CTE: Uncommon to the Core

Format

Poster Presentation

Location

Harborside Center

Strand #1

Academic Achievement & School Leadership

Relevance

This proposal will provide educators and administrators with a clear link to CTE as a means of reinforcing academic curricula. Additionally, this proposal will shed some light on how successfully integrating CTE programs can support College AND Career Readiness. Comprehensive high schools, shared-time centers and college-based high school programs can maximize student academic growth through implementation of CTE programs.

Brief Program Description

Career and Technology Education (CTE) has, for quite some time, been regarded as an alternative career path to college education. However, recent shifts in instructional methodology, curricular realignment, labor market demands and an increasing emphasis on STEM opportunities have sparked a renewed interest in high school CTE courses and programs. Realize student academic growth through participation in CTE programs.

Summary

Across the country, career and technology education (CTE) teachers are utilizing familiar teaching methods to build a bridge across unfamiliar enhanced curricular standards. With the newly redesigned curricula, traditional academic instructors are being asked to implement flexible teaching strategies with tactile approaches, increased opportunities for group work, greater student movement within the learning environment, and prepare for a diverse group of learners. In short, academic instructors are now being asked to employ the teaching style that CTE teachers have always utilized.

To maximize student growth, academic teachers must be willing to integrate CTE concepts as instructional examples (“Why do I need to learn this?”) while CTE teachers must be willing to acknowledge the literacy and mathematics embedded within the CTE curriculum. Learning environments with a successful blend of rigorous academic courses and engaging CTE programs can provide students with the complementary courses necessary to reinforce concepts and spark creativity.

Evidence

Evidentiary support of career and technology education (CTE) success can be outlined by the following CTE facts:

CTE Works for High School Students

  • Students attending CTE high schools have demonstrated higher rates of on-time graduation and credit accumulation and a greater likelihood of successfully finishing a college preparatory mathematics sequence. (Neild et al., The Academic Impacts of Career and Technical Schools: A Case Study of a Large Urban School District, 2013)
  • Eighty percent of students taking a college preparatory academic curriculum with rigorous CTE met college and career readiness goals, compared to only 63 percent of students taking the same academic core who did not experience rigorous CTE. (Southern Regional Education Board, High Schools That Work 2012 Assessment)
  • CTE students were significantly more likely than their non-CTE counterparts to report developing problem-solving, project completion, research, math, college application, work-related, communication, time management and critical-thinking skills during high school. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has identified employer demand for many of these skills. (Lekes et al., CTE Pathway Programs, Academic Performance and the Transition to College and Career, National Research Center for CTE, 2007; SHRM and WSJ.com/Careers, Critical Skills Needs and Resources for the Changing Workforce, 2008)
  • The average high school graduation rate in 2012 for CTE concentrators was 93 percent, compared to the national adjusted cohort graduation rate of 80 percent. (Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education data; Civic Enterprises et al., Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic: Annual Update, 2014)

CTE Works for Postsecondary Students and Adults

  • Students in programs that blend basic skills and occupational training are far more likely than similar adult students to improve basic skills and earn college-level credits. (Jenkins et al., Educational Outcomes of I-BEST, Washington State Community and Technical College System’s Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training Program: Findings from a Multivariate Analysis, CCRC Working Paper No. 16, 2009)
  • Participation in skills-training programs has increased wages and earnings, raised the probability and consistency of employment and led to work in higher-quality jobs. (Maguire et al., Job Training That Works: Findings from the Sectoral Employment Impact Study, Sectoral Employment Initiative: Public/Private Ventures (7), May 2009)
  • Forty-three percent of young workers with licenses and certificates earn more than those with an associate degree; 27 percent of young workers with licenses and certificates earn more than those with a bachelor’s degree; and 31 percent of young workers with associate degrees earn more than those with a bachelor’s degree. (Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, Valuing Certificates, Presentation, 2009)

CTE Works for Businesses and the Economy

  • Skilled trade workers, engineers, IT staff and nurses are some of the top jobs employers are having trouble filling in the U.S., and CTE plays a critical role in training workers in these areas. (Manpower Group, Talent Shortage Survey Results, 2014)
  • Almost half of talent recruiters at Fortune 1000 companies report trouble finding qualified candidates with two-year STEM degrees. (Bayer Corporation, Facts of Science Education XVI, 2013)
  • More than 75 percent of manufacturers report a moderate to severe skills shortage, resulting in an increase in overtime costs and an annual loss of 11 percent of earnings. CTE plays a vital role in helping American businesses close this gap by building a competitive workforce for the 21st century. (Accenture and The Manufacturing Institute, Out of Inventory: Skills Shortage Threatens Growth for U.S. Manufacturing, 2014)
  • Middle-skill jobs, jobs that require education and training beyond high school but less than a bachelor’s degree, are a significant part of the economy. Of the 55 million job openings created by 2020, 30 percent will require some college or a twoyear associate degree. (Carnevale et al., Recovery: Job Growth and Education Requirements Through 2020, Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, 2013)

Biographical Sketch

Chris Dinkins is an accountant turned teacher with experiences in retail ownership, retail management, amusement park management, and corporate accounting. He is a veteran educator with 14 years of middle and high school experience as a teacher, assistant administrator and career and technology center director. Chris is a native South Carolinian with over 25 years of experience working with youth organizations. Having earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from the University of South Carolina at Aiken, Chris later earned a Master of Education degree in Education Leadership from Jones International University. Chris is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Education in Post-Secondary Education from Liberty University.

Keyword Descriptors

CTE, Enhanced Curriculum, Realigned Standards, CTE Completer, Career Readiness, College Readiness

Presentation Year

2016

Start Date

3-8-2016 4:00 PM

End Date

3-8-2016 5:30 PM

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Mar 8th, 4:00 PM Mar 8th, 5:30 PM

CTE: Uncommon to the Core

Harborside Center

Career and Technology Education (CTE) has, for quite some time, been regarded as an alternative career path to college education. However, recent shifts in instructional methodology, curricular realignment, labor market demands and an increasing emphasis on STEM opportunities have sparked a renewed interest in high school CTE courses and programs. Realize student academic growth through participation in CTE programs.