This working paper from MDRC and co-authored by CTE Research Network member Rachel Rosen provides current evidence on the effectiveness of CTE at different educational levels, and for specific subgroups, including students with disabilities, and by gender. This paper identifies areas where there is more CTE evidence as well as areas where gaps still exist.
In recent years, policymakers and researchers have paid renewed attention to career and technical education (CTE), but public attitudes—especially those of parents—toward CTE remain relatively understudied. This paper, featured in the peer-reviewed journal Education Policy Analysis Archives, draws on the history of CTE and more contemporary policy discourse to propose a new organizing framework for conceptualizing how CTE might be discussed in the public sphere. In addition, the article draws on a survey-based experiment to examine how the ways in which policymakers talk about CTE may impact parents’ support for CTE-related policies.
For most states, federal funding alone cannot meet the costs of providing secondary career and technical education (CTE) or the demand for CTE from learners. This Advance CTE microsite, including a report, resources, and state comparison mapping tool, presents an overview of state secondary CTE funding models across all states and the District of Columbia. The resources are based on research conducted in 2022 and early 2023, including a survey of state CTE directors and in-depth interviews with state CTE leaders.
North Carolina’s statewide Career and College Promise offers eligible students three tuition-free pathways to earn college credit while in high school. This brief from the Early College Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro reports on why students participated, or did not participate, in two of these dual enrollment pathways: Career and Technical Education (CTE) and College Transfer.
This report and companion brief from the CTE CoLab, an Urban Institute-led coalition of six national partners, describe an equity action planning process focused on improving outcomes and advancing racial equity in online and hybrid CTE programs at 12 community and career and technical education (CTE) colleges.
This report from the Community College Research Center at Columbia University describes a study of healthcare training programs conducted to understand the role community colleges play in training healthcare workers, including public health workers. The results indicate that community colleges are responsible for 51 percent of all postsecondary healthcare programs and graduates in allied health, nursing, mental health and clinical laboratory science.
This paper from MDRC presents an overview of the scope of jobs that are affected by the transition to a clean energy and climate-resilient economy, a review of the current state of policies aimed at expanding the climate workforce, a review of the evidence about CTE, and a discussion of barriers and potential solutions to improving the education and training pipeline to support an economic transition that is also just and equitable.
This working paper by CALDER, the National Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research, highlights trends in CTE participation for students with disabilities.