Career and Technical Education in Comprehensive High Schools: Lessons from New York City. Report
James J. Kemple; Rebecca Unterman; Shaun M. Dougherty (2024). Research Alliance for New York City Schools. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED650299
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examining46,136Students, grades9-12
Practice Guide
Review Details
Reviewed: October 2024
- Practice Guide (findings for Career and technical education (CTE) programs in comprehensive high schools — Kemple et al. (2024))
- Quasi-Experimental Design
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it uses a cluster quasi-experimental design that provides evidence of effects on individuals by satisfying the baseline equivalence requirement for the individuals in the analytic intervention and comparison groups.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Enrolled in college |
Career and technical education (CTE) programs in comprehensive high schools — Kemple et al. (2024) vs. Business as usual |
1 Semester |
Full sample;
|
67.40 |
66.40 |
No |
-- | ||
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
Enrolled in college |
Career and technical education (CTE) programs in comprehensive high schools — Kemple et al. (2024) vs. Business as usual |
18 Months |
Full sample;
|
74.10 |
73.80 |
No |
-- | ||
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Passed college course during high school |
Career and technical education (CTE) programs in comprehensive high schools — Kemple et al. (2024) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
29.70 |
25.00 |
No |
-- | |
|
Average number of college courses passed in high school |
Career and technical education (CTE) programs in comprehensive high schools — Kemple et al. (2024) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
1.40 |
1.00 |
No |
-- |
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Participation in paid or course credit internship |
Career and technical education (CTE) programs in comprehensive high schools — Kemple et al. (2024) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
17.70 |
13.20 |
Yes |
|
|
|
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
Participation in paid internship |
Career and technical education (CTE) programs in comprehensive high schools — Kemple et al. (2024) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
6.20 |
1.00 |
Yes |
|
||
|
Participation in an internship that provided course credit |
Career and technical education (CTE) programs in comprehensive high schools — Kemple et al. (2024) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
13.40 |
12.50 |
No |
-- | ||
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Graduated with NY Regents Diploma |
Career and technical education (CTE) programs in comprehensive high schools — Kemple et al. (2024) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
81.60 |
81.50 |
No |
-- |
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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10% English language learners -
Female: 47%
Male: 53% -
Urban
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New York
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Race Asian 20% Black 21% Other or unknown 39% White 20% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 32% Other or unknown 68% -
Eligible for Free and Reduced Price Lunch Other or unknown 100%
Study Details
Setting
The study took place in 51 comprehensive public high schools in New York City.
Study sample
A total of 46,136 students in grades 9 to 12 in 51 comprehensive high schools were included in the study. Approximately 47% of the students were female, 10% were English learners, and 17% received special education services. Twenty-one percent were Black, 20% were White, 20% were Asian, and 39% had unknown race. Thirty-two percent were Hispanic or Latino, and the rest did not report ethnicity.
Intervention Group
Career and technical education (CTE) is a program of study that equips high school students with practical skills and knowledge for specific trades, careers, and professions. These programs offer a sequence of career-focused courses taught by CTE-certified teachers, work-based learning opportunities, and access to college-level coursework made possible through partnerships with employers and postsecondary educational institutions. The intervention in this study is CTE provided in comprehensive high schools, which offer CTE alongside other educational options. The intervention group was students selected by school administrators to participate in the CTE program.
Comparison Group
Students in the comparison group were those enrolled in other programs of studies that did not offer CTE in comprehensive high schools. These students received business-as-usual 9th through 12th grade instruction without activities aligned with CTE.
Support for implementation
The study did not describe any support and training offered to the providers of the intervention in this study.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
The WWC may review studies for multiple purposes, including different reports and re-reviews using updated standards. Each WWC review of this study is listed in the dropdown. Details on any review may be accessed by making a selection from the drop down list.
Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).