New Jersey Career and Technical Education Partnership Conference Katherine L. Hughes

1. New Jersey Career and Technical Education Partnership Conference Katherine L. Hughes Community College Research Center Teachers College, Columbia University hughes@tc.edu http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu June 4, 2010

2. Problems through the Pipeline • Challenges to high school completion and attainment • Challenges to transition from high school to college • Challenges to persistence and success in college • CTE-focused strategies to address all these challenges

3. Importance of Data Collection and Analysis • Do states and institutions know where the leaks in the pipeline are? from HS to college? from developmental to credit-earning? from credit-earning to program completion? • Importance of disaggregation of data • FL – only state with integrated data system • Other states making progress • Several national initiatives now focused on this issue (Achieving the Dream, Data Quality Campaign)

4. Educational Access and SES Experience by 2000 for HS Class of 1992 Source: NELS

5. High School Completion and Initial Postsecondary Education by SES QuartileEighth Graders in 1988% of each SES quartile that attains each ed. category

6. Students not Prepared for College • Many do not have college level skills • Many students are surprised that they are not prepared for college level work—most developmental ed students are high school graduates • Many HS students have little understanding of college and how to prepare for it

7. Community College Graduation Rates • National Center for Education Statistics—(Student Right to Know)—3 year graduation rates for first time, full-time degree-seeking students • National Average—27.5% • Lowest—Delaware—9.0% • Highest—Wyoming—60.0% • New Jersey—15.7%

8. Three-Year Graduation Rates for Associate Students in 2008 Retrieved from www.higheredinfo.org

9. Community College Student PopulationCompared to Students in BA Programs

10. Race and Ethnicity of CC and BA Students (Fall 2004) Source: IPEDS

11. Incidence of Remediation • 58 percent—at least one course (NELS) • 44 percent—1 to 3 courses (NELS) • 14 percent—more than 3 courses (NELS) • 59 percent—at least one course (ATD)

12. Completed 16% 1 level below Enroll Not completed 6% Pass Not enrolled 7% 2 levels below Enroll Not completed 12% Pass Not enrolled 16% 3 levels below Enroll Not Completed 25% Referred to Lev. 3 46824 Not enrolled 18% In-Order Course Completion and Enrollment for Math Remediation 22% 29% 41% 57% 82%

13. CTE-Focused Strategies • CTE as HS dropout prevention • CTE and contextualized academics • Programs of study (CCTI model) • CTE-focused dual enrollment

14. Findings from the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education Convergent findings from multiple studies (4 studies, 3 data sources): • As participation in CTE courses increases, the graduation rate increases • Ratio 1:2 is optimal Other research has shown that CTE contributes to greater student engagement and lower chance of dropout

15. Contextualized Academics:NRCCTE Math-in-CTE Study • A study to test the possibility that enhancing the embedded mathematics in CTE coursework will build skills in this critical academic area without reducing technical skill development. • Students in the experimental classes scored significantly higher on Terra Nova and Accuplacer • No negative effect on technical skills • 11% of class time devoted to enhanced math lessons

16. Building CTE Pathways:Tech PrepNAVE Findings: • Only 47 percent of all high schools in 2000 reported offering something they call “Tech-Prep.” • The set of activities pointed to as evidence of Tech-Prep are quite modest in many schools, and some preceded federal support for Tech-Prep. • A highly structured form of Tech-Prep is rarely found in U.S.high schools (10%) • Tech-Prep is largely viewed as an effort to upgrade secondary vocational education; it has little impact on postsecondary courses. • Research on TP students finds mixed outcomes

17. Articulation Agreements: The cornerstone of Tech Prep • Course-to-course articulation rather than program articulation (Not the vision in legislation) • Few Tech-Prep students receive articulated college credit. • However, articulation efforts have (1) stimulated communication between secondary and postsecondary vocational faculty and (2) improved the rigor and consistency of some secondary vocational curricula, by encouraging high schools to adopt college curricula and instructional materials as proof of course equivalency

18. No Progress in PS Settings • Tech-Prep is largely viewed as an effort to upgrade secondary vocational education; it has little impact on postsecondary courses. • Tech-Prep has little impact on college curricula and services. • Relatively few postsecondary institutions have offered new courses for students entering with Tech-Prep experience or modified other courses • No data are available about the proportion of students who complete a two-plus two program or the benefits of doing so.

