STEM-Based Career and Technical Education and the Job Prospects of Non-College-Bound Students With Disabilities

• In Event: 49.042 - Pathways to Success for Students With Disabilities?

Abstract

Despite the strategic investment of the Perkins IV legislation to promote a broader application of career and technical education (CTE) to all students, it is unclear whether these initiatives distinctively support the needs of students with disabilities in STEM-based areas of CTE. As a result of being placed in potentially unaccommodating, STEM learning environments or instructionally weak “special” programs, students with disabilities may lack the adequate exposure or hands-on experiences that would prepare or excite them to pursue careers in STEM. For example, students with learning disabilities struggle with mathematics early on in school and their difficulties persist into the upper grades. Because STEM curricula are distinctly sensory based (e.g. use of computers, whiteboards, lab equipment, etc.), students with visual and hearing impairments are especially challenged. Additionally, students with physical disabilities and dexterity impairments face physical barriers such as to buildings and classrooms or labs as well as to the manipulation of equipment such as test tubes, burners, robots, and microscopes.
Our study assesses the role that STEM-based CTE courses and programs play in providing non-college bound students with disabilities with the skills and training necessary to successfully transition from high school into the sub-baccalaureate or “second STEM” economy – which is comprised of a diverse array of occupations including carpenters, machinists, mechanics, electricians, and production workers.

To address this, this analysis uses data from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97). The NLSY97 follows a national sample of approximately 9,000 American students who were between the ages of 12 and 16 on December 31, 1996 from adolescence into adulthood. The NLSY97 is ideally suited for this study because it includes a sizeable subsample of students with disabilities, and includes high school transcript measures that facilitate the study of the relationship between high school STEM exposure and occupation. The present study draws upon 14 survey waves, tracking sample members through 2011. They key outcome variable a STEM-related occupation after high school, and is derived from O*Net classifications. The key input variables include STEM-based CTE coursetaking and school-based employment opportunities in STEM.

Based on multilevel modeling and subsequent tests of validity to remove omitted variable bias, our findings suggest that a comprehensive CTE program relying on traditional math and science courses or applied courses and in conjunction with school-based experiential programs may be inadequate to support the school-to-work transitions of students with disabilities. Prior studies have not looked into the coverage of Perkins IV related to students with disabilities and we now have a clearer picture of its (lack of) impact. The current study is an initial step in attempting to better understand the obstacles and deterrents faced by students with disabilities in accessing and succeeding in STEM coursework in high school and remaining in STEM fields afterwards. As the policy landscape and state standards change to provide more creative opportunities for students with disabilities to participate in STEM curricula, further studies should be conducted to determine their impact.

Authors

• Michael A. Gottfried, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Robert Bozick, RAND Corporation