Equity in Secondary Career and Technical Education in the United States: A Theoretical Framework and Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Career and technical education (CTE) has become increasingly popular in U.S. secondary schools, but equity has not always been a focus of federal legislation or state and local policies and programs. This literature review of trends in CTE research between 1998 and 2019 uses a novel equity framework to examine whether and how secondary CTE programs affect educational equity. A total of 123 sources were reviewed. Findings revealed that CTE research most commonly addresses access and participation, measured by high school graduation rates and GPA. Few studies disaggregate outcome measures by student subgroups to better assess equity. Furthermore, a dearth of large-scale, comparative, and longitudinal research limits generalizability. Most extant research on secondary CTE programs in the United States examines a single state, district, or school. This article identifies promising policies and practices for enhancing equity in CTE conveyed by extant literature and recommends important directions for future research.

Exploring Ethnic and Gender Equity Enrollment and Achievement Patterns in High School CTE Career Pathways in Mississippi

“…As discussed in other studies, there is a gap in the research related to CTE in general. Likewise, more research is needed when exploring equitable access in CTE as school systems try to align more closely to workforce demands in the 21st century (Dougherty, 2016;Kim et al, 2021). This study supports the findings of Byars-Winston et al (2015), Alonso-Villar & del Río (2017), and Leu and Arbeit (2020) that school systems are not building a robust enough pipeline for female and minority students in STEM-related careers based on current state enrollment patterns.…”

“…As far as racial disparities, the data in STEM career clusters demonstrated an overrepresentation of White students in all career clusters. The data reported in Hamilton et al's study is more than eight years old, but CTE legislation and equity improvements are known to be a slow change (Kim et al, 2021); therefore, it is plausible that some of these inequities within STEM-related career clusters and other CTE clusters, although improving, are ongoing in other states beyond Illinois. Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015) was enacted to ensure that all students in the U.S. are held to a high academic standard and that educators, families, students, and communities are receiving information through statewide assessments on students' progress toward achieving these standards.…”

“…The predecessor to ESSA, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2006 (NCLB, 2002), was intended to advance equity in traditional education, but the NCLB legislation neglected to address equity in CTE as well; therefore, Fletcher and Zirkle (2009) concluded that equity in CTE was left behind. Furthermore, the ESSA addresses this lack of focus on CTE by the NCLB and includes language that defines CTE as a component of a wellrounded education (Kim et al, 2021). In addition to the ESSA attempting to address equity in CTE, Perkins V (Perry, 2019) further builds on CTE ideals.…”

Review of Learning Result of The Physics Base on SSCS (Search, Solve, Create, and Share) Model in Terms of Critical Thinking Skills

“…Therefore, the application of SSCS learning can model involving students at each stage. So that students can be applied and more enthusiastic when learning because they are directly involved in education [13].…”

The Back Burner: Educational Equity, Resilience, and Psychological Well-Being as a Predictor on Promoting Students Mental Health

“…It relates to social justice implications of education concerning fairness, justness, and impartiality of its distribution at all levels (Jacob & Holsinger, 2008). Educational equity demands change in education policies to close educational disparities, reduce the dropout rate, delinquency, improve economic productivity and increase social stability (Kim et al, 2021;Riordan et al, 2019). Educational policies need to redesign focusing horizontal equity, vertical equity, and equal education opportunity (Maiztegui-Oñate & Sáñtibanez-Gruber, 2008).…”