19. New Way: Career Pathways A career pathway is a coherent, articulated sequence of rigorous academic and career courses, commencing in the ninth grade and leading to an associate degree, an industry-recognized certificate or licensure, or a baccalaureate degree and beyond. A career pathway is developed, implemented, and maintained in partnership among secondary and postsecondary education, business, and employers. Career pathways are available to all students, including adult learners, and are designed to lead to rewarding careers. --CCTI, 2005

20. Perkins IV What is a Program of Study/Pathway? • Incorporate and align secondary and postsecondary education • Include academic & CTE content in a coordinated, non-duplicative progression of courses • May include the opportunity for secondary students to acquire postsecondary credits • Lead to an industry-recognized credential or certificate at the postsecondary level, or an associate or baccalaureate degree

21. Funded by the U. S. Department of Education (V051B020001) CCTI Career Pathways Template Rigorous Academics CTE for all Dual Enrollment Early Assessment in H.S.

23. Dual Enrollment • Replace traditional Tech Prep articulated credit with dual enrollment • Growing consensus that dual enrollment is preferable • Credit is immediately transcripted • Students are enrolled directly in the college • May still have difficulty transferring credit, but no more so than any other transfer student • Offering dual enrollment on a college campus also ensures that students have access to the most up-to-date technical equipment • Some Tech Prep programs are replacing articulated credit with dual enrollment

24. Dual Enrollment • Allows high school students to enroll in college courses while still in high school • May or may not be for dual credit • Participation (NCES): • At 71 percent of public high schools, students took courses for dual credit • 51 percent of colleges had high school students enrolled in college courses • Over 800,000 high school students took a college course • About one-third of dual enrollments are in CTE courses • Participation appears to be increasing rapidly with expansion targeted to a broader range of students

25. Why dual enrollment? • Growing importance of postsecondary education • Particularly for disadvantaged students, dual enrollment may: • Increase motivation through high expectations • Decrease remediation; prepare students academically • Increase student engagement by exposure to the college environment • Encourage students to pursue postsecondary education • Provide information about skills for college success

26. Policy for Dual Enrollment • Most states had some DE policy • Most common aspects addressed are funding and student admissions • Least common aspects addressed are those of program structure, such as location, program intensity or model, or course content

27. Challenges to increasing student access to Dual Enrollment • Funding issues • College faculty resistance (don’t want to teach HS students; worried about the integrity of college courses) • High school resistance • Different structures and cultures within high schools and colleges

28. What do we know about outcomes? • New CCRC analyses of dual enrollment outcomes in Florida and New York City • With controls for student and school characteristics • Florida: All dual enrollment participants and subsample of those in CTE fields • NYC College Now program: Dual enrollment participants from CTE high schools • Also looked at subgroups of students such as low-SES and male students

29. Florida Findings • Dual enrollment participation positively related to: • Students’ likelihood of earning a HS diploma • Enrolling in college, and enrolling full-time • Persistence to the second semester of college • Higher GPAs one year after HS graduation • Remaining enrolled in college two years after HS graduation • More credits earned three years after HS graduation

30. NYC Findings • Dual enrollment participation positively related to: • Pursuit of a bachelor’s degree • 1st semester GPA • More credits earned 3.5 years after HS graduation

31. Findings for Florida Subgroups • Male and low-income students benefited more from dual enrollment participation than their peers

32. We Know that CTE Pays: WA “tipping point study” found that at least 1 year of postsec education + credential gives future earnings bump: • = $9,500 more per year for an ABE student • = $5,250 and $2,700 more per year (respectively) for workforce students entering with a GED or HS diploma only

33. Jacobson & Mokher FL Study • Large earnings differences associated with being a CTE concentrator versus an academic concentrator • Postsecondary CTE concentrators earn about $6000 more at the AA level • Postsecondary CTE concentrators have higher earnings in part because they held higher-paying jobs prior to and while attending college

34. Thanks to… Laurance J. Warford CCTI Project Director warford@league.org www.league.org/ccti James Stone james.stone@nrccte.org www.nrccte.org

35. For more information: Please visit us on the web at http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu, where you can download presentations, reports, CCRC Briefs, and sign-up for news announcements. Community College Research Center Institute on Education and the Economy, Teachers College, Columbia University 525 West 120th Street, Box 174, New York, NY 10027 E-mail: ccrc@columbia.edu Telephone: 212.678.3091 CCRC is funded in part by: Alfred P. Sloan foundation, Lumina Foundation for Education, The Ford Foundation National Science Foundation (NSF), Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education