Panel:
Innovations in Career and Technical Education Policies and Their Impacts on Student Outcomes
(Education)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
Research and policy interest in career and technical education (CTE) as a mechanism to improve student outcomes and prepare students for the workforce has grown over the last decade. Policy innovations and changes in program offerings have outstripped evidence of efficacy, in an area of education research that is already thin on causal evidence. What evidence does exist utilizes data (e.g. Bishop & Mane 2006; Kemple & Willner 2008; Neumark & Rothstein 2006) that is more than a decade old and may no longer represent the current state of CTE programs and offerings. In this panel, the four papers tackle policy changes or opportunities for quasi-experimental estimation of impacts of high school based CTE programs and training. Together, these papers provide evidence of impact across three states and address how funding changes (Michigan and California), credential receipt (Michigan), and access to specialized schools for CTE (Connecticut) effect student learning and transition to the labor market. Each paper highlights important dimensions of heterogeneity of program impact that should support the creation or modification of related programs and policies.
