Recent college graduates are clearly facing significant labor market challenges and statistics show that college graduates will more likely find themselves unemployed or underemployed rather than gainfully employed in the current job market. The purpose of this study was to examine the career identity development of non-public high school seniors taking a career preparation program involving internships within all career pathways, not just those requiring a bachelor’s degree or higher. Individual interviews were conducted with ten students, the program director, and four site coordinators to gain the insight from their experiences with the career development course. Results from this study indicated that students experienced a high level of student engagement in the program, exposure to real-world experience in careers, and meaningful relationships with adults who participated in the program. Findings in this study also indicated how self-awareness and self-confidence gained from participating in the program lead to the development of a positive career identity. This study can be used to inform schools and school districts of the value of internships on the development of career identity.

Today there is an increased demand for secondary agriculture education programs to prepare students to be college and career ready through a program of study. The purpose of this study was to identify risk and protective factors of preparatory and non-preparatory students within an agriculture education program at Anderson County High School in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. The results of this study did not determine that there was a difference in risk and protective factors between preparatory and non-preparatory students within agriculture education courses. The study concluded that students among both categories were equally exposed to risks such as family conflict and peers that abused alcohol and/or drugs. The study also concluded that both preparatory and non-preparatory students could benefit from increased protective factors such as understanding the relevance of coursework within agriculture education courses, increased parent involvement in schoolwork, and having contact with peers who are involved in CTSO’s such as the FFA. It is recommended that agriculture education researchers at post-secondary institutions conduct further research on retention within career pathways from various theoretical frameworks.

Esta dissertação é resultado de um processo que buscou conhecer e discutir as expressões e contribuições do ensino de psicologia no campo das Escolas Técnicas Estaduais de São Paulo (Etecs) tendo como fundamentação teórico-metodológica o Materialismo Histórico Dialético. No primeiro momento, realizou-se levantamento do campo de atuação possível para o licenciado em psicologia nas Etecs, obtendo- se que em número de discentes, diversidade de cursos e porcentagem de Etecs esse campo é amplo. Posteriormente, realizou-se pesquisa de campo em uma Escola Técnica Estadual de São Paulo envolvendo: observação de espaços comuns da escola e aulas de Psicologia Organizacional (curso de técnico em Administração) e Psicologia Social (curso de técnico em Marketing); análise de documentos; conversas informais e entrevista com o docente das disciplinas observadas. O processo de análise partiu das questões construídas durante a pesquisa de campo e as significou a partir da teoria. Foi possível identificar a existência de processos potencialmente alienantes e processos potencialmente emancipatórios no ensino de psicologia, os quais são profundamente condicionados pela histórica subordinação da educação profissional às demandas ideológicas do mercado de trabalho e às condições de trabalho existentes nas Etecs, as quais entre outras questões restringem a autonomia dos docentes e os reduzem a técnicos. Compreendeu-se que há no ensino de psicologia das Etecs predominância dos processos potencialmente alienantes, os quais foram discutidos em termos de: 1) redução dos conhecimentos psicológicos ao uso instrumental; 2) marginalidade do conteúdo; 3) prescrição de formas de ser e agir; e 4) equívocos no ensino de conteúdos. Desvelou-se a existência de brechas que possibilitaram a existência de processos potencialmente emancipatórios, tais como: 1) relações de respeito mútuo; e 2) ensino de conhecimentos histórico-socialmente construídos. A pesquisa permite entrever as potencialidades do ensino de psicologia no campo das Etecs e afirmar a possibilidade deste contribuir para a formação humana emancipada, desde que: a) considere criticamente os condicionantes inerentes a seu próprio campo de conhecimento, atuação e formação de seus professores; e b) busque incessantemente superá-los. Para tal considerou-se como necessárias lutas no sentido da modificação de políticas públicas de educação e transformações na formação inicial e contínua dos professores de psicologia / This dissertation results of a process that aimed to discover and discuss the expressions and contributions of the teaching of psychology in the field of the technical schools of the state of São Paulo (Etecs), having as theoretical and methodological basis the historical and dialectical materialism. At first, the potential field for psychology teachers at the Etecs was surveyed, getting that, in number of students, diversity of courses and percentage of Etecs, this field is wide. Subsequent field research took place in an Etec, including: observation of the common areas of the school and of classes in Organizational Psychology (technical course in Business Administration) and Social Psychology (technical course in Marketing), analysis of documents; informal conversations and interviews with the teacher of the observed subjects. The process of analysis was built upon the issues raised during the field research and sought their meaning in theory. It was possible to identify the existence of potentially alienating processes and potentially emancipatory processes in the teaching of psychology, which are heavily affected by the historical subordination of vocational education to ideological demands of the labor market and by the working conditions existing in the Etecs which, among other issues, restrict the autonomy of teachers and reduce them to technicians. It was understood that there is, in the teaching of psychology in Etecs, prevalence of potentially alienating processes, which were discussed in terms of: 1) reduction of psychological knowledge to instrumental use, 2) marginality of contents, 3) prescription of ways of being and acting; and 4) mistakes in the teaching of contents. Was unveiled the existence of breaches that allowed the existence of potentially emancipatory processes, such as: 1) relations of mutual respect; and 2) teaching of historically and socially constructed knowledge. The research provides a glimpse of the potentialities of the teaching of psychology in the field of the Etecs and allows to affirm the possibility that it contributes to the emancipated human formation, provided that it: a) critically considers the inherent constraints to its own field of knowledge, its work and the formation of its teachers; and b) constantly seeks to overcome them. For this, struggles for the modification of public education policies and for changes in initial and continuing training of psychology teachers are necessary

