Data and Research Archives

IES Announces Availability of CTE Research Grants

In late May, the National Center for Education Research within the national Institute of Education Sciences (IES) released a funding announcement for Fiscal Year 2025 research grant competitions.

Education Research Grants through IES are designed to “expand the understanding of what works for whom, in what context, and why to provide reliable information about how to improve education outcomes for learners at all levels, including early childhood, elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and adult education.” Grants of up to $4 million are available to researchers in 11 different topic areas, including CTE. The CTE topic area is designed to support research on the implementation and effects of CTE programs and policies on students’ education and workforce outcomes. Specific topics mentioned in the research description include work-based learning, middle school CTE programs, and CTE teacher recruitment and retention and the impact on learner outcomes. Research looking at longer-term outcomes, such as college completion and earnings is also a priority. Applications for these grants are due September 12, 2024.

Those interested in applying for these research grants can access virtual office hours hosted by the National Center for Education Research. To learn more, visit https://ies.ed.gov/funding/technicalassistance.asp or reach out to the CTE program officer, Dr. Corinne Alfeld, at Corinne.Alfeld@ed.gov. More information about IES grants overall can be found at https://ies.ed.gov/funding/.

NCES Highlights CTE in 2024 Condition of Education Report

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has published its annually mandated Condition of Education report, which presents key indicators on the status of education at all levels throughout the country. This year the report includes a special highlight section about CTE. Findings and insights are below.

Staffing challenges and qualifications of CTE teachers

Data from academic year 2020-21 demonstrates challenges in hiring for open CTE teaching positions across the United States. During the first full school year of the COVID-19 pandemic, 31% of public schools with open teaching positions in CTE reported having difficulties with or being unable to fill CTE instructor roles. This percentage was higher than for many other subject areas.

CTE teachers were the most likely of all grades 9-12 public school instructors to be newer to the profession, with 10% having less than three years of teaching experience. In addition, 29% had three to nine years of experience, 36% had 10 to 20 years of experience and 25% had over 20 years of experience.

13% of CTE teachers had less than a bachelor’s degree as their highest degree (compared to 2% of teachers overall), 44% had a master’s degree as their highest degree (vs. 54% overall) and 6% of CTE teachers had an education specialist degree as their highest degree (vs. 8% overall). The percentage of CTE teachers with a bachelor’s degree as their highest degree (35%) was similar to the percentage of public school teachers overall.

Participation in CTE during school

This next set of data points looked at CTE course participation and completion among 2019 high school graduates.

85% of high school graduates earned at least one Carnegie credit, with information technology (29%), human services (28%) and business and marketing (21%) having the highest participation.

Participation in CTE was higher among young men, with 87% having earned at least one Carnegie credit in comparison to 82% of young women.

CTE participation was highest among students from rural areas (92%) and towns (91%) in comparison to students from suburban areas (83%) and cities (80%).

Asian American learners had the lowest participation rate (77%), with American Indian/Alaska Native (87%), Black (86%) and white (86%) students participating at the highest rates.

Trends in CTE degree and certificate completion

This section of the report looked at the completion levels of subbaccalaureate CTE programs at the certificate or associate degree levels in school year 2021-22.

Subbaccalaureate certificates:

More than 888,000 CTE-focused subbaccalaureate certificates were conferred, with health sciences (30%) and manufacturing, construction, repair and transportation (21%) being the top fields.

Four CTE fields of study — agriculture and natural resources, computer and information sciences, education, and business and marketing — saw increases of more than 50% in certificates awarded between 2011-12 and 2021-22. In contrast, there was a 35% decrease in health science certificates awarded during this time frame. Health sciences remained the most common program area for CTE certificates awarded despite this drop.

Associate degrees:

More than 499,000 CTE-focused associate degrees were conferred, with health sciences (36%) and business and marketing (21%) being the most prevalent fields of study.

