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Are High School Career and Technical Students Less Prepared for College?

Posted on: Sunday, 18 September 2005, 03:01 CDT

In recent years, career and technical education (CTE) has increasingly faced criticism that it does not contribute to improved academic performance or the likelihood of success in postsecondary education (Preparing America's Future, 2003). President Bush stated that CTE "has produced little or no evidence of improved outcomes for students despite decades of federal investment."

While the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) established a broad range of worthwhile academic goals, has CTE failed to help students achieve these goals? Does CTE handicap students academically? Are career and technical students less prepared than other students for college or other postsecondary education?

Part of the dilemma in judging CTE based on criteria established in NCLB is that NCLB defines educational success as limited to and measured by academic test scores. CTE has used career and postsecondary placement, rather than academic achievement, as its measures of success. Consequently, there has been little concern for collecting data to validate or measure academic achievement in these fields. The problem is further compounded by the fact that many individuals are unfamiliar with CTE methodology and do not recognize that CTE is simply a matter of presenting academic content in an applied, hands-on approach. CTE methodology often minimizes theoretical background and therein is criticized by those unfamiliar with direct application or practical experience.

However, the fact that CTE has expended little effort to prove itself in terms of academic measures does not mean that CTE students are academically less competent. CTE has begun to examine this issue and collect data from within its ranks. Several current research projects indicate that CTE students perform as well as non-CTE students on several measures of academic performance. There is also evidence that some CTE programs actually improve the academic proficiency of students.

One recent study used college placement test scores to compare the academic performance of high school CTE students to academic degree-oriented students (non-CTE). ACT's COMPASS was administered to all students from three high schools for three successive years. Results found no statistically significant difference between the CTE and non-CTE group mean scores on the pre-algebra, algebra or writing sections of the test. CTE and non-CTE students were found to be academically equally prepared to enter college (Ball, 2003).

Table 1

Comparison of Mean COMPASS Scores for CTE and non-CTE Students

Table 1 presents mean COMPASS scores. Testing was based on determining statistical significance at a two-sided alpha level of 0.05.

A second research project examined the ability of CTE to improve college placement test scores for high school students. In southern Idaho, individuals who plan to attend Idaho State University's (ISU) College of Technology are required to take either the ACT, SAT or ACT's COMPASS placement test. Those seeking associate degrees in career and technical programs must meet the same academic criteria as students seeking academic bachelor degrees. In some career and technical programs, students can be admitted to non-degree status with lower scores.

Table 2

Southern Idaho High School CTE Seniors Academically Prepared for Admission to ISU College of Technology

Preparing for Postsecondary

In 1996 it was discovered that only 25 percent of southern Idaho high school seniors planning to enroll at the ISU College of Technology were academically qualified to begin coursework without remediation. The following year, a regional program was implemented to focus on this problem. High school administrators, counselors and CTE instructors from 16 school districts worked with tech prep personnel to encourage all high school juniors and seniors interested in career and technical programs to take the COMPASS.

Scores were shared with counselors and teachers. In turn, they advised students of the academic requirements needed to enter college and helped students hone their academic skills.

By 2001, scores began to improve. Recent data indicates that almost double the percentage (approximately 46 percent) of CTE students qualify to begin college without academic remedial coursework (Ball, 2004).

Table 2 displays data from 1996 through 2004, with numbers and percentages of students fully qualified, those needing remediation in one academic area, or needing remediation in two or more academic areas.

ACT researchers recently stated that only 22 percent of the high school graduates who took the ACT in 2004 achieved scores that would deem them ready for college in all three basic academic areas- English, math and science (ACT, 2004). Based on this information, high school CTE students in southern Idaho surpass the national percentage of college-bound students prepared for non-remedial college placement.

Table 3

Percentage of Tech Prep and Non-Tech Prep Students Completing Algebra I or Algebra II While in High School.

