Learning for the Future, Building From the Past: An Evaluation of a Texas Career and Technical Education Program

Abstract

The Capstone Independent School District (CISD)1 serves approximately 12,000 students living in communities ranging from suburban to vast rural densities covering nearly 450 square miles. The school district has two comprehensive high schools, an early college high school, and a non-traditional online high school. CISD currently offers a Career and Technical Education (CTE) program that is open to all students. The expected growth of the town contributes to the increased focus and appreciation for the benefits of CTE for students in the CISD because of the increased employment opportunities across a number of sectors. Over the past five years, the CISD CTE program has produced a participation rate of 70% of students in grades 9-12. However, the career pathway student completion rate has been approximately 35%. The CISD district leadership would like to understand the factors influencing these trends and adopt new strategies designed to achieve a higher completion rate. We set out to conduct a program evaluation to identify the factors that shape students’ decisions to enroll in CTE; persist (or not) in the CTE program; and to describe the conditions and contexts that support students’ personal, academic, and career goals. Our research focused on answering the following questions. 1. To what extent are students who enroll in a CTE Pathway their freshman (1st) year completing that CTE Pathway in their 4th year? 2. What factors influence a student’s decision to enroll in a CTE course and/or CTE pathway? 3. What factors influence departure from or completion of a CTE pathway? 4. What benefits do students gain from participating in the CTE program? 1 The pseudonym Capstone Independent School District is used to maintain confidentiality of our research site. Names of the town and high schools have also been changed to maintain confidentiality. 2 This report details our process for gathering data and analyzing data using a mixed-method approach. The quantitative data gathered from district data and student and teacher surveys helped us understand the factors that influence a student’s decision to enroll and persist in a CTE pathway and to investigate the benefits that students gain from participating in the CTE program. Qualitative data from interviews with students, teachers, and staff was analyzed to unpack students' experiences in the CTE program in a deep and complete manner. We planned for our work to assist the CISD CTE leadership team to make adjustments to their program that will improve student completion rates, increase the “post high school credentialing for all” mission, and meet the goals the district has articulated. The following recommendations are discussed in more detail in our repor