Texas CTE: Career &amp; Technology Education. Policy Brief
Author: Alexander, Celeste
Date: 2019-02-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Vocational Education,Educational Legislation,Federal Legislation,Technical Education,High School Students,Racial Differences,Enrollment Trends,Educational Attainment,Educational Certificates,Associate Degrees,Bachelors Degrees,College Students

Technology, industry, and vocation are changing. Today's jobs require enhanced skill sets and higher levels of education (Carnevale, Smith, &amp; Strohl, 2010; Castells 2010; Hanushek, Woessmann, Brewer, &amp; McEwan, 2010; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2016). Indeed, the jobs and careers of tomorrow are quickly turning towards proficiencies which require education beyond traditional high school diplomas. Policies and practices now focus on better transitions between high school, higher education, and the workforce--completing what is known as the P-16+ pipeline (Bailey, 2009; Kleinman, 2001). Reform also centers on reshaping what was known as vocational education into a modern, alternative path to better prepare students for College and Career Readiness (CCR). Vocational education reorganization has been centered on encouraging better CCR, in a greater number of students. The use of the term vocational education has fallen out of favor and been replaced with Career and Technical Education (CTE). CTE has become more integrated and rigorous that includes advanced technology and new career paths. CTE courses today offer exposure to career planning and job exploration; they provide industry exposure through hands-on experiences and mentoring (Hutchins, B. C., &amp; Akos, P. 2013; Rojewski, &amp; Hill, 2014). For this project, PK-12 and postsecondary data is used to describe high school and postsecondary outcomes at various transitions in the P-16+ pipeline. For this report, student participation in CTE was collected and coded according to popular (and scholarly) conceptions of regular, CTE, and advanced CTE+ students (Bragg, &amp; Reger, 2002; Castellano et al, 2003; Stipanovic et al, 2012). Advanced CTE+ students are described as those taking part in either: (1) a number ([greater than or equal to]2) of advanced CTE+ courses; or (2) a program with progression of advanced CTE+ courses. Two forms of credit based courses were combined with CTE courses to create advanced CTE+ comparison groups. The first is Dual Credit (DC) in which students simultaneously enroll in both high school and college courses earning credit in both. In addition, Advanced Technical Credit (ATC) courses allow schools to offer credit for technical courses which are taught at the college level by teachers with special training. Both DC and ATC courses were matched with CTE indicators to create a CTE+ course, one in which a CTE course was taken for college credit. Short and long term outcomes suggest great efficacy in CTE+ and continued growth in participation in CTE. P-16+ results show that participation in CTE+ has lasting impacts. As calls for CTE reform and growth continue due to policy shifts and legislative changes, these results may better direct further reform and new projects.