But Ryder isn't sure her program will set students up for career success. That's because Louisiana, like many states, doesn't have a system to track students once they enter the workforce. To track students' career paths, Ryder and his colleagues need to ask the graduates themselves for updates.
“That's all we can do right now because we don't have a tracking system,” she said. Without that, “how exactly can we be sure that these programs are actually leading to viable careers?”
Programs that prepare students for high-paying jobs are growing in popularity as college tuition costs soar and the demand for skilled workers increases. Approximately 85% of 2019 high school graduates took at least one course in career and technical education (CTE). In 2018, Congress increased annual funding for CTE, which now exceeds $1.4 billion. And in 2022, 36 states will have enacted policies to promote career training for high school students, college students, and adults, according to Advanced CTE, a professional organization for state CTE leaders.
But many states struggle to answer the basic question: “Is career education working?”
The reason they can't answer is because the data is disconnected. Due to student privacy concerns, many states do not connect K-12 schools and employee datasets. Effectively, students fall off the state's radar once they start working.
Currently, Louisiana is one of the few states that is integrating datasets to track students from preschool to college and into their careers. Until then, students' employment outcomes after high school will remain a mystery. Do former CTE students find jobs in the industries they studied? Do they get paid well? Prospective CTE students and policy makers have no way of knowing.
“We don't see that in most places,” said Daniel Kriseman, an economics professor at Georgia State University, who compiled the data and produced a study to inform CTE policymakers. He contributed to the launch of the initiative. “Without that, they're going to be making decisions in the dark.”
Louisiana is betting big on career education. Starting in 2014, the state sought to improve her CTE instruction, align course offerings with the job market, and increase funding. According to the state Department of Education, the number of students earning industry-recognized credentials that show they have mastered a specific job skill has increased fivefold by 2018, up from about 18,000 in 2014. The number increased to more than 90,000 in 2018.
But nearly a decade after the overhaul began, the state has yet to show that CTE helps students advance their careers. In 2014, the Louisiana Legislature passed one of the nation's strictest student data privacy laws that prohibits state officials from sharing student data, so officials are unable to study long-term consequences.
One conclusion is that policymakers have no way of knowing where public school graduates are working or how much they are earning. Another impact: Louisiana does not accurately report to the federal government the number of CTE students who find jobs immediately after high school, despite a law requiring the state to report post-CTE performance. It is one of five states, a U.S. Department of Education spokeswoman said. . (Louisiana also reports on other outcomes such as college admissions.)
At a 2020 legislative hearing, Louisiana Department of Education officials said the reporting error could cost the state $21 million a year in federal funding for career education. (A department spokesperson recently announced that there had been no loss of funds.) Another agency official said they had been “soliciting” former CTE students' employment records for years, but privacy laws barred them from doing so. He said he was
“Are we preparing them for careers in the fields we advocate for?” Jill Prather Cowart, then assistant superintendent, asked lawmakers. “I think we're doing a great job, but we don't have the data or the research.”
Only 27 states maintain data systems that link education and employment information, according to a 2021 analysis by the State Board of Education. The rest will keep school and work data separate.
“The information is being collected, but right now it's not helping anyone,” said Page, executive vice president of the Data Quality Campaign, a nonprofit organization that promotes data tracking from preschool to employment.・Mr. Kowalski stated. She added that even in states with connected data systems, school districts and the public often don't have access to information.
Advocates say data showing how CTE graduates are faring in the labor market could provide valuable insights. Policymakers can troubleshoot CTE programs whose graduates struggle to find jobs, while schools can use positive outcomes to attract business partners. Students can see data on graduate employment rates and earnings before deciding on a CTE program.
“It's going to give students more choices in how they influence their future,” said Madison Badeau, a 12th grade student at Walker High School in Livingston Parish, Louisiana. said. She took a medical assistant course this fall.
Some states survey high school graduates about careers, but responses are often sparse and unrepresentative. School districts sometimes try to collect their own data by contacting former students and local employers or looking at LinkedIn, but this method is not feasible for large districts.
