We’re excited to introduce a new policy brief published by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) that explores the future of Career and Technical Education.  

CTE programs are increasingly popular nationwide, but concerns remain about the availability of resources for different career paths, and the degree to which educators are thoughtfully leading students toward related courses. 

The new NEPC brief examines the tension that often arises between the provision of equitable educational opportunities and Career and Technical Education. The brief explores how schools can help students identify career paths in the skilled trades without sorting students by ethnic, racial or socioeconomic characteristics. Read on for a summary of the brief. 

SUMMARY

Emily Hodge of Montclair State University, Shaun Dougherty of Vanderbilt University and Dr. Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, published Tracking and the Future of Career and Technical Education: How Efforts to Connect School and Work Can Avoid the Past Mistakes of Vocational Education.  

The brief examines challenges that result from efforts to link learning to post-high school work while avoiding low academic expectations for students who are unlikely to attend college.  

It summarizes the history of what was once known as vocational education and its relation to career tracking. Vocational education has a long history in the American school system and has been at the center of some of the most contentious debates about the purpose of public education. Its history is intertwined with race, class and gender. 

The brief describes how vocational education evolved into Career and Technical Education in ways that reflected a larger shift in the world economy, including the increased role of information technology, growth in demand for highly differentiated health services, and the expansion of new forms of manufacturing. Biotechnology and green energy also continue to expand the scope of CTE programs. 

While diversification can potentially benefit CTE, it may also crowd out students – especially those from lower-income communities. The potential exists for a status hierarchy in CTE-related careers. 

RECOMMENDATIONS

The authors offer recommendations for providing CTE resources in ways that support equitable educational opportunities for interested students. They believe the best-case scenario is a whole-school model in which schools provide a variety of CTE offerings. They recommend:  

• In whole-school models of CTE, school and district leaders should monitor enrollment at the school and program levels by student subgroups to ensure equitable access. 

• In comprehensive high schools, administrators should build a schedule that allows for participation in CTE electives without steering students toward certain career paths.  

• Students should have access to a broad variety of skilled trades coursework.   

• School district leaders and state policymakers must ensure equitable distribution of resources for students to avoid steering specific groups of students into certain careers.  

• To avoid mistakes of the past, researchers should carefully monitor the racial, ethnic and socioeconomic patterns of Career and Technical Education programs.  

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

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