JVER v29n3 - Career and Technical Education in the Late 1990s: A Descriptive Study

Career and Technical Education in the Late 1990s:
A Descriptive Study

James R. Stone III
Brenda J. Kowske
Corinne Alfeld
National Research Center for Career and Technical Education
University of Minnesota

Abstract

We examined the prevalence of specific career and technical education (CTE) programs and activities in American high schools in the late 1990s, following a decade of education reform. We also examined the extent to which CTE-oriented professional development is available to school staff and explored the other kinds of supports offered in schools to facilitate career and technical education. School Survey data from 1996 and 2000 from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 showed CTE programs were created or strengthened in the early 1990s, most notably in the areas of business and technology. School administrators perceived that CTE enrollment (a) increased during the 1990s due to the availability of these programs, and (b) were not affected by changes in graduation requirements. We also found that most schools offered more career development programs than work-based learning or specific CTE activities. We concluded that CTE has made significant strides in the 1990.

Introduction

Our purpose in this paper was to address the prevalence of specific career and technical education (CTE) programs and activities in American high schools in the late 1990s. We also examined the prevalence of support offered in schools to facilitate CTE activities, including CTE-oriented professional development. Our analyses follow a decade of school reform, and we particularly focused on the effects of the federal legislation aimed at revamping CTE nationwide— the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act of 1990 or Perkins II; the School-to- Work Opportunities Act or STWOA; and the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act Amendments of 1998 or Perkins III—and the reforms introduced by states in their school systems. Most prior studies preceded the 1990s reforms and thus the current analysis is needed about offerings of CTE programs and activities in schools. Using data collected through surveys with school administrators within the general framework of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) we examined how those reforms played out in schools.

Federal school reform legislation introduced significant changes to the policies and systems in place in 1990, which were a shift from the historical approach of targeting the support of specific areas of labor market preparation, general occupational preparation, and family and consumer sciences. The most recent policy wave of the 1990s put less emphasis on specific programs and more on reform and accountability (Perkins II), strengthened the requirements for accountability (Perkins III), and influenced the creation of more transparent and viable systems of workforce development (STWOA).

Within this framework, many changes were introduced in CTE, including curriculum integration, career pathways, secondary-postsecondary articulation, dual enrollment, career academies, tech prep, and a greater emphasis on work-based learning activities.

Concurrent with these career and technical education reform efforts, a general movement emerged to increase the amount of traditional academic coursework taken by all high school students. Spurred by reports such as A Nation at Risk ( Gardner, 1983 ), schools, government and other stakeholders sought to cure the perception of a poorly performing education system with a prescription for increasing the number of rigorous academic courses required for all students. In response, states began to increase the amount of traditional academic coursework required for graduation. The average number of credits required to graduate from high school increased from approximately 22 in 1982 to 26 in 2000. Despite this concerted effort to increase academic performance, standardized academic test scores in math, science and reading for 17 year olds, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, have remained flat since the 1970s ( Castellano, Stringfield, & Stone, 2001 ).

The objective of this research is to develop a benchmark profile of CTE and related activities in American high schools in the year 2000. This is an important time for such an analysis as it follows an intensive period of education reform and precedes the advent of perhaps the most encompassing federal intervention in public schools known as No Child Left Behind (Public Law No. 107-110, 2001). We provide descriptive data detailing school offerings, program participation and CTE-oriented professional development using school data available from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97).

School to Work Reforms

In the early 1990s, the U.S. school-to-work system was mainly made of ad hoc arrangements between schools and businesses, and school-to-work programs had a tendency to differentiate college-bound and career and technically oriented students ( Bailey & Merritt, 1993 ). In 1993, the U. S. General Accounting Office (GAO) reported that many states had begun to build school-to-work systems, but only two states had established joint state-business-labor bodies: Oregon and Wisconsin. According to Bailey and Merritt (1993) , the level of employer involvement across the nation was not enough to support a comprehensive career transitions. Certification programs were maintained on a school-by-school basis, resulting not only in a lack of solidarity amongst school-to-work programs but also in a lack of recognition from industry.

The CTE and STW reform legislation introduced in the 1990s consisted in sum of two main components. It introduced program changes as well as system changes to link school and work. The following are descriptors of specific programs or pedagogies that relate to, and resulted from, these reforms of the past decade.

Curriculum Integration

Changes in this area aimed at integrating and contextualizing curricula. As part of this effort, private organizations helped meet the need for new curricula. For example, the Center for Occupational Research and Development— CORD (1990) released curricula designed to teach academics while simultaneously meeting the needs of CTE students ( Lusterman & Lund, 1991 ). However, recent reports suggest that curriculum integration has not taken hold in U.S. high schools despite the tremendous investment in such activities (for a more detailed discussion of this topic, see White, Charner & Johnson, 2001)

In the 1991-1992 school year, 82.4% of comprehensive schools that offered vocational courses and 91.1% of vocational schools reported that they were making curriculum integration efforts ( Levesque, Lauen, Teitelbaum, Alt, & Librera, 2000 ). However, efforts were mainly made by career and technical instructors to incorporate academic material, rather than academic subjects taking on career and technical subject matter ( Bailey & Merritt, 1993 ). In 1993, career and technical teachers reported that they spent 10% of their class time on academic subjects.

The 1994 National Assessment of Vocational Education [NAVE] reported that schools that experienced a significant Perkins II influence had taken one step (out of a possible 10) towards curriculum integration ( Levesque et al., 1995 ). Each additional step taken to integrate was associated with a minimum increase of 1.4% in CTE enrollments. More heavily funded districts took specific steps to integrate class work, with higher percentages reported for every integration step delineated by the 1994 NAVE. Using the schools that reported being influenced by the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) and "Goals 2000" in the early 1990s, school administrators reported that 1.3 more steps had been taken to integrate their curricula than schools not so influenced. The "developing all aspects of industry" element of Perkins reforms was met by 13% of regular high schools and 19% of career and technical schools. These early reform efforts seemed to have no effect in students' enrollment decisions ( Levesque et al., 1995 ).

