MDRC:
Choice and Information: The Impact of Technology-Based Career Advising Tools on High School Students' CTE Choices and Academic Performance
About the Research Study
The current Perkins V policy environment seeks to strengthen and increase career and technical education (CTE) choices for students, but many schools lack the capacity to increase the depth or breadth of existing CTE and career counseling services. Career advising tools provide schools with an attractive option for helping students identify careers of interest, make CTE choices, and pursue CTE opportunities in high school.
This study employs a 3-arm randomized controlled trial design to test the efficacy of two popular and widely used technology-based career advising tools: Xello and YouScience. The study seeks to understand whether and how these tools influence student thinking about career options, choice of relevant CTE coursework and work-based learning options, and decisions about CTE concentration in available pathways and programs of study.
The research team aims to test the two products in schools and with students who are lower performing and who may need additional support.
Study period: 5 years (9/1/2020–8/31/2025)
This project is supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A200307 to MDRC.
About the Research Team
MDRC, is conducting the study in partnership with Xello, YouScience, and Communities in Schools, a national nonprofit organization that provides enhanced student support services to over 1.6 million students in 2,500 schools (about 25 percent of which are high schools) across more than 300 districts in 25 states and the District of Columbia.
Choice and Information: The Impact of Technology-Based Career Advising Tools on High School Students' CTE Choices and Academic Performance
Team Members
Rachel Rosen, Ph.D.
Project Director/Research Associate and Co-Director of Center for Effective CTE
MDRC
