AEFP 43rd Annual Conference Program
Chair:
, University of MichiganChair:
, Georgetown UniversityChair:
, American UniversityChair:
, University of Notre DameChair:
, Harvard UniversityChair:
, Institute of Education SciencesCareer technical education (CTE) has become a focus of many state plans to increase students’ college and career readiness and workforce training, but there is a critical need for high quality research to guide policy decisions. In the last few years, state longitudinal data systems (SLDS) have improved and become more accessible, offering an unprecedented opportunity to examine CTE participation by occupational field and student subgroup over time from high school into college and the workforce. Several studies have been conducted on CTE using SLDS (e.g., Dougherty, 2016) that have not only been useful to the state but have advanced the field’s overall understanding of CTE participation.
However, there is much more work that can be done, and many states have the necessary data to answer important research questions about CTE (including questions about equity and access, effect of participation on high school graduation rates, college enrollment and attainment, and civic and employment outcomes). This session will feature both researchers and state agency personnel discussing their findings thus far, the variety of potential research questions yet to be answered, the types of variables available in state databases, potential funding sources for this important work, and the best ways to access state data and work with state agencies to plan a CTE research agenda using SLDS.