Tech Prep

Tech prep refers to programs that offer at least 4 years of sequential course work beginning at the secondary level and continuing into postsecondary institutions for the purpose of preparing for technical careers. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, most tech prep programs were in their infancy. By then, more than 33 states had reported establishing tech prep programs ( Bailey & Merritt, 1993 ). About the same time, the American Technical Education Association established a set of minimum standards for tech prep programs ( Choy, 1994 ). Using these criteria, Stern, Raby and Dayton (1992) found that only 7% of schools offered full-fledged tech prep programs in the 1990-1991 school year. On the other hand, Levesque et al. (1995) reported that 41% of districts reported that they had some kind of tech prep initiative. However implementation varied depending on the location (urban-suburban) and CTE focus. Suburban districts reported higher implementation levels than did urban districts. Business and trade and industrial programs were reported as the tech prep foci more than agriculture, marketing, health or occupational home economics.

Co-op Programs

Cooperative vocational education (Co-op) is a structured method of instruction whereby students alternate or coordinate their high school or postsecondary studies with a job in a field related to their academic or occupational objectives. Cooperative programs have been recognized as one of the most effective CTE strategies ( Hamilton, 1990 ). In the late 1980s, approximately 10% of CTE students participated in a co-op program ( Hamilton, 1990 ), increasing to 12% by 1994 ( Levesque et al., 1995 ). The 1994 NAVE research found that 4% of students (403,000) in grades 9-12 participated in co-op programs, a figure that is slightly lower than the U.S. General Accounting Office's 1991 report of 430,000 co-op students. By the late 1990s, the percentage had increased to approximately 15% ( Silverberg, Warner, Fong, & Goodwin, 2004 ). Stern (1992) estimated that 49% of secondary schools offered cooperative education in 1990-1991. In the early 1990s, 37% of coop students were enrolled in marketing education, 20% were in trade and industry, and 17% were in business occupations ( U.S. General Accounting Office, 1991 ).

Career Academies

Originally created to address the needs of at-risk students ( Stern et al., 1992M ), career academies integrate core academic and vocational coursework within a cohesive, curriculum framework focused on a career theme (e.g., health, business). Ninth and 10th grade students either voluntarily enroll or are referred to the program by teachers or counselors, remain in the academy throughout their secondary school experience, and complete coursework designed to be both academic and highly applicable to vocational settings ( Elliott, Hanser, & Gilroy, 2002 ). Various school districts from around the country did institute such programs but these usually served a relatively small percentage of students—e.g., 5% in Philadelphia, 7.3% in California's first established program (see Stern, 1992 , for a more complete review of career academies and their outcomes in the early 1990s; and Maxwell, 2001 , and Kemple, 2001 for more recent reviews). Privately sponsored career academies also appeared in the early 1990s. For example, the National Academy Foundation sponsored career academies recruited a higher academically performing group for the purpose of developing "future employees" for the finance industry. These career academies enrolled over 4,000 students in 74 different schools in the 1991-1992 school year ( Bailey & Merritt, 1993 ).

Youth Apprenticeships

Youth apprenticeships are typically multiyear combinations of school- and work-based learning in a specific occupational cluster designed to lead directly into either a related postsecondary program or a registered apprenticeship. Although 250,000 to 300, 000 adult apprentice positions were occupied each year between 1980-1990 ( Hamilton, 1990 ), schools were slow to offer this CTE transition opportunity to their students. School-sponsored youth apprenticeships as characterized by active employer participation, integration of learning, structured linkages between work and school, and an award of completion were offered in only 5-11% of schools in the early 1990s. Only 3,300 students were involved in such programs ( Levesque et al., 1995 ). Other sources report that 3,500 students participated in apprenticeship programs in 1990 ( U.S. General Accounting Office, 1991 ). Hoachlander (1994) cites still a smaller number of students: approximately 2,000 of the 13 million secondary students. Stern et al. (1992) estimated that in the 1990-1991 period, 6% of secondary schools offered school-to-apprenticeship programs, while only 2% provided youth apprenticeship opportunities.

School-Based Enterprises

School-based enterprises (SBEs) are educational experiences in which goods or services are produced by students as part of their school program. They qualify as school to work activities by providing participating students with real-world work experiences, such as marketing, shipping and receiving, coworker relationships, and production within the enterprise (e.g., retail operations). The NAVE reported that in 1994, 23% of schools had adopted a school-based enterprise, but numbers vary— Stern et al. (1992) estimated that 19% of secondary schools offered work experience opportunities in school-based enterprises in 1990-1991.

CTE Youth Organizations

Some authors have asserted that student organizations such as FFA, DECA or SkillsUSA are an integral part of the educational process, and are credited with being a primary driver for support of agricultural career and technical programs (Bobbitt, 1988, as cited in Bailey and Merritt, 1993 ). These student organizations emphasize an active role for the student in their development activities, in that they use their own initiative and creativity to choose and complete various projects. The student's use of hands-on learning to solve real-world problems mirrors school-sponsored CTE program efforts. This element of learning speaks to the broader academic applicability of student organization membership.

The State of Career and Technical Education in the Early 1990s

By 1999 vocational education was available in most of America's 11,000 comprehensive high schools, 1,000 vocational high schools, and 800 area or regional vocational schools, ( Silverberg et al., 2004 ). However only 66% offered at least one vocational "program" ( Hudson & Shafer, 2002 ). This contrasts to the early part of the 1990s when 74% of secondary schools offered CTE programs ( Levesque et al., 1995 ).

The pervasiveness of career academies in the early 1990s is unknown and tech prep was just beginning. The current NAVE report estimates that by the late 1990s, 23.5% of the high schools in the country offered career academies, 47.1% offered tech prep programs, and 80% offered articulated or dual college credit programs ( Silverberg et al., 2004 ).

CTE Enrollment

Given that so many schools offer career and technical education options that involve so many students, it is important to consider the effect that educational reforms have had on secondary students' educational experience. Some authors cite a decline in participation in CTE courses over the past two decades. In the early 1980s, the average student enrolled in 4.6 CTE courses. By 1992, the figure had declined to 3.8 ( Hoachlander, 1994 ).