The focus of this study is to determine the relationship between a Career and Technical Education (CTE) Information Technology (IT) teacher's self-assessed level of technology proficiency to the level of technology integration into the classroom, the prior work experience in the information technology field, the years of teaching experience, and the stage of adoption of technology. Participants were CTE IT teachers who were members of an IT teacher listserv that was established by the UNT Grant for Educational Excellence from the Texas Education Agency/CTE and teaching in Grades 9-12 in the state of Texas during the 2015-2016 school year. The study utilized a quantitative survey methodology to gain a perspective on the correlation of the variables. Three validated self-report instruments were administered via an online survey. The three instruments utilized were the Technology Proficiency Self-Assessment for 21st Century Learning, Concerns-Based Adoption Model-Levels of Use (CBAM-LoU), and the Stages of Adoption of Technology.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to compare high school graduation rates between Career and Technical Education (CTE) concentrators and non-CTE concentrators. School systems in the state of Tennessee that offered CTE courses for the 2007-2008 (120 systems) or 2008-2009 (118 systems) school years were used in this study. Fifteen northeast Tennessee systems were also examined to compare the graduation rates of CTE concentrators and non-CTE concentrators. The graduation rates of male and female CTE concentrators was also compared. Research supported the notion that CTE concentrators could improve overall graduation rates for school systems, and female CTE concentrators on average graduate at a higher rate than male CTE concentrators. Five research questions guided this study, and data were analyzed using independent-samples t tests and one-samples t tests. Results indicated that 12th-grade CTE concentrators had a higher graduation rate than non-CTE concentrators. The study further revealed that female CTE concentrators graduated at a significantly higher rate than male CTE concentrators. Findings suggested that CTE concentrators generally improved a school system's overall graduation rate.

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Public school districts play a pivotal role in the well-being of rural communities. To help mitigate the impact of labor market trends, societal shifts, and the skilled labor shortage, rural schools are in the initial stages of expanding innovative career pathways. As such, career and technical education (CTE) administrators serve their rural communities by facilitating robust career pathways to support local labor markets. Due to a skilled labor shortage, a declining labor force participation rate, and a rapidly evolving labor market, there is a lack of qualified and certified personnel to fill industry jobs (Davis et al., 2022). School districts can impact career readiness and CTE administrators are tasked with facilitating robust career pathways, including increasing access to programs of study, developing new partnerships, and expanding industry certifications and early postsecondary opportunities to support local, regional, and national labor markets and community vitality (Kim et al., 2021). This narrative inquiry investigated how CTE administrators facilitated the development of career programs of study in rural secondary settings. This study explored the journeys of CTE administrators through their stories of career pathway design, facilitation, and improvement in the context of rural secondary education. Narrative interviews were conducted via one-on-one video conferencing with nine rural CTE administrators from one Grand Division of Tennessee, in addition to organizational document reviews and annals. Two levels of data analysis were used to compose the final research text, with the first level of field texts coded with narrative coding and the second level coded through the identification of resonant narrative threads. Research findings included participant accounts related to resilient and visionary leadership, intentional strategic alignment, ecosystem of collaboration, funding opportunities and barriers, and responsive and adaptive programming. CTE administrators identified systemic changes that when implemented strategically integrate innovative programs of study and partnerships into their rural districts’ broader education system. The findings expand the current body of literature and recommendations for practice.