Three Essays on Career and Technical Education

Abstract

High school Career and Technical Education (CTE) has received an increase in attention from both policymakers and researchers in recent years. This dissertation examines three underexamined areas of interest to researchers and policymakers in order to inform future work in the field. The first chapter fills a needed gap in the growing research base by examining heterogeneity within the wide range of programs falling under the broader CTE umbrella, and highlights the need for greater nuance in research and policy conversations that often consider CTE as monolithic. This chapter examines multiple possible outcomes, including earnings, postsecondary education, and poverty avoidance, finding substantial differences in outcomes for students in fields as diverse as healthcare, IT, and construction. The second chapter seeks to better understand the extent to which CTE is associated with trade-offs within students’ high school curricula, by examining which courses students do not take in order to make time in their schedules for CTE courses, paying special attention to how curricular trade-offs may occur differently among different student populations given the legacy of tracking as a long-employed mechanism for reducing opportunity. The third chapter uses a survey-based experiment to examine how the ways that policymakers talk about CTE may impact public support for CTE-related policies. Using respondents from an online marketplace, results indicate widespread descriptive support for CTE, evidence suggesting that CTE may see more support as a public policy when framed through a workforce development lens. Together, these chapters offer insights for researchers and policymakers seeking to better understand underexplored questions about CTE, and to inform future policy conversations about CTE.