The 1994 NAVE found that although Perkins II mandated the offering of a coherent sequence of courses, students tended to only take introductory courses ( Levesque et al., 1995 ). Using transcript analyses, Levesque and Hudson (2003) estimated that the percentage of occupational concentrators taking advanced career and technical education courses dropped from 70% in 1982 to 56% in the early 1990s.

Other studies using transcript data also documented the steady decline of the percentage of youth who are identified as CTE majors or concentrators. Roey et al. (2001) had found that in 1990, 10.4% were CTE concentrators, whereas in 1998 the percentage dropped to 4.4%. Tuma (1996) reported that in 1992, 24.4% students were CTE concentrators. Very different estimates are derived when student reports of high school curriculum are used. Stone and Aliaga (2003) reported that only 6.6% of students say they are CTE concentrators and a slightly smaller number indicate they are dual concentrators. This latter group are "double majors" combining an academic concentration with a CTE concentration. Surprisingly, the largest group of students in school (53%) does not identify with any concentration—they are neither academic, CTE or dual concentrators.

Schools reported that any increases they experienced in career and technical enrollments were due to four factors: a) integration of academic and vocational curricula, b) career exploration programs, c) increased state support, and d) student leadership programs ( U.S. Department of Education, 1994 ).

Why the overall decrease in career and technical enrollments? The 1994 NAVE reported that school administrators strongly felt that the emphasis on academic subjects caused decreases in career and technical enrollment. Later research has demonstrated that students are indeed choosing to take academic credits over career and technical education coursework: the average number of career and technical credits decreased in the early 1990s and has remained flat since 1994, while both general (0.9%) and academic (0.8%) credits have risen ( Levesque et al., 2000 ). In other words, with student enrollment in CTE credits remaining constant, the percentage of CTE coursework taken during secondary education has decreased overall, because the total credit requirements have risen.

Enrollment numbers have changed in other ways as well. Research in the early 1990s found that while fewer students are CTE concentrators, increasing numbers of students are taking a fragment of introductory career and technical classes as electives ( Stern, Finkelstein, Stone, Latting, & Dornsife, 1994 ). In addition, the largest student enrollment decreases in career and technical courses were among students who scored highly on tests and had a good academic record, rather than traditional CTE students ( Levesque et al., 1995 ), demonstrating a widening dichotomy between academic and CTE students and coursework.

Regardless, it is clear that many students are also not in the "college-track," and therefore do not benefit from academically-oriented educational reforms. ( Hoachlander, 1994 ). In recognition of "the forgotten half" ( W. T. Grant Foundation Commission on Work, Family, and Citizenship, 1988 ), and in response to perceptions of increased threat from international competition, the school-to-work legislation passed in 1994 encouraged schools to develop alternate programs to serve non-academically focused students.

The prevalence of non-academically focused students is the driving force behind the CTE reforms and initiatives. This group of students do not benefit from the public investment in academic-track coursework. At the same time, there is a substantial body of evidence that shows significant, positive economic benefits resulting from pursuing a CTE concentration in high school (Bishop & Mane, 2004; Silverberg et al., 2004 ).

Current population data show that 21.4% of people 15 years old or over are not high school graduates, an increase from 15% in the early 1990s ( U.S. Census Bureau, 2002 ). Greene (2001) reports a national graduation rate of 71%—or 29% who do not graduate of high school—without counting alternative high school diplomas and credentials. The college graduation rate is even lower. Today, only 41.3% of adults age 30-34 have an Associates degree or higher ( Krei & Rosenbaum, 2001 ). This means that the majority of students are not helped by the main thrust of most education reform that directs young people to think of college as the only useful post high school trajectory (see Rosenbaum, 2002 ).

The Current Study

In this study, we address the following critical areas with regards to the current status of CTE programs and activities in our nation's high schools at the beginning of the 21st century:

• type and availability of vocational programs
• prevalence of supportive professional development
• prevalence of administrative and structural supports, and
• changes in participation.

Type and Availability of Vocational Programs

The availability of vocational education programs and activities in the nation's secondary schools will necessarily affect student participation patterns and rates. Such patterns are both affected by and in turn affect state and federal funding. The present study provides a picture of the nation's high school CTE offerings by the year 2000. Regarding availability of vocational education, we ask four questions:

Question 1:	What kinds of vocational programs—sequences of courses— do high schools offer? To what extent do schools offer programs in multiple areas?
Question 2:	How does the availability of special career preparation programs and activities vary by the characteristics of the school?
Question 3:	What are the characteristics of career preparation programs?
Question 4:	To what extent do schools sponsor chapters of CTE Student Organizations?

Prevalence of Supportive Professional Development

Effective vocational education programs require administrative support in a number of ways. Perhaps the most important is the provision of professional development to keep faculty current. We posed the following question:

Question 5:

To what extent are schools providing in-service opportunities for teachers to expand their awareness of careers and career preparation strategies? How do in-service opportunities vary between academic and CTE teachers.

Prevalence of Administrative and Structural Support

Career development support activities act in tandem with reforms supported by Perkins II, the STOWA and Perkins III. The existence of supportive career development activities is an indicator of the depth of a reform effort. This study investigates the degree to which these supports exist.

Question 6:

To what extent do high schools have the supports commonly used to implement special career preparation programs and activities? To what extent have these supports become more available over time?

Changes in Participation

As discussed previously, career and technical education has been through significant changes in the decade of the 1990s. Specifically, the introduction of the Perkins II legislation in 1992, the School-to-Work Act in 1994, and the Perkins III legislation in 1998 acted as catalysts for many of these changes. As well, we might expect changes in school offerings and CTE participation due to other school reforms and increases in academic requirements. The present study compares data from 1996 to the same data collected in 2000 with the following research questions:

Question 7:	To what extent do schools offer, and do students participate in, other special career prep programs and activities? How has the availability of and participation in these programs and activities changed over time?
Question 8:	To what extent do principals perceive that vocational enrollments have changed between the 1995-96 and the 1999-2000 school years? Do such changes differ by school type? Is there a relationship between changes in vocational enrollments and changes in course credits required for graduation?