Public, legal and social services; protective services; engineering, architecture and science technologies; and consumer services all experienced decreases of more than 20% in certificates awarded between 2011-12 and 2021-22. In contrast, agriculture and natural resources; communications and communications technologies; and manufacturing, construction, repair and transportation saw increases in the same time range.

Postsecondary pathways of public school CTE concentrators

This section provided insights about the postsecondary and workforce outcomes of CTE concentrators — defined as individuals who earned two or more credits in the same CTE area during high school — who graduated high school in 2013. By June 2021, eight years after high school graduation, 80% of secondary CTE concentrator graduates had ever enrolled in postsecondary education.

CTE concentrators and non-concentrators enrolled in postsecondary education had similar rates of credential attainment. However, more CTE concentrators (14%) than non-concentrators (9%) received an associate degree as their highest postsecondary award, while non-concentrators (54%) were more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree as their highest credential than CTE concentrators (48%).

More CTE concentrators (74%) than non-concentrators (64%) who earned any postsecondary degree or certificate earned their highest award in a CTE field of study. About 27% of these CTE concentrators earned their award in the same field as their high school concentration, most prevalently with public services (54%) and health care (44%).

Opportunity to Respond to the National Career Clusters® Framework Validation Survey

Over the last year, Advance CTE, the organization representing CTE state leaders, has been working on a process to modernize their National Career Clusters® Framework. After a year of input, research and development, and testing with business and industry leaders and CTE professionals, a draft modernized National Career Clusters® Framework was released by Advance CTE last week. The draft Framework is now public for validation from leaders, educators, industry professionals, and connected partners in the CTE community. Your voice is needed!

The National Validation Survey — open now through July 7 — is your opportunity to weigh in on the draft modernized Framework. It is the last opportunity before a final Framework is released later this year to ensure the design reflects the changes that have taken place in the world of work and across industry sectors and meets students’ needs. You also can share evidence to support any further suggested changes you make. We encourage as many CTE educators and leaders as possible to participate in the survey.

Visit the survey to view the draft Framework and watch an introductory video and webinar prior to responding. More information can be found on Advance CTE’s Advancing the Framework webpage.

DC Digest June 3-7

This week, Congress was back in full swing. The House began their process of bringing all 12 Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 appropriations bills to the floor before the August recess. The first bill on the docket was the Military Construction-VA spending bill, which passed in a 209-197 vote. Next week, their attention will turn to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The Administration continued to share important resources and opportunities, and the Department of Education published their “Report on the Condition of Education.” Keep reading for more!

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Announces Hearing on Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA): The Senate HELP Committee announced a hearing “The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act: Supporting Efforts to Meet the Needs of Youth, Workers, and Employers” for June 12. Keep an eye on ACTE’s social media for updates (@ACTEpolicy on X)!
Report on the Condition of Education: The Department of Education published their annual Report on the Condition of Education. This report featured new data and insights on CTE enrollment and outcomes as well as CTE teacher research. We will have more analysis soon!
Department of Education Hosts “Unlocking Career Success” Summit: The Department of Education held an “Unlocking Employer Pathways Summit” on June 3 as part of their Raise the Bar Initiative. This event featured speakers who highlighted different ways to engage business leaders in preparing the workforce, and prioritized collaboration between education and industry leaders.
Department of Education Published FAFSA Update: The Department of Education published an announcement sharing that over 1.8 million FAFSA corrections have been successfully processed. This is following Secretary Cardona’s commitment to continue to thoroughly improve FAFSA for the next school year.
Department of Education Releases Grants for Postsecondary Students’ Basic Needs: Applications are due August 5 from postsecondary institutions seeking funding to create programs that address the basic needs of students and to report on practices that improve outcomes for students. The grant announcement contains further details.
Department of Labor Shares Resources on the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA): The Department of Labor published resources intended to facilitate collaboration and co-enrollment across WIOA Title 1 – Youth, Adult and Dislocated Worker programs and Title IV – Vocational Rehabilitation.
Department of Labor Announces Webinar on Rural Workforce Outreach: The Department of Labor is hosting a webinar on June 18 to discuss outreach and opportunities to connect workers and employers in rural communities to workforce systems.
Department of Labor Highlights Organizations Advancing Workforce Development for LGBTQ+ Community: The Department of Labor shared a list of organizations that work on initiatives that support the LGBTQ+ community with workforce development opportunities, including skills training, leadership development and employment opportunities.

