In October, the U.S. Department of Education released data from states’ Consolidated Annual Report (CAR) submissions for program year 2020-21 – the first year that states reported performance data under Perkins V. The dataset includes CTE participant numbers, CTE concentrator numbers and CTE concentrator performance on Perkins accountability indicators, including... Continue reading

Basic Needs Challenges: In October, the Community College Survey of Student Engagement released a publication that describes the prevalence of housing and food insecurity faced by community and technical college students. Researchers surveyed over 82,000 students in 2021 to reveal the following key findings from the report: About 29% of... Continue reading

Youth Apprenticeship Outcomes: A recent report by the Project on Workforce at Harvard University examines retention, completion and outcomes for youth apprentices in the Colorado CareerWise program, a three-year youth apprenticeship program in which students split their time between the classroom and the workplace with the goal of continuing onto... Continue reading

In October, the Urban Institute released a research report that examines the debt outcomes of postsecondary CTE programs, including associate degree and certificate programs. Researchers used a variety of sources such as the College Scorecard to explore debt, earnings and debt burden levels (debt as a share of earnings) of... Continue reading

Today, ACTE published a new infographic that highlights ways to use the ACTE Quality CTE Program of Study FrameworkTM and its companion self-evaluation instrument. The Framework helps CTE educators to assess quality in their CTE programs of study through more than 90 criteria organized under 12 elements, capturing the full... Continue reading

Computer Science Education: In September, the Code.org Advocacy Coalition, Computer Science Teachers Association and the Expanding Computing Education Pathways Alliance released their 2022 “State of Computer Science Education” report, which summarizes the national and state landscape of K-12 computer science (CS) education policy, access and participation throughout the past year.... Continue reading

Recently, the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) released a first look at postsecondary enrollment estimates for the fall 2022 semester. Compared to the fall prior, overall undergraduate enrollment declined by 1.1%, returning to pre-pandemic rates of decline, with community colleges overall and CTE certification programs experiencing improved enrollment trends. These much... Continue reading

Today, ACTE released a new fact sheet titled “What is Work-based Learning?” describing the full range of work-based learning (WBL) experiences offered through CTE. WBL enables students to learn about careers, build connections with industry professionals, and develop and practice technical, academic and employability skills needed for career success. It... Continue reading

COVID-19 Relief Spending: Recently, FutureEd analyzed COVID-19 relief spending plans from a nationwide sample of 5,000 K-12 school districts and charter organizations and conducted additional research with the 100 largest K-12 school districts in the United States about their plans for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER III) aid.... Continue reading

This November, most voters will have the opportunity to vote on state ballot measures. State ballot measures are important components of the voting process in which citizens are provided the opportunity to voice their input on various legislation topics, including education. Typically, ballot measures are referendums or ballot initiatives, allowing... Continue reading

Recently, ACTE released an updated “STEM is CTE” fact sheet to describe how CTE is developing students’ science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills and preparing students to enter the STEM workforce. CTE programs across the 16 Career Clusters® enable students to master STEM skills, such as computational thinking, that... Continue reading

Today, ACTE released an update to its “What is a Credential?” fact sheet to help CTE supporters define and distinguish between different types of commonly awarded credentials. The sheet describes different types of credentials and provides a chart that enables users to see the differences and similarities between credentials at... Continue reading

Graduate Earnings: The Texas Public Policy Foundation analyzed recent program-level data from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard to identify the median annual earnings of postsecondary students three years after graduation, mainly for those who graduated during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 academic years. The following are some of the... Continue reading

State Work-based Learning Toolkits: State work-based learning (WBL) toolkits provide guidance to educators, administrators and other career development professionals about effective WBL program implementation in that state. In June, Advance CTE created a tracker of state WBL toolkits. According to the tracker, of the 54 states and territories analyzed, 41... Continue reading

Interest In & Exposure to Careers: YouScience released results from their aptitude-based career guidance assessments taken by high school students nationwide in 2021. The analysis found that students have higher aptitude than interest in many career areas, especially those with significant predicted job growth. For example, students had more than... Continue reading

Alternative Teacher Certification: The Center for American Progress recently published an analysis of alternative teacher certification programs sponsored by organizations other than institutions of higher education (IHEs). Researchers examined the types of sponsors, states in which these programs operate and how enrollment varies by demographics to reveal the following findings:... Continue reading

Recently, ACTE published a new series of High-Quality CTE Element Fact Sheets. Each fact sheet describes one of the 12 elements and their criteria from the ACTE Quality CTE Program of Study FrameworkTM, which is an evidence-based framework that defines high-quality CTE through more than 90 criteria organized under 12... Continue reading

Analyzing Pathways Data: The Strategic Data Project at Harvard University published a CTE Diagnostic toolkit which provides guidance and examples to postsecondary leaders about analyzing student progress and success in various CTE pathways. The toolkit offers proposed questions, sample data visualizations and summaries of analyses to conduct. It is structured... Continue reading

CTE Outcomes for Students with Disabilities: In March, Georgia Policy Labs at Georgia State University published a report that analyzed participation, graduation rates and postsecondary outcomes for high school students with identified disabilities (SWD) who concentrate in CTE. Researchers examined student data from Massachusetts, Tennessee and Washington and shared the... Continue reading

State Dual Enrollment Policies: Recently, Education Commission of the States compiled dual enrollment policies across all 50 states to create a comprehensive resource that lets users explore and compare states’ policies. Included in the resource is information on student access, eligibility requirements, course offerings, funding and program quality. The following... Continue reading

Trends in Financial Aid: Recently, the National Center for Education Statistics published a report covering trends in student financial aid during the 2017-18 academic year. After examining financial aid data by type and source across 1,900 Title-IV-eligible institutions, researchers shared the following findings: Roughly 55% of students at community colleges... Continue reading

On June 21, the Department of Labor (DOL) in collaboration with the Families and Workers Fund held a summit focused on improving job quality and access to good jobs. Speakers represented federal agencies, Congress, state and local government and the workforce. To start off the Summit, Deputy Secretary of Labor... Continue reading

COVID-19 and CTE Perspectives: This March, EdChoice conducted a national survey of high school students and their parents to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted their views on post-high school plans and learning experiences. The following highlight the survey’s CTE-related findings: Since the pandemic started, the number of students... Continue reading

The International Technology and Engineering Educators Association published a free, downloadable book that provides research findings on teacher and student safety training, school district safety policies, facility safety and accidents in CTE and STEM programs with the purpose of helping educators advocate for better safety practices. The authors studied educator... Continue reading

Supporting Learners with Disabilities: Although CTE coursework can improve employment opportunities for learners with disabilities, many face barriers to access and success in CTE programs. A recent Advance CTE brief examines survey responses from state CTE directors to determine how states are leveraging Perkins V to support learners with disabilities.... Continue reading