Data and Method

The National Longitudinal Study of Youth of 1997 (NLSY97) is a study that measures variables that contribute to the youth's transition from school to the labor market. Data were collected through the youth questionnaire, and parent interviews. In addition, the NLSY97 conducted a survey of school administrators—the School Survey—to provide data on schools attended by the youth in the sample ( Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2003 ). Access to these restricted data was granted for purpose of this research.

In the present study we analyzed data collected from the School Survey, in which administrators were asked to report school demographic characteristics; program offerings such as job placement, dropout prevention, and summer school; staff characteristics; student body demographics; college entrance test-taking rates and scores; and graduation test and credit requirements.

The NLSY97 conducted two School Surveys—in 1996 and in 2000. The 1996 data collection process consisted of a school census that was mailed out to an administrator in all high schools that included a 12th grade within the 147 Primary Sampling Units (PSUs)—a metropolitan area, rural areas, a county or group of counties—from which the NLSY97 student sample was selected. For the first School Survey of 1996, 7,342 surveys were mailed and 5,253 were returned, yielding a response rate of 71.5%. Although vaguely documented, it seems as though the sampling procedure varied for the second School Survey data collection of 2000. Surveys were sent to all high schools with a 12th grade in the original 147 PSUs. A second group of schools was added if they met two criteria: a student originally part of the NSLY97 had moved to and now attended the school, and it had a 12th grade. Additionally, vocational schools were added to the original sample of schools. The response rate for the 2000 data collection process was 70.9%—6,393 schools responded out of a possible 9,013 schools. Overall, the retention rate of schools from 1996 to 2000 was 74.2% ( Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2003 ) taking into account the process of attrition and addition of schools between the two samples. Statistical weights provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) were used in the data analyses.

Different analyses were conducted separately for each year. However, the same school characteristics were drawn for analyses, to allow a comparison. Following the Bureau of Labor Statistics guidelines, we weighted the observations to estimate population parameters ( Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2002 ).

For this study, we conceptualized CTE in two different meanings. First, we refer to CTE as the curricular program students can be enrolled in while in high school—and the areas within CTE were students enrolled. Second, CTE is also referred to as a set of structural strategies related to preparation for work supported by the STWOA—i.e., career pathway, tech prep, and the following School-to-Work or work-based learning activities: cooperative education, job shadowing, mentoring, school-based enterprise, and internship/apprenticeship.

Since vocational schools only were added to the second School Survey, type and availability of vocational programs and prevalence of supportive professional development were analyzed for year 2000 only. Five types of schools are identified in the data: comprehensive, technical, special education and alternative, special emphasis, and a catch all group identified as "other." Because of the relatively small number of schools other than comprehensive we will confine our discussion to the data for all schools but present data for each type.

Results

We present our findings as descriptive percentages. The following text and tables address each of the specific research questions outlined above.

Type and Availability of Vocational Programs in 2000

We begin our analysis by identifying the kinds of CTE programs offered by high schools and the extent to which multiple CTE programs are available. A substantial number of secondary schools offer some choice of CTE programs to their students. Furthermore, a plurality of schools offered three to five CTE programs, and over a quarter of high schools offered six to eight of those programs, which in itself represents a significant proportion considering that 66.5% of high schools offered at least one occupational program. The number of programs offered are somewhat similar to the data reported by Phelps, Parsad, Farris, Hudson, and Green (2001) , who found that in 1999, 18% of public high schools offered between six and ten occupational programs, and 13% of those schools offered more than ten programs.

Table 1 shows that business programs were the most frequently offered CTE program in high schools with technology and communications ranking second. More than 70% of high schools offered three or more programs for students to choose from (see Table 2), whereas 25% of high schools offered a full array of CTE programs. These data are consistent with NCES transcript analyses showing more than 98% of high school youth take some CTE ( National Center on Educational Statistics, 1999 ).

We next explored the prevalence of special career preparation programs and activities. Tech prep, introduced as part of Perkins II was the most frequently occurring special career program with more than one-third of U.S. high schools providing this for their students. Career pathways, introduced as part of the STWOA is now found nearly one-fourth of U.S. high schools (see Table 3). Career academies, which have a history predating Perkins II and the STWOA were reported less frequently.

Work-based learning, especially job site visits and job shadowing are prevalent in U.S. high schools. More than half of schools report offering both (see Table 4). More than one-third of schools offer cooperative vocational education opportunities while fewer than 20% provide apprenticeships or school-based enterprises.

Table 1

Percentage of U.S. High Schools Offering of Specific CTE Programs, 2000

CTE Program Areas	Percentage of High Schools
Business	57.51
Technology and communications	43.03
Child care and education	33.18
Trade and industry	31.96
Agriculture and renewable resources	29.54
Health care	27.78
Marketing and distribution	27.54
Food service and hospitality	27.00
Personal and other services	12.24
Public and protective services	7.49

Table 2

Percentage of U.S. High Schools Offering of CTE Programs by Number of Programs, 2000

Number of CTE Programs Offered	Percentage of High Schools
2 or fewer programs	28.56
3 to 5 programs	41.74
6 to 8 programs	25.20
8 to 10 programs	4.50
Total	100

Table 3

Percentage of U.S. High Schools Implementing CTE Reform by School Type, 2000

CTE Reform	All	School Type
		Comp.	Technical	Special Ed. and Alt.	Special Emphasis	Other
Career major/pathways	23.20	20.44	1.38	0.78	1.64	2.33
Career academies	7.26	6.07	0.79	0.35	1.09	0.90
Tech prep	37.13	32.75	2.82	1.47	2.04	4.22

Note .   The "All" column reflects the composition of all schools for each category. Percentages for each type of school are a distribution within each type of school.



Table 4

Percentage of U.S. High Schools Offering of Work-Based Learning Strategies by School Type, 2000

Work based learning strategy	All	School Type
		Comp.	Technical	Special Ed. and Alt.	Special Emphasis	Other
Job site visits	69.71	59.14	2.83	3.75	4.20	9.41
Job shadowing	50.25	44.36	2.43	2.74	2.62	5.28
School sponsored enterprise	17.83	15.75	0.89	0.93	1.13	2.11
Cooperative education	36.24	31.59	1.85	1.52	2.17	3.80
Apprenticeships	19.65	16.16	1.88	1.22	1.35	3.58

Note .  The "All" column reflects the composition of all schools for each category. Percentages for each type of school are a distribution within each type of school.