Updated Resource: Financial Services Sector Sheet

Today ACTE published CTE: Developing the Financial Services Workforce as part of our revamped series of Sector Sheets describing CTE’s role in growing the workforce for vital industry sectors. The Sector Sheet series is published with support from ACTE’s long-time partner Pearson.

This Sector Sheet describes how CTE supports the financial services workforce, which employs more than 7.2 million people nationwide. It also shares information on occupations, earnings and credentials that enable individuals to succeed in accounting and business finance, securities and investments, and insurance.

In addition, the Sector Sheet demonstrates the importance of CTE in developing this workforce by describing how CTE prepares learners through courses, industry credentials, work-based learning, career and technical student organizations and more.

Both the newer and older Sector Sheets are available on the ACTE Sector Sheet webpage for download and use. We encourage you to share these tools with students, families, counselors, policymakers and others to spread the message about CTE and its benefits for learners and the workforce.

Research Roundup: Neurodiversity in the Workplace, Student Financial Aid Eligibility and Guided Pathways

Embracing Neurodiversity at Work, Unleashing America’s Largest Untapped Talent Pool: In the face of the growing workforce challenges facing the U.S. economy, the American Enterprise Institute has published a report that advances the understanding of the opportunities and challenges of building environments that empower neurodivergent workers’ strengths and needs. Researchers estimate there could be as many as 67 million neurodivergent Americans across the U.S. and that the unemployment rate for neurodivergent adults is 30% to 40%, roughly eight times the rate for individuals without disabilities.

More findings below:

One in 36 American adults (2.8%) have autism spectrum disorder (ASD), one in 22 American adults (4.6%) have ADHD, and between 3% and 7% of Americans have dyslexia.
Some estimate that the unemployment rate for workers with ASD is 85% and underemployment is also a significant problem. However, 60% of adults with ASD who receive vocational rehabilitation services gain employment.
The number of neurodivergent job candidates is growing, with approximately 700,000 to 1 million ASD youth turning 18 by the end of this decade, nearly double the rate that experts previously expected.
Employers are reporting shifts to skills-based hiring practices because of difficulties in filling open positions, an approach that may elevate performance on job-relevant skills above performance in job interviews and related social situations.

The authors recommend, among other actions, supporting education-to-career pathways for neurodivergent individuals and investing in and improving workforce development and job training and coaching programs.

Who Deserves State Financial Aid? Eligibility Criteria for Students Entering College: The Education Trust recently published a report that explores the state financial aid funding profiles of 10 states across the nation to shed light on the status quo for equitable access to postsecondary education. Researchers found that since 2008, state funding for public two- and four-year colleges and universities experienced a deficit of $6.6 billion when adjusting for inflation, leading to rising prices for students and families.

Among the recommendations from the report is to make state financial aid available to students attending postsecondary institutions less than full time.

While the publication does not address program length, another option for increasing access for learners is to expand Pell grants to cover the costs of high-quality, short-term education programs to help more Americans earn credentials, enter the workforce or begin new careers. These programs are offered by postsecondary institutions, can be for-credit and non-credit, are in demand and can lead to high-skill, high-wage careers. Click here to learn more.

Guided Pathways Practices and Early Academic Success in Three States: A recently published Community College Research Center study examined the guided pathway practices of 62 community and technical colleges across Tennessee, Ohio and Washington to explore whether the implementation of guided pathways is associated with improvements in student outcomes. The study found that in the four years after statewide adoption, Tennessee students earned between 1.6 and 4.6 more college-level credits.

