From High School to High-Wages: The Role of Career Clusters for Students

• In Event: The Persistence Puzzle: Understanding Departures and Designing Effective Support for Community College Students

Abstract

In response to evolving workforce demands and the growing number of Texas high school graduates entering the workforce directly, the Texas legislature reformed high school graduation requirements with House Bill 5 in 2013. The Foundation High School Program embedded career technical education (CTE) into the graduation framework with endorsements (Holzman & Lewis, 2020). All but one of the endorsements require or allow CTE credits to complete graduation requirements, bridging the gap between high school and workforce readiness (TEA, 2022). The research on CTE programs in facilitating school-to-career transitions remains mixed, with research often treating CTE as a homogeneous field, overlooking the role of career clusters across student demographics (Bonilla, 2020; Ecton & Dougherty, 2023; Theobald et al., 2019).

Purpose

This study explores the role of CTE in Texas high school students’ workforce entry, revealing the relationship between pre- and high school characteristics, enrollment in CTE course clusters, and wage outcomes for students entering the workforce directly after graduation. The study disaggregates CTE pathways by cluster and student demographic, providing insights into the benefits of CTE for marginalized students, such as those from low-socioeconomic backgrounds or English language learners. Key questions include:

1.     What are the relationships between pre-high and high school characteristics and enrollment in CTE clusters?

2.     What are the wage outcomes for students entering the workforce directly, as opposed to enrolling in postsecondary education?

3.     How do these outcomes vary by student demographic?

Research Design

Using statewide administrative data from Texas high school students, linked to workforce outcomes via the University of Houston’s Education Research Center, the study analyzes students for the 2010-2020 graduation cohorts. The final sample includes 497,609 students who attended Texas public high schools for four consecutive years. The study examines CTE attainment (participation, concentration, and completion) correlated with wage outcomes in the first and third years after graduation for students directly entering the workforce. CTE attainment is categorized by the number of CTE credits completed within a coherent sequence, with wage outcomes modeled using log-transformed salary data to manage skewness and outliers (Angrist & Pischke, 2015). Predictive models include fixed effects to account for school and district level variation.

Results

Descriptive analysis reveals demographic differences in CTE pathway enrollment. White students are overrepresented in the Agriculture cluster, Asian students represent the majority in Health and STEM clusters. African American students are overrepresented in Government and Marketing, and Hispanic students are overrepresented in Transportation. Wage analysis shows that CTE participation with one credit has minimal or negative wage implications, except in the Transportation cluster which has positive wage increases (0.07***). Concentrators and completers generally show improved wage outcomes, except in the Education cluster for students who are Hispanic or economically disadvantaged (-0.04*** and --0.06*** respectively). Positive outcomes for students who are Native American were limited to Agriculture, Architecture, and Finance clusters.

Conclusion

By disaggregating CTE clusters and demographic characteristics, this study highlights the varied returns for demographic groups with direct workforce entry, demonstrating that while some clusters offer tangible benefits, others fail to provide equitable outcomes for marginalized students.

Author

• Angela Crevar, Texas Tech University
  Presenting Author