The frequency of career development activities, including college counseling, is shown in Table 5. A high percentage of schools reported offering these activities. College counseling, school visits by employers and career interest inventories were most frequently offered career development activities. Involving parents in career planning and individualized career plans were the least reported career development activity.

Table 5

Percentage of U.S. High Schools Offering of Career Development Activities by School Type, 2000

Career Development Activities	All	School Type
		Comp.	Technical	Special Ed. and Alt.	Special Emphasis	Other
School visits by employers	80.68	67.41	3.16	4.40	5.81	11.95
College guidance counseling	93.82	79.05	3.27	5.00	6.74	14.42
Occupational guidance counseling	71.96	61.59	3.29	4.73	4.76	8.91
Career interest inventories	86.03	73.34	2.60	4.61	5.59	11.40
Career assessments	64.37	54.77	2.24	3.44	4.09	8.42
Individualized career plans	53.84	45.98	1.99	2.95	2.90	6.81
Career information centers	66.31	57.99	2.11	2.65	4.42	8.16
Parental involvement in student's career plan development	46.80	40.07	1.66	2.34	2.48	5.90

Note .  The "All" column reflects the composition of all schools for each category. Percentages for each type of school are a distribution within each type of school.

Junior and senior students were more frequently the focus of career preparation programs like tech prep, career pathways, career academies, and apprenticeships than were younger students (see Table 6). This is not surprising given the focus of the legislation. Some of these programs have minimum GPA requirements. This was most often associated with career academies and apprenticeships and least likely to be required for entry into a career pathway. Program tenure within schools varied among the several career programs. Apprenticeship programs have had the longest tenure of the four types of programs (9.23 years), with the other three programs averaging between 6 and 7.5 years. One interesting aspect of these data is that in no case, did a majority of schools target any of these career preparation programs at non-college bound students or at risk students. This may be evidence that such programs are becoming more mainstream.

We then explored the data to determine the extent to which schools sponsor chapters of CTE Student Organizations (CTSO). We found that about 30% of high schools sponsored one or more CTSOs (see Table 7). The most frequently offered CTSO was the Future Homemakers of America followed by the Future Farmers of America and Future Business Leaders of America. These findings are consistent with reports of student enrollments provided by Levesque et al. (2000 ).

Prevalence of Supportive Professional Development in 2000

The most common form of professional development reported by principals was conference attendance (see Table 8). The most frequently reported focus of professional development was curriculum integration for both academic and CTE teachers. Conferences and workshops focusing on students' transition from high school to postsecondary schools or work was the second most prevalent focus of professional development for academic and CTE teachers. Our analyses showed the academic teachers were afforded professional development more frequently than CTE teachers with the exception of professional development focused on developing employer linkages. Surprisingly, academic teachers had more opportunities than CTE teachers to attend conferences and workshops on the implementation of STW programs (see Table 9).

Prevalence of Administrative and Structural Supports in 2000

For career programs to be effective, they require structural support from the school. We examined the type of support provided by high schools to implement those programs. The NLSY97 identified nine forms of structural support such as block scheduling and dual enrollment. We also explored the extent to which these supports have become more available over time. As shown in Table 10, the largest proportion of schools reported offering dual enrollment for academic courses and requiring staff development for CTE teachers. Interestingly, more than 20% fewer schools offered dual enrollment for CTE courses than for academic courses. Quite telling is that fewer than 20% of schools reported offering joint planning time for academic and CTE teachers. This may explain the limited growth of integrated curriculum reported elsewhere (see the Interim NAVE report, Silverberg, Warner, Doowin, & Fong, 2002 ). Requiring community service or vocational credits for graduation were not a major part of the educational landscape by the year 2000.

Table 6

Average Life of Career Prep Programs and Percentage of U.S. High Schools Targeting Specific Grade Levels and Specific Populations in 2000

Career Prep Program Characteristics	Percentage of High Schools Reporting Program	Average Tenure of Program (years)
Apprenticeship Programs
Average years implemented/operating		9.23
Grade levels targeted
9th	5.14
10th	11.28
11th	37.71
12th	45.86
Students targeted
At-risk	23.18
Non-college bound	39.84
Minimum GPA required for entry	38.93
Career Majors/Pathsays
Average years implemented/operating		6.4
Grade levels targeted
9th	17.82
10th	22.77
11th	29.51
12th	29.90
Students targeted
At-risk	23.02
Non-college bound	28.53
Minimum GPA required for entry	18.65
Career Academies
Average years implemented/operating		6.13
Grade levels targeted
9th	16.84
10th	24.59
11th	29.60
12th	28.97
Students targeted
At-risk	30.53
Non-college bound	29.11
Minimum GPA required for entry	33.25
Tech-Prep
Average years implemented/operating		7.25
Grade levels targeted
9th	13.20
10th	18.81
11th	33.62
12th	34.38
Students targeted
At-risk	19.31
Non-college bound	28.56
Minimum GPA required for entry	20.38

Table 7

Availability of CTE Student Organizations (CTESOs) by School Type, 2000 (Percentages)

		School Type
Type of CTESO	All	Comp	Technical	Special Ed. and Alt.	Special Emphasis	Other
Business Professionals of America	11.04	9.69	0.91	0.21	0.45	1.34
Distributive Education Clubs of America	17.79	16.31	0.70	0.62	0.99	1.52
Future Business Leaders of America	29.77	27.41	1.71	1.46	1.79	2.76
Future Homemakers of America	31.72	29.72	1.26	0.80	1.62	2.03
Health Occupations Students of America	13.20	10.54	1.72	0.78	0.56	2.94
Future Farmers of America	0.70	28.64	0.90	0.68	1.39	2.36
National Postsecondary Agricultural Student Organization	1.53	1.52	0.05	0.01	0.00	0.04
National Young Farmers Educational Association	2.88	2.84	0.06	0.01	0.01	0.06
Technology Student Association	7.30	6.72	0.27	0.27	0.43	0.50
CTE Industrial Clubs of America	20.66	16.39	2.41	1.13	1.10	4.50

Note .   The "All" column reflects the composition of all schools for each category. Percentages for each type of school are a distribution within each type of school.

schools offered dual enrollment for CTE courses than for academic courses. Quite telling is that fewer than 20% of schools reported offering joint planning time for academic and CTE teachers. This may explain the limited growth of integrated curriculum reported elsewhere (see the Interim NAVE report, Silverberg, Warner, Doowin, & Fong, 2002 ). Requiring community service or vocational credits for graduation were not a major part of the educational landscape by the year 2000.

