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Article, Glencoe-McGraw Hills electronic newsletter 2006
Dropping In: CTE Helps Raise Retention Rates
While more emphasis is placed on college preparation and high school graduation requirements, studies show that high school students who take career and technical education (CTE) courses are less likely to drop out of school than those enrolled in strictly academic programs.
Indeed, CTE can help change the trajectory of a student's life.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, the national dropout rate is about 11 percent. Some reasons cited for dropping out include disinterest; poor attendance; low or failing grades; failing to meet graduation requirements; and employment. However, research shows that students enrolled in CTE classes have a chance to avoid being a part of this statistic.
CTE can help change the trajectory of a student's life
Stephen Plank, assistant sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University, studied how CTE and academic curricula can, or should, coexist in U.S. high schools. In "Career and Technical Education in the Balance: An Analysis of High School Persistence, Academic Achievement, and Post-Secondary Destinations," Plank analyzes the connection between the classes a student takes and the likelihood
that he or she will finish high school.
Plank evaluated data compiled by the National Educational Longitudinal Study and found that students who take three CTE classes for every four core academic subjects are least likely to drop out of school. Being significantly above or below this three-to-four ratio increased the dropout risk. The report also shows that the relationship is strongest among students already at risk of dropping out, such as those with poor grades.
The impact of dropping out
The importance of a high school diploma is evidenced by the impact on a student's future as well as on society. Education is important to employees and employers. Workers without a high school diploma earn approximately $852,000 over a forty-year career, compared to about $1.5 million for those with a two-year degree and about $1.9 million for four-year college graduates, an Employment Policy Foundation report shows. On average, high school dropouts earn $9,245 less per year than high school graduates.
Dropouts cost the United States billions of dollars in lost earnings and tax revenue. They are also less likely to find and hold jobs that pay enough money to sustain them, forcing many to seek public assistance.
Why CTE is needed
Dropout prevention can not only help steer students to a more promising future, it can also help save billions of dollars.
Dropout prevention can not only help steer students to a more promising future, it can also help save billions of dollars in health care, literacy, and prison costs, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education. One way to increase students' chances for success is to include CTE in their programs.
Franklin Schargel and Jay Smink, authors of Strategies to Help Solve Our School Dropout Problem, have identified five potential benefits of taking CTE courses for at-risk students. The coursework:
enhances students' motivation and academic achievement;
increases personal and social competence related to work in general;
fosters a broad understanding of an occupation or industry;
enables career exploration and planning; and
allows for the acquisition of knowledge or skills related to employment in particular occupations or more generic work competencies.
Other research shows that CTE does work. A 1991 New York study of 76,000 secondary vocational graduates found that six to eighteen months after graduation, 91 percent were either employed, in the military, or enrolled in postsecondary education, according to the Association for Career and Technical Education. The earnings gap between CTE graduates and non-vocational graduates appears to widen with time. A recent large-scale study of 13,000 Ohio CTE graduates found that seven years after high school, the CTE graduates earned significantly more than a comparable group of non-vocational graduates.
CTE is to some students what the honors curriculum is to others..
Kenneth Gray, a professor of education at Penn State University who holds a doctorate in vocational technical education, says: "If, as suggested by NCLB [No Child Left Behind], the goal is to provide high school students with options after they graduate, then the way to do so is to ensure that options are available to them in high school programs of study. CTE is to some students what the honors curriculum is to others."
Dropout prevention strategies
Keeping potential dropouts on the right path takes a concerted effort. The National Dropout Prevention Center/Network has identified fifteen effective strategies that it says have the most positive impact on the dropout rate. Along with providing safe learning environments, early childhood development, mentoring, and tutoring, NDPC/N says emphasizing teachers' professional development is key. Teachers who work with youth at high risk of academic failure need support and an avenue through which they can continue to develop skills and techniques, and learn about innovative strategies.
Another important strategy is CTE. The network found that a quality CTE program and a related guidance program are essential for all students. School-to-work programs recognize that students need specific skills to prepare them for the larger, ever-changing demands of today's workplace.
Several program techniques to keep students in school include career guidance, work-based learning, career pathways, and technical preparation. R. Bauer and R. Michael, authors of "They're Still in School: Results of an Intervention Program for At-Risk High School Students," found that a guidance model that lets students take inventory of their career interests as well as job-readiness training can increase at-risk student school engagement by 35 percent. Work-based learning lets students connect school with the real world. Examples of work-based learning are:
cooperative education;
school-based enterprises;
internships and apprenticeships;
job shadowing; and
mentoring.
Planks says if it is true that a middle-range mix of CTE and academic courses can lower the dropout risk for some students, then educators and policymakers might encourage such a mix, even if it brings slightly lower standardized test scores in core academic subjects. "Given the importance of a high school diploma in our society," he says, "slightly lower test scores might be an acceptable tradeoff for higher graduation rates."
