 

those who had not. Seventy-seven 

percent of 2-credit concentrators 

versus 66 percent of those who were 

not 2-credit concentrators pursued an 

occupational field of study; among 

3-credit concentrators, the

percentages were 80 and 68,

respectively.

For CTE concentrators, it is possible 

to examine whether they continued 

their postsecondary education in 

an occupational field that is aligned 

with their high school area of 

concentration. This analysis finds that 

26 percent of 2-credit concentrators 

who enrolled in postsecondary 

education pursued a field of study 

aligned with their area of CTE 

concentration in high school, as did 

28 percent of 3-credit concentrators. 

Endnotes 

1 The 2- and 3-credit concentrator concepts 

have been used in past National Center 

for Education Statistics (NCES) reports, 

and the 2-credit cutoff aligns with federal 

CTE legislation (P.L. 115-224, section 7[12]). 

CTE concentrators are compared here 

to graduates who did not concentrate in 

a CTE subject area. Graduates who were 

not, for example, 2-credit concentrators 

could have earned any number of CTE 

credits (including no CTE credits), but 

without earning 2 or more CTE credits 

in one area. Because concentrators, 

by definition, had to earn a minimum 

number of CTE credits (2 or 3), graduates 

who did and did not concentrate in 

CTE differ not just in their coursetaking 

in a particular CTE area but also in 

their amount of CTE coursetaking. For 

example, 2-credit concentrators earned an 

average of 4.64 CTE credits, and graduates 

who were not 2-credit concentrators 

earned an average of 1.33 CTE credits; for 

3-credit concentrators, the corresponding

averages were 5.77 and 1.82, respectively

(see https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ctes/

tables/H193.asp).

2 Not in figures; see https://nces.ed.gov/

surveys/ctes/tables/H188.asp. 

3 See https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2020/

data/2020008_crosswalk.xlsx for 

the crosswalk linking secondary and 

postsecondary occupational fields.

4 Not in figures; see https://nces.ed.gov/

surveys/ctes/tables/H243.asp.

FIGURE 2. Among 2013 public high school graduates who enrolled in postsecondary education as of 2016, percentage 

whose postsecondary credential or most recent field of study was in an occupational field, and percentage whose 

credential or most recent field of study was in a field aligned with their area of career and technical education (CTE) 

concentration in high school: 2016 

 

NOTE: The 2- and 3-credit concentrators are students who earned at least 2 or at least 3 credits, respectively, in at least 1 of the following 10 CTE 

areas: agriculture and natural resources; business, finance, and marketing; communications and communication technologies; computer and 

information science; construction; consumer services; engineering, design, and production; health care; mechanical repair and operation; 

and public services. See http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ctes/tables/H243.asp and http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ctes/tables/H246.asp for more precise 

estimates and standard errors. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, High School Longitudinal Study 

of 2009 (HSLS:2009), Base-year, 2013 Update, Second Follow-up, and High School Transcript File. 

This National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Data Point presents information on education topics of current interest. It was authored by Serena E. 

Hinz and Erich Lauff of RTI International. Estimates based on samples are subject to sampling variability, and apparent differences may not be statistically 

significant. All stated differences are statistically significant at the .05 level, with no adjustments for multiple comparisons. In the design, conduct, and data 

processing of NCES surveys, efforts are made to minimize effects of nonsampling errors, such as item nonresponse, measurement error, data processing 

error, or other systematic error.