Changes in Participation 1996-2000

Virtually all measures identified in the NLSY97of CTE reform, work-based learning, and career development options, and student participation increased

Table 8

Percentage of U.S. High Schools Providing Teacher In-Service Opportunities, 2000

	Percentage of High Schools
Professional Development Activities	For Academic Teachers	For CTE Teachers
Unpaid summer internships	12.64	10.95
Paid summer internships	22.39	20.91
Internship during the school year	9.27	9.55
Attendance at conferences and workshops on integrating academic and CTE	65.73	56.95
Attendance at conferences and workshops on the development of employer linkages	35.32	38.10
Attendance at conferences and workshops on the development of linkages with postsecondary education	54.46	41.34
Attendance at conferences and workshops on the development and implementation of STW programs	51.80	48.80

Note .   The "All" column reflects the composition of all schools for each category. Percentages for each type of school are a distribution within each type of school.

between the 1996 and 2000 school surveys (see Tables 11-14). However, vocational schools were added to the year 2000 sample potentially skewing the results. Thus, we cannot draw any definitive conclusions about changes in school offerings over time.

Another way of looking at the issue of changes in student participation in CTE is by relying on data collected from administrators. Administrators' perceptions are used and limited to the context of this study. Within that framework and limitation, two questions were asked of administrators. First, did CTE enrollments change between 1995-96 and 1999-2000 school year? Second, were changes in graduation requirements related to changes in CTE enrollment?

A majority of schools reported an overall increase in student enrollment (see Table 15) in the five year span ending in 2000. More school administrators reported CTE enrollment increases (34.14% ) than reported decreased CTE enrollment during this same period (23.34%). However, when asked about specific CTE programs, more administrators reported decreases in CTE enrollment in all program areas except for increases in business and office education programs than reported increases. One possible explanation for this is what administrators perceive to be included under the CTE rubric. It is possible, that special work related programs not connected to an identified occupational area may be part of the administrators thinking regarding this question. A second possible explanation is that fewer students are following a concentration and instead, taking more, non-sequential CTE courses.

Table 9

Percentage of U.S. High Schools Providing Teacher In-Service Opportunities, 2000

		School Type
Professional Development Activities	All	Comp.	Technical	Special Ed. and Alt.	Special Emphasis	Other
Unpaid summer internships
Academic teachers	12.64	11.38	0.52	0.53	0.84	0.91
CTE teachers	10.95	9.41	0.64	0.36	0.55	1.26
Paid summer internships
Academic teachers	22.39	20.05	0.78	1.00	1.34	2.15
CTE teachers	20.91	18.05	1.63	1.09	0.97	3.03
Internship during the school year
Academic teachers	9.27	7.99	0.46	0.55	0.79	0.92
CTE teachers	9.55	7.83	0.55	0.44	0.66	1.50
"Curriculum integration" conference and workshop attendance
Academic teachers	65.73	58.34	2.84	3.97	4.10	6.71
CTE teachers	56.95	49.82	3.06	3.03	3.13	6.62
"Development of employer linkages" conference and workshop attendance
Academic teachers	35.32	31.22	1.37	1.94	1.86	3.27
CTE teachers	38.10	32.69	1.97	1.72	2.07	4.55
"Development of linkages with postsecondary education" conference and workshop attendance
Academic teachers	54.46	48.00	1.75	2.37	3.58	6.60
CTE teachers	41.34	36.53	1.98	1.74	2.21	4.23
"Development and implementation of STW programs" conference and workshop attendance
Academic teachers	51.80	47.08	2.49	3.16	2.77	4.50
CTE teachers	48.80	42.90	2.85	2.87	2.58	5.59

Note .   The "All" column reflects the composition of all schools for each category. Percentages for each type of school are a distribution within each type of school.



Table 10

Percentage of U.S. High Schools Implementing Career Development Support Activities and Programs by School Type, 2000

		School Type
Support Activity	All	Comp.	Technical	Special Ed. and Alt.	Special Emphasis	Other
Block scheduling	34.44	28.83	1.75	2.32	3.01	4.70
Staff development days required for voc teachers	64.92	56.78	3.20	3.27	3.29	7.34
Joint planning time for academic and CTE teachers	18.60	15.88	1.12	1.15	1.78	2.21
Dual enrollment for academic courses	67.35	60.45	2.32	3.02	4.33	6.91
Dual enrollment for CTE courses	43.62	39.27	2.39	2.20	2.45	3.84
Voc credits required for graduation	18.03	14.54	1.50	1.24	1.63	2.63
Community service requirements for graduation	18.81	14.65	0.48	0.59	2.17	3.89
Written agreements with employers	45.07	38.80	2.71	2.66	2.76	5.83
Paid coordinator to arrange student work placements	45.00	39.59	2.18	1.57	3.04	4.53

Note .   The "All" column reflects the composition of all schools for each category. Percentages for each type of school are a distribution within each type of school.



