A recent study published in the Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR) entitled Career and Technical Education as Pathways: Factors Influencing Postcollege Earnings of Selected Career Clusters investigated the roles of career and technical education (CTE) programs in influencing the post college earning of students. The study focused on three career clusters (Business, IT and Marketing) and included a diverse evaluation of demographics.

The findings of the study indicated a very low associate degree completion rate among male students, non-White students, and non-Pell recipients. The IT cluster did have higher completion rates and a speculation about this difference was the linkage of program completion with improved employment opportunities. The findings of the study also indicated mixed results as to the financial benefits for those who did complete degrees and that the “ . . . completion of an associate degree has  a significant impact on earning for students in some, but not all, programs at community colleges.”

The research summary report is provided by the Education Commission of the States.

Tags: Career Clusters®, postsecondary

This entry was posted on Monday, December 6th, 2010 at 9:49 am and is filed under Career Clusters®, News, Publications, Research. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.