Approximately 7.8 million secondary students and 3.3 million postsecondary students are enrolled in career and technical education (CTE), which is supported by roughly $1.4 billion in federal investments. CTE provides students with academic knowledge and technical and employability skills that prepare them for career fields and credentials. CTE also is increasingly seen as an opportunity to strengthen the connection and coherence among K–12 education, postsecondary education, and workforce development efforts.

More rigorous research is needed, however, to understand the effects of CTE on student outcomes. To expand the evidence base, the CTE Research Network, launched in 2018, brought together six research teams to work on major projects studying the impact of CTE. These teams participated in collaborative network activities to share findings, strengthen their research, and learn from one another.

Read about the positive impacts of the Connecticut Technical High School System on male students’ outcomes >>

Read about North Carolina’s CTE dual enrollment pathways and their positive impacts on high school and college outcomes >>

The CTE Research Network 2.0 builds on the momentum of the original CTE Research Network to foster a learning community of CTE researchers and move the CTE field forward by conducting and expanding the use of rigorous research focused on CTE. With an enhanced focus on equity, the network will continue to provide information in a variety of ways to the CTE field about what works, for whom, where, and why.

The CTE Research Network 2.0 conducts its own research, serves as a clearinghouse of high-quality CTE research and resources, and provides training to strength the capacity of the field to conduct and use rigorous CTE research.

Visit the CTE Research Network 2.0 and read about the six new impact studies being conducted in Washington, DC; Baltimore; Chicago; Los Angeles; Delaware; and Florida’s Leon County Schools >>

What We Know About the Impact of Career and Technical Education

In a systematic review of 20 years of research literature on CTE, the first CTE Research Network found that CTE has statistically significant positive impacts on several high school outcomes, such as students’ academic achievement, high school completion, employability skills, and college readiness. There is no impact on student discipline or attendance. Compared to similar students who do not take CTE, those who do are more likely to enroll in 2-year colleges but are equally likely to enroll in 4-year college or progress in college. The studies did not provide evidence regarding college degree completion.

Those who take CTE courses in high school are also more likely than those who did not take CTE courses to be employed after high school. CTE course-takers had similar earnings as those who did not take CTE.

Explore the results of this systemic review of the research:

• What We Know About the Impact of Career and Technical Education: A Systemic Review of the Research – Full Report
• What We Know About the Impact of Career and Technical Education: A Systemic Review of the Research – Two-Page Abstract and Evidence Gap Map

Learn more about the systemic review >>

Work-Based Learning Data Collection Systems

To inform and encourage expanded data collection on CTE programs with work-based learning (WBL) opportunities, a cross-Network research team involved in the first CTE Research Network documented promising practices and innovations in six school districts that have gone beyond typical data collection and use for work-based learning. Such data have great value not only for researchers, but also for practitioners in managing and improving their programs.

The research team found that profiled districts faced similar challenges in collecting WBL data but employed different strategies to address them. For example, while some districts enhanced their WBL data collection by developing their own data systems, others opted for third-party solutions, reflecting differing priorities and resources. Researchers also noted a variety in stakeholder involvement in data entry and monitoring—from limited access to broad participation of students, teachers, and employers—which further illustrates the complexity of these systems.

District leaders may use this report to examine ways in which local policies and data collection efforts drive local WBL implementation, monitoring, and improvements. The findings also have implications for state leaders who are adding WBL to their longitudinal data systems and accountability models with local policies, practices, and constraints to consider.

Key findings and recommendations:

• Future WBL research can draw on district-level data on the overall student WBL experience and feedback from student and employer perspectives.
• Districts can provide critical data about the completeness, feasibility, and usefulness of WBL data systems.
• Districts have indicated that they need resources to support technology and staff training for more robust data collection, as well as the staff time to support WBL programs and data collection. Gathering information from the local level about the time and effort required for data collection, as well as the current method of capturing data, would be useful in the design of compatible, feasible state data systems.
• States can support districts by helping them vet and select technology tools that work for them.

Read about the data collection systems >>

Practitioner Training Modules

As part of its training mission, the Network has developed research training modules designed for CTE practitioners and state agency staff. The six, self-guided modules can strengthen CTE professionals’ capacity to access, understand, and use CTE data and research as well as conduct their own research.