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CTE Innovation and Impact:

Learning from New York City

By James J. Kemple, John Sludden, Clare Buckley Flack, Research Alliance

Shaun Dougherty, Boston College

Rebecca Unterman, MDRC

October 2024

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Overview

Six-year project to:

1) Identify program components, practices, student experiences, and other conditions that drive Career and Technical Education (CTE) impacts on student outcomes.

2) Identify subgroups of students who may benefit most or least from CTE.

3) Assess CTE cost-effectiveness.

Not an assessment of the CTE system nor of CTE’s overall efficacy in NYC; rather, the project is intended to identify conditions that may enhance or limit CTE’s capacity to improve college and career readiness.
The focus of this presentation is on variation in CTE implementation, policy contexts, and occupational alignment to explore sources of CTE impacts.
Reports available at: www.ranycs.org
Project is supported by the Institute of Education Sciences (Grant # R305A170498).

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Sources of Variation: School Contexts for this Study

CTE-Dedicated High Schools

37 high schools fully organized to support 80 CTE Programs of Study (CTE).
Diverse population of over 18,000 students assigned to programs offering CTE in these schools between 2013 and 2016.
Comparing experiences and outcomes with 18,000 non-CTE students who also applied to programs offering CTE but were assigned to another option on their choice list.

Comprehensive High Schools Offering CTE

51 high schools offering 104 CTE programs among other curricular and programming options.
Diverse population of 26,000 students assigned to programs offering CTE in these schools between 2013 and 2016.
Comparing experiences and outcomes with 26,000 non-CTE students who also applied for programs offering CTE but were assigned to another option on their choice list.

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Sources of Variation: CTE Implementation and Student Participation

Degree of implementation of CTE course sequences, work-based learning (WBL) opportunities, postsecondary education and employer partnerships, dual enrollment availability, and industry-connected teachers.
Rates of student CTE course taking and CTE concentration.
Rates of student participation in internships and other WBL activities.
Percent of school population enrolled in CTE (for Comprehensive high schools).

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Sources of Variation: Policy Context and Occupational Alignment

Policy Context

Broad high school reforms begun in 2002; CTE expansion and reforms begun in 2008.
Created new schools that were smaller and nonselective with concentrated career focus.
Longstanding high schools continued to be larger and more selective with varied career foci.

Occupational Alignment

Career themes aligned with occupations requiring different education credentials for entry-level jobs:

Workforce Ready: High school diploma.
Mixed: Some postsecondary, but not a four-year degree.
College Aligned: Bachelor's degree or higher.

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Further Background on the Study

Research design based on naturally occurring randomized controlled trial (RCT) and generalized to substantial portion of CTE student population with propensity score matching (PSM) design.
Rich descriptive data on CTE implementation, school context, and measures of student exposure to CTE courses and internships.
Student-level data capturing attendance, course taking and credits, Regents exams, internship participation, diploma receipt, and college enrollment.
Following all students from middle school through high school and for 18 months after scheduled high school graduation.
No data on postsecondary employment and earnings.

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Overall Findings

There was a modest tradeoff between academic or elective credits and CTE credits, with no residual impact on progress toward graduation, diploma receipt, or college enrollment.
In fact, CTE increased the rate of students on track for graduation in 9th-11th grade.
On average, we found “high” graduation rates with no systematic impact, positive or negative, from CTE.
Similarly, on average, we found “high” college enrollment rates, with no systematic impact, positive or negative, from CTE, within 18 months of scheduled high school graduation.
There was substantial variation in outcomes across student subgroups defined by gender, prior achievement, and race/ethnicity, but no systematic difference in impacts from CTE.
We found substantial variation in CTE implementation and impacts among the 88 schools. Smaller, less selective high schools that emphasize careers requiring bachelor’s degree or higher produced positive impacts on Regents Diploma receipt and four-year college enrollment.

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Average CTE Impacts

CTE-Dedicated High Schools and CTE Programs in Comprehensive High Schools

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Credit Accumulation

As shown on the following slides:

In CTE-Dedicated High Schools, there was a small tradeoff between academic or arts credits and CTE credits (i.e., students in these schools earned fewer academic and arts credits and more CTE credits, compared to their non-CTE peers). This tradeoff did not impede students’ progress toward graduation, diploma receipt, or college enrollment. In fact, CTE students were more likely than non-CTE students to be on track for graduation in 9th through 11th grade.
In Comprehensive high schools, CTE and non-CTE students earned similar numbers of academic credits. CTE students earned about one more CTE credit, on average, and about one less credit in the arts, compared to non-CTE students.

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Credit Accumulation in CTE-Dedicated High Schools

For a text table alternative version of this figure, please click here.

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Credit Accumulation in CTE-Dedicated and Comprehensive High Schools

CTE-Dedicated High Schools

CTE Programs in Comprehensive High Schools

For a text table alternative version of this figure, please click here.

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High School Graduation and College Enrollment

As shown on the following slides:

In both sets of schools, CTE students had higher on-track rates throughout high school, compared with their non-CTE peers.
Non-CTE students effectively “caught up” in 12th grade. High school graduation rates for the CTE- and non-CTE students in our sample were nearly identical (and somewhat higher than citywide averages during these same years).
In CTE-Dedicated high schools, CTE students were slightly less likely than non-CTE students to enroll in college immediately after graduation. However this difference disappeared the following year, when CTE and non-CTE students were enrolled at similar rates.
In Comprehensive high schools, college enrollment rates were similar for CTE and non-CTE students both immediately after high school and the following year.

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Graduation and College Enrollment in CTE-Dedicated High Schools

For a text table alternative version of this figure, please click here.

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Graduation and College Enrollment in CTE-Dedicated and Comprehensive High Schools

CTE- Dedicated High Schools

CTE Programs in Comprehensive High Schools

For a text table alternative version of this figure, please click here.

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Exploring Variation in CTE Implementation and Impact

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Variation CTE Implementation and Impacts

As shown on the following slides:

There was substantial variation among the 88 programs in the proportion of students who became CTE “concentrators” (i.e., earning 6+ CTE credits). On average, 44 percent of students attending CTE-Dedicated schools were CTE concentrators, compared with 22 percent of students in Comprehensive high schools. But the percentages ranged greatly across programs, from close to zero to more than 90 percent.
There was also large variation in the percentage of students who engaged in paid or credit-bearing internships, ranging from under 5 percent in some programs to well over 50 percent in others.
Likewise, as shown on Slide 19, CTE impacts on college enrollment varied dramatically. Some schools produced a sizeable, positive, statistically significant impact on college enrollment, while others actually reduced the odds of attending college.

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Variation in CTE Concentration

Average for CTE-Dedicated High Schools

Average for CTE in Comprehensive High Schools

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Variation in Paid or Credit-Bearing Internships

Average for CTE in Comprehensive High Schools

Average for CTE-Dedicated High Schools

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Variation in CTE Impacts on College Enrollment

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CTE Impacts on College Enrollment by Policy Context and Occupational Alignment

As shown on the following slides:

College-aligned CTE programs in newer, smaller, less selective CTE-Dedicated high schools significantly increased four-year college enrollment.
College-aligned CTE programs in newer, smaller, less selective Comprehensive high schools also boosted college enrollment. But there were no impacts in the larger, more selective Comprehensive high schools.
The impacts of mixed-alignment CTE programs were different depending on the school context, as shown on Slide 23.
Workforce-aligned CTE programs in CTE-dedicated high schools had a negative effect on college enrollment. It is difficult to make sense of this finding without additional information on students’ employment and earnings after high school, as well as their longer-term college enrollment, persistence and completion.