Opportunity and Constraint: Program Design and Student Choice in High School Career and Technical Education

• In Event: Career Development Opportunities Today and Tomorrow: Toward Equity and Opportunity

Abstract

Objectives and framework
Career and technical education (CTE) in secondary schools provides opportunities for students to develop valuable technical expertise and work-based learning experience that can lead to better employment outcomes, including higher wages (Hemelt et al. 2019; Kemple & Willner 2008; Dougherty 2018; Kreisman & Stange 2020). While well-structured CTE can lead to meaningful and stable careers, it also potentially limits students’ high school options, opportunities for career exploration, and capacity to adapt to changing labor market conditions (Ryken 2006). Our study examines individual and system factors that affect student selection into CTE programs.

Methods and Data
We focus on the following research question:
How do students select or how are students chosen or recommended for CTE programs? At what grade or age must students make decisions about or be selected for participation?

Our study is part of a larger exploratory study of career development opportunities available to students in Wilmington, Delaware. In-person site visits and virtual interviews were conducted across three school districts that included nine sites: seven high schools and three middle schools. Each site visit involved interviews with the school’s CTE coordinator as well as focus groups with CTE teachers; students (12th graders in high schools; 8th graders in middle schools); and career advisors such as guidance counselors. CTE coordinators at eight additional schools (4 high schools and 4 middle schools), three district CTE coordinators, and state CTE leaders participated in virtual interviews. Collectively, the interviews and focus groups included 105 school, district, and state staff and 45 students.

We used thematic content analysis (Braun & Clarke 2006; Nowell et al. 2017) to examine stakeholder accounts of CTE program selection. Data were coded in NVivo to a set of preliminary inductive themes, and additional deductive themes identified during coding. Microsoft CoPilot was used to summarize thematic results and select transcript exemplars.

Results and significance
Preliminary results indicate that CTE program decisions are driven by a mixture of student interest, personal connections (such as friends attending and relationships with teachers), family guidance, school capacity, and program and school resources. Middle school guidance strategies vary. Some offer exploratory courses in CTE fields such as business and STEM in the eighth grade, whereas others emphasize career exploration through interest inventories, advising activities, and field trips. At the high school level, the role of CTE varied by school type. Students in Wilmington’s CTE specialty high schools cannot change their program after grade 10. CTE programs in the comprehensive schools, in contrast, have fewer credit requirements and greater flexibility in terms of program changes. Although students expressed enthusiasm for programs in each model, their feedback suggests that the school model and middle school career advising influence students’ level of satisfaction with their pathway choice.

Given the lack of research on the determinants of CTE course and program selection (Jacobs & Ricks 2023), this study helps identify factors that influence student CTE decision-making, as well as student and staff perceptions of constraints on student opportunities after high school.

Authors

• Benjamin W. Dalton, RTI International

• Sandra Staklis, RTI International

• Natassia Rodriguez Ott, RTI International

• Jill Pierce, Research Triangle Institute

• Terri Dempsey, RTI International