Table 11

Percentage of U.S. High Schools Implementing CTE Reforms: 1996 and 2000

	Percentage of High Schools
CTE Reform	1996	2000
Career Major/pathways	14.39	23.20
Career Academies	2.13	7.26
Tech Prep	30.02	37.13

Table 12

Percentage of U.S. High Schools Offering of Work-Based Learning Options

	Percentage of High Schools
Work-Based Learning Options	1996	2000
Job site visits	58.57	69.71
Job shadowing	25.84	50.25
Cooperative education	32.12	36.24
Internship	19.91	30.09
School-sponsored enterprises	12.53	17.83
Apprenticeships	12.77	19.65

Table 13

Percentage of U.S. High Schools Offering Career Development Activities

	Percentage of High Schools
Career Development Activities	1996	2000
School visits by employers	78.85	80.68
College guidance counseling	90.65	93.82
Occupational guidance counseling	68.47	71.96
Career interest inventories	80.48	86.03
Career assessments	56.12	64.37
Individualized career plans	39.87	53.84
Career information centers	69.82	66.31
Parental involvement in student's career plans development	31.65	41.38

Table 14

Number of Students Participating in Specific STW/CTE Activities

	1996		2000
STW/CTE Activity	Number of Students	Percent	Number of Students	Percent
Total secondary students (NCES)	14,007,000		14,731,000
Apprenticeships	49,365	.35	223,477	1.51
Job shadowing	134,221	.96	663,249	4.50
Internships	67,665	.48	251,299	1.70
Career major/pathways	365,725	2.61	1,647,728	11.19
Career academies	NA		474,661	.22
School-sponsored enterprises	50,276	.36	219,624	1.49
Cooperative education	206,317	1.47	485,272	3.29
Tech prep	309,815	2.21	1,259,027	8.55

Note .  The student numbers are estimates obtained with sample weights provided by the NLSY97.



Table 15

Administrator Perceptions of CTE Enrollment Change Between the 1995-96 and the 1999-2000 School Years (Percentages)

	Change in CTE Enrollments (% of schools)
Type of Enrollments	Increase	Decrease	No sig. change	NA
Total student enrollment	58.22	20.34	21.16	0.28
Total CTE enrollment	34.14	23.34	14.60	27.92
CTE enrollment among educationally or economically disadvantaged students	27.55	35.67	5.08	31.70
CTE enrollment among disabled students	23.02	35.17	3.57	38.24
Enrollment in agriculture education	14.37	17.67	7.24	60.72
Enrollment in business and office education	31.18	28.71	11.83	28.28
Enrollment in marketing/distributive education	16.30	21.90	7.18	54.62
Enrollment in trade and industrial education	21.46	25.51	9.83	43.20
Enrollment in home economics	22.85	28.49	14.50	34.16

Note .   Data for the School Survey 1996 were collected during the 1995-1996 school year, and for School Survey 2000 were collected in the 1999-2000 school year.

When we analyzed the same question by school type (comprehensive, technical, or alternative) we find some differences (see Table 16). A higher proportion of technical and alternative schools reported increases in student enrollments than did comprehensive high schools. Not surprisingly, nearly 60% of technical school administrators reported growth in CTE concentrators during this time period a rate nearly double that reported by comprehensive and alternative school administrators. More schools saw a decrease in special needs and disabled students during this five year period. This was true regardless of school type.

A majority of school administrators reported no change in credit requirements for graduation (see Table 17). For those schools reporting increased requirements, administrators were nearly evenly split on whether there was a concurrent increase or decrease in CTE enrollments. Most reported no change. This is consistent with NCES reports of student enrollments in CTE discussed earlier. More schools reporting a decrease in credits required for graduation also reported a decrease in CTE enrollments.

Schools that increased graduation requirements by 3 or more credits, were twice as likely to see an increase in disadvantaged enrollments in CTE as they were to see a decrease. This suggests that CTE may be serving as an escape valve for students with special needs. The data do not show the same pattern with disabled students.

Table 16

Percentage of U.S. High Schools Reporting of CTE Enrollment Change between the 1995-96 and the 1999-2000 School Years by School Type

	School Reporting CTE Enrollment Change
Type of Enrollments	Increase	Decrease	No sig. change	NA
Total student enrollment (Total)	58.22	20.34	21.16	0.28
Comprehensive High School	58.42	19.53	21.92	0.13
Technical or Vocational	67.95	13.62	16.55	1.88
Special Ed or Alternative	68.21	16.27	14.76	0.77
Total CTE enrollment (Total)	34.14	23.34	14.60	27.92
Comprehensive High School	36.40	25.29	15.05	23.26
Technical or Vocational	59.65	22.36	16.24	1.76
Special Ed or Alternative	33.67	17.70	7.50	41.13
CTE enrollment among educationally or economically disadvantaged students (Total)	27.55	35.67	5.08	31.70
Comprehensive High School	28.93	38.06	5.68	27.33
Technical or Vocational	29.48	39.87	9.26	21.39
Special Ed or Alternative	20.66	19.94	4.38	55.03
CTE enrollment among disabled students (Total)	23.02	35.17	3.57	38.24
Comprehensive High School	23.90	38.29	3.29	34.52
Technical or Vocational	26.73	44.95	2.60	25.72
Special Ed or Alternative	17.29	21.76	1.49	59.46

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of specific CTE programs and activities in American high schools in the late 1990s, following nearly two decades of general education and specific vocational education reform. We attempted to determine the extent to which reform efforts have influenced the availability of high school vocational education and student participation in the United States. We also examined the extent to which professional development was available to staff and explored the other kinds of supports offered to facilitate CTE.

Overall, the picture that emerges is one that highlights both positive trends and weaknesses in the system. In general, many of the reforms discussed in this paper were created between 1991 and 1994, as indicated by the average tenure of the programs. This suggests that the CTE reforms embodied in Perkins II and the STWOA were at least in part responsible for the creation or strengthening of these programs. Furthermore, the prevalence of business and technology CTE offerings reflects changes in the nation's economy and labor market over the past decade.

