Career & Technical Education: Technology Impact on Employment

Abstract Relationship between technological advances in the classroom and how it effects employability It is not just the goal for high school students to graduate, but make him or her employable Employment of students has increased however, enrollment has decreased, thus leading to inconclusive results.

Importance Career and Technical Education “ creates an environment that compels youth to be active learners and designers” (The HCZ project, 2008). This statement is the outline for what CTE stands for. According to a report Bezdek (2009), completed, the renewable energy and energy efficiency industry could generate more than 37 million jobs by With knowing that, CTE clusters need to prepare students for careers in computer sciences.

Importance (Cont.) If students do not leave high school with the knowledge he or she needs in the “real world” then what is the purpose for learning? If teachers do not provide what students need, students lose focus, dropout rates increase, and unemployment rates increase

Literature Review Completing [technology related] qualifications improve full-time employment outcomes (Brown, 2003) Career and Technical Education (CTE) provides workforce skills depending on the content area

Literature Review (Cont.) “Every single field you’ve been told is technology-proof -from wet welding to coffee shot barista- is being radically altered by technology” (Crotty, 2013) CTE advances student’s knowledge of technology and how to effectively use it is essential to get employed, in any career

Literature Review (Cont.) Higher education is not always necessary to be successful Only 21% of all jobs in the U.S require a bachelor’s degree or higher; more than half of recent graduates are working in an occumation that does not require a college degree(Crotty, 2013)

Research Question Does the increase in the use of technology in the Career and Technical Education classrooms affect employment rates for students entering a specific vocation?

Methodology and Data Surveys conducted asking various questions –Employment –Education/ major –Military Data beginning with 2010 graduates Data ending with 2012 graduates

Methodology and Data (cont.)

Findings Increase from 18%-28% in student employment in his or her field Decrease of enrollment from 170 students to 135 Inconclusive due to the fluctuation in enrollment

Conclusion Inconclusive due to the fluctuation in enrollment More and more jobs need vocational skills The first step to making an impact on conclusive employment results is impacting enrollment

References Bezdek, R. H. (2009) Green collar jobs in the U.S. and Colorado: Economic drives for the 21 st century. Retrieved from ases.org/images/stories /ASES/ pdfs/CO_Jobs_Rpt_Jon2009_symmary.pdf Bottoms, G. (2008) A vision for high schools: Joining academic and technicalstudies to promote more powerful learning. Integrating CTE and Academics, (Nov/Dec), 1. Brown, B. L. (2003) The benefit of career and technical education: Trends and issues alert (Report no. ED-99-CO- 0013). Washington, DC: Office of Education Research and Improvement. Retrieved from ERIC database. (E ) Crotty, J.M. (2013, May 21). Deal high school graduate: Everything you’ve been told is false. Forbes, Retrieved from site.jamesmarshallcrotty/2013/05/21/dear-high-school-graduate-everything-you’ve- been-told-is-false-2/ Gasper, P. (2013) Ever’s education budget request would boost math, science, technology, and career-readiness opportunities for all students (DPI-NR B) Wisconsin Department of Education Retrieved from The HCZ project pipeline: High school. (2008). Retrieved from hcz.org/programs/high-school