The research team is working with the Baltimore City Public School district on a multi-part research study. In the first phase of the study, the team completed a landscape analysis examining access to different career development opportunities throughout the city and perceptions of how those different opportunities prepare students for post-high school life. During this phase, the research team also worked with the broader CTE Research Network to identify one career development opportunity on which to focus a more in-depth impact study.
As the project moves into the second phase, the research team chose to focus on STEM-focused career pathway programming as the opportunity of interest. Specifically, the team is looking to examine how different components of a full STEM career pathway (e.g., course completion, technical assessment completion/earned credentials, and work-based learning) predict later outcomes. Importantly, Baltimore City Public Schools use a lottery system to assign students into different high schools which will allow the research team to isolate the effects of STEM career pathways programming in different types of schools (e.g., career and technical education-focused schools, traditional high schools, other subject-specific schools). Additionally, there are three college preparatory high schools in Baltimore that currently use students’ middle school performance to make enrollment decisions, allowing for another opportunity to identify causal effects. Ultimately, this research study will provide evidence for policymakers as to effective career development opportunities for high school students while also aiding practitioners in identifying potential challenges related to implementing such opportunities.
Jay Plasman, PhD
