Schools, Careers, and Economies

Abstract

My dissertation adds evidence to three understudied elements of high school and postsecondary career and technical education (CTE). Globalization and technological advancement continue to change the landscape of jobs in the United States. Amidst these changes, education leaders have turned increasingly to CTE to provide routes into locally available jobs. However, while many policy strategies have been undertaken, more research is needed to understand the effectiveness of aligning education programs to the workforce and student responsiveness to these efforts. This dissertation studies the alignment between education sectors and labor markets. My first paper uses a descriptive fixed effects model to test whether the consequential decision of choosing a CTE career pathway in high school is related to local labor market trends. My second paper uses a comparative interrupted time series analysis to investigate alignment between new investments in short-term certificate programs and county labor market trends, establishing a link between postsecondary CTE and regional economic development. For-profit colleges, which have greater tuition costs than public colleges, have traditionally been primary providers of CTE in postsecondary education. Therefore, my third paper tests whether major federal grant program in CTE programs at community colleges changed student decisions to favor public over for-profit colleges. All three articles in the dissertation make use of large-scale administrative data on student educational and employment trajectories over time. These data and methodologies allow me to illuminate previously unstudied trends and outcomes in secondary and postsecondary CTE.