Studies from other areas have obtained similar results. A project sponsored by The U. S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education involved nearly 5,000 career and technical students from eight high school tech prep consortia. This research examined two areas: level of high school math completion and percentage entering college one to three years after high school. The methodology focused on tech prep graduates as a subpopulation within CTE (Brown, 2000).

Results found that the percentage of tech prep students who completed algebra II or above while in high school was similar to the percentage of nontech prep students. Table 3 contains these data.

Results also found that more than 65 percent of tech prep participants enrolled in some form of postsecondary education within three years after graduating from high school. This percentage was similar to the consortia non-tech prep percentage and was in line with percentages from the general population across the United States (NCES, 2003).

Another study conducted in Texas divided students into three sub- groups: Tech prep students, non-tech prep career and technology students, and general population students. This five-year project compared annual attendance rates, dropout rates and graduation rates for each group and included more than 3.4 million high school student records (Bragg, 2001).

Findings indicated that both tech prep participants and career and technical students exhibited higher graduation rates and lower annual dropout rates than the general population group. Additionally, a detailed study of selected ethnic and at-risk sub- groups found that tech prep and career and technology students in each subgroup attained higher graduation rates than the general population group.

Making the Case for CTE

According to U.S. Department of Labor analysts, 85 percent of the jobs available to college and high school graduates now entering the workforce require some type of education beyond high school. Employment in occupations requiring an associate's degree is projected to increase 32 percent faster than any other occupational group categorized by education or training. Seven out of the top 10 education and training categories projected to have faster than average employment growth require a postsecondary vocational or academic award.

Nearly half of all college undergraduates in the United States attend technical or community colleges ("A Look at Two-Year Colleges" Techniques, 1998). The trend for more students to enroll in postsecondary educational programs headed into the sub- baccalaureate labor market will continue well into the next millennium (Copa and Ammentorp, 1998). The expansion of professional- technical education programs will be critical in order to meet growing labor demands.

In considering recent research as well as the needs of business and industry, it becomes obvious that career and technical education is not only vital to the economic prosperity of this country, but also offers students the chance to gain vital technical skills and strong academic preparation. There is strong evidence that CTE students enter college and succeed at rates similar to other students.

Career and technical education contributes directly to the academic success of students. To assume that the goals of NCLB are not promoted through CTE is contrary to fact. If CTE became less available, it would prove counterproductive to the goal of leaving no child behind.

References

ACT. Cr/5/s af the Core: Preparing All Students for College and Work (2004), retrieved September 23, 2003, from www.act.org/news/ releases/2004/04arch.html

"A Look at Two-Year Colleges," (1998, May) Techniques, 73(5) 24- 25

Ball, J. F. (2003), [using college placement test scores to compare the academic performance of high school career and technical and non-career and technical students], unpublished raw data, Idaho State University

Ball, J. F. (2004), [improving college placement test scores for high school career and technical students], unpublished raw data, Idaho State University

Bragg, D. D. (2001), "Promising Outcomes for Tech Prep Participants in Eight Local Consortia: A Summary of Initial Results," National Research Center for Career and Technical Educat\ion, St. Paul, Minnesota: University of Minnesota

Brown, C. H. (2000), "A Comparison of Selected Outcomes of secondary Tech Prep Participants and Non-Participants in Texas," Journal of Vocational Education Research, 25 (3), 55-62

Copa, W. D. & Ammentorp, J. (1998), The Diverted Dream, Oxford University Press, New York, N.Y.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (2003), Digest of Educational Statistics, 2003, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

Preparing America's Future: The secondary and Technical Education Act of 2003: Summary of Major Provisions, (2003, January), U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C.

Scott, J.L., & Sarkees-Wircenski, M. (1996), Overview of Vocation and Applied Technology Education, American Technical Publishers, Homewood, III. (www.go2atp.com)

U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (2003), "Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections," retrieved June 3, 2004, from www.bls.gov

John F. Ball Jr. is chair of the Business and Service Department at Idaho State University College of Technology. He can be reached at balljohn@isu.edu.

Copyright Association for Career & Technical Communications Sep 2005

Source: Techniques

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