More findings from each state below:

CTE program maps are associated with an increase in fall-to-fall persistence rates (OH), college-level math credits earned in the first year (OH), and college-level STEM credits earned in the first year (WA).
Program-specific math sequences, mandatory advising and progress monitoring are positively associated with college-level math credits earned in the first year (OH).
Practices related to helping students get on a program path are positively associated with fall-to-fall persistence (WA).
Practices that organize paths to student goals and keep students on a path to completion are associated with improved credit attainment (TN).

Opportunities to Contribute to Career Clusters® Framework Revisions

In late 2022, Advance CTE, who holds the registered trademark for the current 16 national Career Clusters^®, embarked on an extensive initiative to update and revise the National Career Clusters Framework to reflect the modern workforce.

As the revision process progresses, Advance CTE recently announced that they will be hosting a webinar on June 6 to provide a “first look” at a draft revised Framework. If you are interested in attending to learn more, you can register at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WHN6-w-JQGWeQVi6BwiZnQ#/registration.

In addition, after the webinar, a National Validation Survey will be distributed to allow detailed feedback on the draft Framework. You can sign up for an invitation to participate in the survey, as well as to receive other updates, at https://careertech.org/contact-us/.

More information on the Career Clusters revision process, including progress to date, fact sheets, frequently asked questions and more can be found at https://careertech.org/what-we-do/career-clusters/advancing-the-framework/.

Gen Z’s Participation in CTE

Several recent articles have highlighted the growing interest among “Gen Z” youth and young adults in CTE-related careers. Generation Z is generally used to refer to individuals born roughly between 1997 and 2012 (with some debate on specifics), so currently covers individuals from middle school through young adulthood – many of whom are choosing to enroll in CTE programs.

The coverage of the changing interests of this generation emphasizes that there are significant labor shortages in skilled trades, including fields such as manufacturing, welding and construction. While many have debated how to fill these gaps and solve this issue, Generation Z has been showing an increased interest and participation in skilled trades programs and migrating away from four-year pathways.

Data is starting to support this trend as well. Enrollment in community colleges with a high CTE-program focus increased 16% from 2022 to 2023, as noted by the National Student Clearinghouse. In addition to this, 54% of Gen Z surveyed by New America have stated they believe a high school diploma is enough to secure a sustainable and lasting job upon completion. While in most cases, some postsecondary education is actually needed for careers with family-sustaining wages, this exemplifies the perception of today’s students. This shift is not only evident in how Gen Z pursues education, but even in the labor market in fields such as carpentry and HVAC maintenance, where Axios suggests that the median age of workers is younger than it has been in past decades.

The rising costs of postsecondary education, impact of the pandemic, rising student loan debt and high wages for many skilled trade workers are all mentioned as potential contributors to this shift.

In a podcast recorded for the Wall Street Journal, reporter Te-Ping Chen noted that some of the primary reasons that younger people might be gravitating toward skilled trades are compensation and security. Wages in the skilled trades are increasing; the median pay for new hires in the construction industry is around $48,000 compared to $39,000 for new hires in professional services.

Additionally, student loan debt has been a nationwide conversation of late, given the efforts of the Biden Administration to pass legislation to offer borrowers forgiveness of up to $20,000. This was followed by a new proposed forgiveness plan after the Supreme Court rejected the original proposal. The new student loan forgiveness plan would only apply to borrowers who entered repayment 20-25 years ago, but the conversation has elevated discourse in this area and gotten the attention of Gen Z learners. CTE programs and career training pathways such as apprenticeships often leave students with substantially less student debt, making it financially attractive for youth just beginning their careers.

Chen, alongside NPR contributor Windsor Johnston, also pointed out that there is much less concern with skilled trades professions being compromised by evolving technology such as AI. Rather, new technologies are introduced in these fields to increase appeal toward younger generations.

Gen Z is gravitating toward the skilled trades at a rate that will significantly impact the future of these industries as the demographics of workers shift, and as the nature and public perception of these jobs evolve as well. The perception shift also has the potential to significantly impact CTE program enrollment and demand, and policymakers will need to ensure the education and workforce systems have the capacity to meet the needs of all students.

