Does High School CTE Participation Make a Difference in Predicting Community College Outcomes?

Authors, from left to right: Drs. Cecile Dietrich,
Eric Lichtenberger, and Rosemaliza Kamalludeen

Researchers at Radford University, the Illinois Board of Higher Education and the International Islamic University of Malaysia have published the results of a study entitled “Predicting Community College Outcomes: Does High School CTE Participation Have a Significant Effect?” in the Journal of Career and Technical Education. The authors, Cecile Dietrich, Eric Lichtenberger, and Rosemaliza Mohd Kamalludeen explored the relative importance of participation in high school career and technical education (CTE) programs in predicting community college outcomes using a hierarchical generalized linear model (HGLM).

Results show that even after controlling for various pre-college and environmental factors, community college students who had participated in a high school CTE program were either just as likely or more than likely to attain all of the outcomes measured in the study when compared to students from general curriculum programs. Although high school CTE students who matriculated to community colleges were significantly less likely to transfer to a four-year college with or without a credential as compared with college prep students, they had significantly greater odds of earning an associate’s degree or a certificate.

Dietrich and Lichtenberger, the study’s lead authors, noted that “high school CTE participation may help facilitate goals related to the completion agenda which call for increasing the number of individuals with quality postsecondary credentials.”

Reading/Downloading Full Articles
The full version of this article may be accessed as part of Volume 31, Issue 1 (Winter 2016) of the Journal of Career and Technical Education, available at https://ejournals.lib.vt.edu/JCTE/article/view/1506

Submitting Manuscripts for Publication
To submit manuscripts and preparation guidelines, please visit the JCTE's page at https://ejournals.lib.vt.edu/JCTE/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions

Dual Credit-Course Completion Leads to Success in College

Authors, Dr. L. Allen Phelps and Dr. Hsun-Yu Chan

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have published the results of a study entitled “Optimizing Technical Education Pathways: Does Dual-Credit Course Completion Predict Students’ College and Labor Market Success?” in the 2016 Issue of the Journal of Career and Technical Education (JCTE).

Authors L. Allen Phelps and Hsun-Yu Chan (now at the Texas A&M University-Commerce) explored a variety of student and school level factors associated with student success in CTE program paths featuring dual credit courses.  Looking at the experiences of more than 2,000 students across five years, Phelps noted that, “This is one of the first longitudinal studies of dual credit course taking that has included the labor market effects, as well as important program factors such as the location of the courses and instructor affiliations.”

Based on the results, the authors concluded that after controlling for several high school-level and individual-level factors, hierarchical linear models revealed that dual credit learners attending a technical college, compared to non-dual credit learner attending the same college from the same high schools, had several significantly better outcomes including: college course completion rates, second year retention, three-year graduation rate, as well as earnings in 2012-13.

According to Phelps, “While our findings are limited to an upper Midwest community, they extend and highlight the positive relationship between high school dual credit completion and later college and labor market outcomes. Compared to dual credit courses completed on the college campus, courses offered at the high school and taught by high school career and technical instructors consistently predicted greater levels of college student success and better labor market outcomes.”  Several implications and suggestions for CTE practice, policy and research related to dual credit instruction are offered.

Reading/Downloading Full Articles
The full version of this article may be accessed as part of Volume 31, Issue 1 (2016) of the Journal of Career and Technical Education, available at https://ejournals.lib.vt.edu/JCTE/article/view/1496

Submitting Manuscripts for Publication
To submit manuscripts and preparation guidelines, please visit the JCTE's page at https://ejournals.lib.vt.edu/JCTE/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions

How safe are Agricultural Education programs?

Dr. Mark D. Threeton, Penn
State University

Researchers at Penn State University have published the results of a study entitled “Occupational Safety and Health: A View of Current Practices in Agricultural Education” on the 2015 Issue of the Journal of Career and Technical Education (JCTE).

Authors Mark D. Threeton, John C. Ewing, and Danielle C. Evanoski, sought to explore safety and health practices within secondary Agricultural Mechanics Education. Threeton, the lead author, noted that, "while a multitude of studies have examined safety and health practices within the workforce, few have investigated this topic within Agricultural Education." In this regard, Threeton also reported "there is a need for concern related to occupational safety and health elements within some Agricultural Mechanics programs."

Based on the results, the authors concluded that although the majority of agricultural education programs in the study included a safety program, about of a fourth of programs did not. Further, the authors found that most of the students receive safety training, while a small fraction of teachers do not provide related instruction. Lack of adequate funding and classroom facilities combined with high student enrollment appeared to hinder the implementation of safety programs.

Therefore, Threeton suggested, "the results of this study should be viewed as an initial call to action, which promotes further research and professional development to advance proper occupational safety and health practices within Agricultural Education."

Reading/Downloading Full Articles
The full version of this article may be accessed as part of Volume 30, Issue 1 (Winter 2015) issue of the Journal of Career and Technical Education, available at http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JCTE/v30n1/

Submitting Manuscripts for Publication
To submit manuscripts and preparation guidelines, please visit the JCTE's page at http://cwe-usf-ott.blogspot.com/p/jcte.html