Vocational and Career Tech Education in American High Schools: The Value of Depth Over Breadth

  Education Finance and Policy, Vol. 15, No. 1: 11-44. 

 
   Vocational education is a large part of the high school curriculum, 
   yet we have little understanding of what drives vocational enrollment 
   or whether these courses help or harm early careers. To address this 
   deficiency, the authors develop a framework for curriculum choice, taking into 
   account ability and preferences for academic and vocational work. They 
   test model predictions using detailed transcript and earnings 
   information from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997). 

• The results are twofold. First, students positively sort into vocational 
     courses, suggesting that the belief that low-ability students are 
     funneled into vocational coursework is unlikely tr

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• Second, they find higher earnings among students taking more upper-level vocational 
     courses—a nearly 2 percent wage premium for each additional year, yet 
     we find no gain from introductory vocational courses. 

These results suggest: (1) policies limiting students' ability to take vocational 
   courses may not be welfare-enhancing, and (2) the benefits of 
   vocational coursework accrue to those who focus on depth over breadth.