Career Development Opportunities for High School Students in Baltimore City Public Schools

About the Research Study

The research team is working with the Baltimore City Public School district on a multi-part research study. The first project will seek to explore and identify all the career development opportunities available to high school students in Baltimore City. In addition, through this initial project, the research team will examine how students are made aware of these opportunities (as well as challenges or barriers related to accessing these opportunities) and also look to identify potential links with later high school and college outcomes.

In the second project, the research team will work with the broader CTE Research Network to identify one career development opportunity on which to focus a more in-depth impact study. 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 career development opportunities 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.

Study period: 4 years (9/1/2024–8/31/2028)

This project is supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305N240055 to The Ohio State University.

CTE 2.0

The Ohio State University is delighted to be a part of the CTE Research Network 2.0 and to lead this unique exploration and impact study of career development opportunities in Baltimore City Public High Schools. Given the growing emphasis on college and career readiness in secondary schools, it is a necessary step to both identify and explore the landscape of career development opportunities available to high school students as well as establish relevant and consistent evidence as to the impact of these opportunities.

Jay Plasman, PhD

About the Research Team

The research team includes content experts in college and career development as well as quantitative and qualitative methodology specialists in conjunction with individuals with intimate knowledge of the Baltimore City context. The project is led by Jay Plasman at The Ohio State University, in partnership with researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Notre Dame of Maryland University, and the Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC). Through this project, the team aims to identify effective career development opportunities offered to high school students in the Baltimore City Public Schools to provide practical insights for practitioners and policymakers in Baltimore and across the country.