Table 17

Percentage of U.S. High Schools Reporting Changes between 1996 and 2000 in General and CTE Enrollment as a Function of Changes in Credits Required For Graduation

	School Reporting Enrollment Change Due to Credit Requirement Change
Change in CTE Enrollments	1 credit increase	2 credit increase	3+ credit increase	No change	Credit decrease
Total student enrollment
Increase	7.11	5.61	18.87	57.55	10.86
Decrease	8.16	4.66	14.86	65.65	6.67
No sig. change	6.34	7.16	22.17	46.70	17.64
N/A	0.00	11.60	17.23	58.47	12.69
Total CTE enrollment
Increase	7.14	3.88	19.15	62.64	7.18
Decrease	6.22	3.56	14.73	61.86	13.63
No sig. change	6.44	10.51	24.44	41.88	16.72
N/A	9.30	7.77	19.87	50.94	12.11
CTE enrollment among educationally or economically disadvantaged students
Increase	5.73	4.16	23.95	59.28	6.88
Decrease	7.08	5.97	12.25	64.22	10.48
No sig. change	10.70	6.99	24.33	28.03	29.96
N/A	8.48	7.08	19.92	50.94	13.58
CTE enrollment among disabled students
Increase	8.32	3.69	16.22	61.11	10.66
Decrease	7.88	4.18	17.28	63.21	7.45
No sig. change	0.95	4.28	39.05	30.69	25.03
N/A	6.65	9.19	18.27	50.82	15.07

Schools in the survey offered more career development activities than either work-based learning options or the specific CTE reform programs. Given that career development activities take far less manpower and resources to offer, it makes sense that high investment work learning opportunities were provided less often. However, this may not be the most beneficial route in the long run if helping youth make intelligent decisions regarding high school and post high school curriculum decisions is important. Tech prep programs were offered in about a third of schools, but fewer schools offered career majors/pathways programs; fewer still provided career academies for their students.

Schools are offering teachers many opportunities for professional development opportunities, usually in the form of conferences and workshops, but it is interesting that academic teachers had more opportunities than CTE teachers for such development. What is especially curious is that more schools offered academic teachers workshops in curriculum integration and school-to-work implementation than they did to CTE teachers. This was true for all schools and for the subset of comprehensive high schools. With the expectation of increased academic content in CTE courses, this could mean that CTE teachers, and therefore CTE students, are placed at an unfair disadvantage in the current era of reform.

In terms of the association between increased academic requirements and CTE enrollment, some reports have concluded that the number of CTE concentrators has decreased but that overall CTE course-taking has remained the same ( Levesque et al, 2000 ). The 1994 NAVE found that correlations between requirements and enrollment rates were weak ( Levesque et al., 1995 ). In this study, we found that the majority of administrators feel that CTE enrollments have not been affected by changes in graduation requirements. However, it is important to note that these are not actual numbers but rather school administrator's perceptions. As noted in the results section, we were not able to analyze actual patterns of enrollment over time because of the different samples (particularly, the addition of vocational schools) at the two NLSY97 data collection points (1996 and 2000). Future research should create panel weights for each year to use analyses of how schools changed over time.

However, while secondary school administrators believed that CTE enrollments have been steady or increasing over time, they perceived that enrollments for specific programs were decreasing. This supports the contention that students are now taking a collection of CTE classes rather than a more structured program, or as suggested earlier, it may suggest increased enrollments in non-occupationally specific CTE. If there are fewer students "concentrating" in CTE, this may pose a long term shortcoming for high school youth given the value of concentrating in CTE to economic outcomes discussed earlier. Thus, continued efforts to recruit students into CTE fields should emphasize the importance of a sequential program, such as becoming a CTE "concentrator" (three courses) or "specialist" (four courses) in a particular field. As academic credit requirements continue to rise, school administrators may be limiting the CTE coursework and the opportunity to concentrate. To foster the development of the "forgotten half", schools should ensure that academic standards are met while student are allowed to pursue a particular vocational interest.

While we are not able to offer a longitudinal perspective with the NLSY97 data, our findings showed that in 2000 a slightly larger number of students participating in co-op programs than those reported by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO, 1991) . However, the largest increase with respect to the GAO 1991 report is seen in participation in apprenticeship programs—from 3,500 as reported in the GAO report to 39,365 in 1996 and 223,477 in 2000 as reported in our study. This is likely an artifact of the now sunsetted STWOA. We find a slight decline in the availability of school based enterprises over the period represented in the data. While slight, this may be evidence of a viable work based learning option being squeezed out by increases in other school requirements. It may also reflect the decline in Marketing Education programs reported by administrators.

Finally, in terms of students participating in CTE, we are not surprised by the continued focus on 11th and 12th graders for CTE programs and activities. Many schools also continue to target at-risk and disabled students despite changes in the Perkins III language. Our analysis is consistent with the current, NAVE that reports CTE continues to serve a diverse student body, including special needs and academically oriented students CTE has made great strides in the 1990s, with significant help from federal legislation.

Career pathways and tech prep are now an important part of the educational landscape. The vast majority of schools continue to offer CTE, work based learning and career development to American youth. While the pressures created by various non-CTE reform efforts may be affecting the number of youth who concentrate in CTE, the impact may have stabilized in the latter part of the twentieth century. It will be valuable to revisit these questions a few years hence when the full impact of the federal No Child Left Behind act (2001) will be realized.

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The Authors

James R. Stone III is director of the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education and Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota , Dept. of Work, Community, and Family Education , 1954 Buford Ave., Rm.425, St. Paul, MN 55108, phone number: 612-624-1795, [E-Mail: stone003@tc.umn.edu ]. His research focus includes education and work transitions for youth and adults and CTE based school reform.

Brenda Kowske is a researcher with PDI in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has worked on several research projects on the potential benefits of career and technical education (CTE), and is an independent consultant in the evaluation of secondary education CTE programs [E-mail: kows0003@umn.edu ].

Corinne Alfeld is deputy director at the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education , University of Minnesota , Dept. of Work, Community, and Family Education , 1954 Buford Ave., Rm.425, St. Paul, MN 55108, phone number: 612-624-1726, [E-Mail: alfeld@tc.umn.edu ]. Her research interests are in access to secondary and post-secondary educational and work opportunities for less advantaged populations. Her perspectives are those of young adult development, social structure, and educational policy.

The work reported herein was supported under the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education , PR/Award (No. VO51A990006) as administered by the Office of Vocational and Adult Education , U. S. Department of Education . However, the contents do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the Office of Vocational and Adult Education or the U. S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.