Research Roundup: Adult Education Data, Postsecondary Career Pathway Success and Rural Two-year College Industry Partnerships

Expanding the Role of the Four-year Institution for Seamless Success in Career Pathways: Advance CTE has published a brief that discusses the challenges facing postsecondary administrators in their efforts to ensure that learners seamlessly transition across two-and four-year institutions while also highlighting strategies at the state and local levels to overcome these challenges. Researchers discovered that approximately 80% of community college learners have the desire to transfer to a four-year college but only 33% of these earners end up completing a transfer.

Strategies and recommendations for policymakers and administrators are described below:

Implement a regulated and uniform course numbering system to provide learners a clear understanding of courses that match between and across institutions.
Ensure statewide guaranteed transfers of associate degrees to allow learners with this credential to receive all their credits and junior standing upon transferring.
Collect and report disaggregated data to support four-year institutions in making more informed decisions.
Incorporate learner voices into decision-making processes to better understand unique challenges and support student academic success.

One of the states highlighted in the report is Colorado, which is one of eight states across the nation that has all four of the ideal policies — reverse transfer, common course numbering, transferrable core courses and guaranteed transfer — named in the report. However, the state did not stop there in its efforts to support learners with initiatives such as the Bridge to Bachelor’s Degree Program saving students an average of $10,000 in expenses.

Adult Education Performance Reports: The U.S. Department of Education has released 2022-23 data for the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA). National AEFLA program year (PY) 2022-23 key metrics and insights are shared below:

PY 2022-23 saw over 1.1 million enrollees for an annual increase of 22%, representing the largest consecutive growth of all WIOA core programs combined.
Over 290,000 new youth participants ages 16-24 enrolled in PY 2022-23, which is twice the number participating in WIOA Title I Youth Programs.
Enrollment for groups such as migrant/seasonal workers, low-income individuals, and youth experiencing homelessness or who have left home all increased in comparison to PY 2021-22 levels, with enrollment in corrections education growing by 16%.
National performance went up across the board, with the largest rise coming from the Median Earnings during the Second Quarter after Exit indicator at a 9.1% increase.

How Rural Community College-Industry Partnerships Help Communities Thrive: A recently published National Skills Coalition report highlights the benefits that rural community college-industry partnerships bring to learners, employers and the economic prosperity of rural communities.

The report explores the diversity of rural communities, sharing that agriculture and mining make up less than 10% of rural jobs across the nation, with service and manufacturing jobs and small businesses playing major roles in the rural workforce. In addition, clean energy jobs represent a larger proportion of jobs available in rural areas than in urban centers and are growing at a faster rate.

Researchers interviewed 10 community college administrators and 13 issue-area experts across the nation who highlighted successful cases such as Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, which has eliminated silos between credit and noncredit programs and reorganized itself into eight schools organized by industry sector.

Key factors for success and scalable solutions include the following:

Bridge siloes across systems and industries to prioritize student experiences and adapt to employer needs.
Design industry partnership programs that help underrepresented learners build the skills and competencies required for good jobs and that lead to quality credentials.
Invest in direct student financial aid to support learner access to postsecondary pathways and careers with local employers.
Engage postsecondary administrators, teachers, industry, parents and students directly in the implementation process to allow them to share their nuanced understanding of potential solutions to the issues facing rural institutions.

Updated Resource: Arts, Media and Entertainment Sector Sheet

Today ACTE published CTE: Developing the Arts, Media and Entertainment Workforce as part of our revamped series of Sector Sheets describing CTE’s role in growing the workforce for vital industry sectors. The Sector Sheet series is published with support from ACTE’s long-time partner Pearson.

This Sector Sheet describes how CTE supports the arts, media and entertainment workforce, which employs about 3 million people nationwide. It also shares information on occupations, earnings and credentials that enable individuals to succeed in the animation, game design and visual effects; performance, music and live entertainment; and media production sub-sectors.