Read more about it:
U.S. Department of Education’s School Dropout Prevention Program
National Dropout Prevention Center
Dropping In: CTE Helps Raise Retention Rates
While more emphasis is placed on college preparation and high school graduation requirements, studies show that high school students who take career and technical education (CTE) courses are less likely to drop out of school than those enrolled in strictly academic programs.
Indeed, CTE can help change the trajectory of a student's life.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, the national dropout rate is about 11 percent. Some reasons cited for dropping out include disinterest; poor attendance; low or failing grades; failing to meet graduation requirements; and employment. However, research shows that students enrolled in CTE classes have a chance to avoid being a part of this statistic.
CTE can help change the trajectory of a student's life
Stephen Plank, assistant sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University, studied how CTE and academic curricula can, or should, coexist in U.S. high schools. In "Career and Technical Education in the Balance: An Analysis of High School Persistence, Academic Achievement, and Post-Secondary Destinations," Plank analyzes the connection between the classes a student takes and the likelihood
that he or she will finish high school.
Plank evaluated data compiled by the National Educational Longitudinal Study and found that students who take three CTE classes for every four core academic subjects are least likely to drop out of school. Being significantly above or below this three-to-four ratio increased the dropout risk. The report also shows that the relationship is strongest among students already at risk of dropping out, such as those with poor grades.
The impact of dropping out
The importance of a high school diploma is evidenced by the impact on a student's future as well as on society. Education is important to employees and employers. Workers without a high school diploma earn approximately $852,000 over a forty-year career, compared to about $1.5 million for those with a two-year degree and about $1.9 million for four-year college graduates, an Employment Policy Foundation report shows. On average, high school dropouts earn $9,245 less per year than high school graduates.
Dropouts cost the United States billions of dollars in lost earnings and tax revenue. They are also less likely to find and hold jobs that pay enough money to sustain them, forcing many to seek public assistance.
Why CTE is needed
Dropout prevention can not only help steer students to a more promising future, it can also help save billions of dollars.
Dropout prevention can not only help steer students to a more promising future, it can also help save billions of dollars in health care, literacy, and prison costs, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education. One way to increase students' chances for success is to include CTE in their programs.
Franklin Schargel and Jay Smink, authors of Strategies to Help Solve Our School Dropout Problem, have identified five potential benefits of taking CTE courses for at-risk students. The coursework:
enhances students' motivation and academic achievement;
increases personal and social competence related to work in general;
fosters a broad understanding of an occupation or industry;
enables career exploration and planning; and
allows for the acquisition of knowledge or skills related to employment in particular occupations or more generic work competencies.
Other research shows that CTE does work. A 1991 New York study of 76,000 secondary vocational graduates found that six to eighteen months after graduation, 91 percent were either employed, in the military, or enrolled in postsecondary education, according to the Association for Career and Technical Education. The earnings gap between CTE graduates and non-vocational graduates appears to widen with time. A recent large-scale study of 13,000 Ohio CTE graduates found that seven years after high school, the CTE graduates earned significantly more than a comparable group of non-vocational graduates.
CTE is to some students what the honors curriculum is to others..
Kenneth Gray, a professor of education at Penn State University who holds a doctorate in vocational technical education, says: "If, as suggested by NCLB [No Child Left Behind], the goal is to provide high school students with options after they graduate, then the way to do so is to ensure that options are available to them in high school programs of study. CTE is to some students what the honors curriculum is to others."
Dropout prevention strategies
Keeping potential dropouts on the right path takes a concerted effort. The National Dropout Prevention Center/Network has identified fifteen effective strategies that it says have the most positive impact on the dropout rate. Along with providing safe learning environments, early childhood development, mentoring, and tutoring, NDPC/N says emphasizing teachers' professional development is key. Teachers who work with youth at high risk of academic failure need support and an avenue through which they can continue to develop skills and techniques, and learn about innovative strategies.
Another important strategy is CTE. The network found that a quality CTE program and a related guidance program are essential for all students. School-to-work programs recognize that students need specific skills to prepare them for the larger, ever-changing demands of today's workplace.
Several program techniques to keep students in school include career guidance, work-based learning, career pathways, and technical preparation. R. Bauer and R. Michael, authors of "They're Still in School: Results of an Intervention Program for At-Risk High School Students," found that a guidance model that lets students take inventory of their career interests as well as job-readiness training can increase at-risk student school engagement by 35 percent. Work-based learning lets students connect school with the real world. Examples of work-based learning are:
cooperative education;
school-based enterprises;
internships and apprenticeships;
job shadowing; and
mentoring.
Planks says if it is true that a middle-range mix of CTE and academic courses can lower the dropout risk for some students, then educators and policymakers might encourage such a mix, even if it brings slightly lower standardized test scores in core academic subjects. "Given the importance of a high school diploma in our society," he says, "slightly lower test scores might be an acceptable tradeoff for higher graduation rates."
Read more about it:
U.S. Department of Education’s School Dropout Prevention Program
National Dropout Prevention Center
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