States that do not track graduates' progress are still required to report short-term outcomes. The federal Career Education Act, known as the Perkins Act, requires states to select at least one measure of CTE quality. It is the percentage of high school CTE students who earn vocational skills certifications, earn college credits, or participate in work-based learning such as: Internship or practicum.
However, achieving these standards does not guarantee career success. For example, a 2020 analysis found that only 18 percent of the credentials earned by CTE students are sought by employers in job postings. A 2022 study focused on Texas also found that most former CTE students work in industry or choose college majors unrelated to the certifications they earned.
Certifications range from Microsoft Office Specialist to Emergency Medical Technician, but the data reported by each state can mask differences in students' career readiness. For example, Louisiana reported that approximately 54 percent of its CTE students earned an industry-recognized credential in 2022, but a state task force found that among that year's CTE graduates, students We found that only 6 percent gained advanced qualifications that were more likely to help them secure a wage. work.
“Earning certification in and of itself is not success,” said Erin Bendely, deputy director of policy and strategy at the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, a think tank in Louisiana.
The U.S. Department of Education has long promoted data tracking from schools to employees. Since 2006, he has awarded more than $900 million to states to build data systems that can track students over time and is working on an effort to help states share employment data. Still, as of 2020, only 35% of states and territories included employee data in their student tracking systems, according to the department's research.
States that link school and job data, such as Florida and Maryland, have found that taking career courses in high school could help some students earn higher wages after graduation. found. (Maryland's data suggests that CTE training in skilled trades, such as construction, produces the largest wage increases, consistent with other research.) California plans to launch this year has spent years developing its proprietary Cradle-to-Career Data System. Shedding light on long-term student outcomes.
Emily Passius, deputy executive director of Advanced CTE, said she expects more states to follow suit as lawmakers seek proof that career education is worth the investment.
“Our state legislators are asking the right questions,” she said. “How does program X affect Y’s labor market outcomes?”
In Louisiana, lawmakers may soon get some answers.
In 2022, Louisiana enacted a law requiring the state labor commission to share employment data on high school graduates with the Department of Education. To comply with privacy laws, parents must consent to tracking, tracking ends when a student reaches her 26th birthday, and social security numbers must be omitted from employment records. Data sharing was scheduled to begin in December.
Under another law enacted last June, Louisiana is creating a new system called LA FIRST that will combine data from multiple state agencies, including education and workforce. Data is reflected in an annual report that includes students' college and career outcomes.
Knowing how graduates from each CTE program are doing in the labor market can help the state decide which programs to expand or improve, said Arnis Singleton, who oversees college and career readiness for the Louisiana Department of Education. He said it will help identify and provide a model for other school districts to emulate.
“We hope that this data will bring greater transparency across the state to the efforts of others that lead to success,” she said.
As of December, participating institutions were still finalizing data-sharing agreements, said Stephen Burns, director of the Kathleen Babineau Blanco Center for Public Policy at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, which manages the system. Because of privacy concerns, Burns added, it's not yet clear whether the system will report student performance in each district or just trends across the state.
“We want the insights to be actionable,” he said. “But certainly one of the broader concerns that we have is protecting confidentiality.”
On a recent afternoon, Brandi Dessell, CTE coordinator for Livingston Parish Public Schools, which enrolls about 27,000 students, led a tour of Walker High School's career program. In the welding shop, students are putting the finishing touches on steel fire pits that he sells for $200 each. One senior was planning to start working at a welding company the day after graduation.
In a medical assistant class where students demonstrated how to draw blood and measure blood pressure, the 12th grader said she plans to become a labor and delivery nurse. And while firefighter classes have students climbing ladders and hoisting hoses, training officials say some of last year's graduates are now working in fire departments.
This anecdote suggested that the school was putting its students on the path to successful careers. But exactly how many students get and keep good jobs?
“I can’t wait to see what the students end up doing,” Dessell said. “I feel like it will only help make decisions at my level better for our students and their futures.”
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