Career and Technical Education Coursetaking Among Public High School Graduates

Public high school graduates in 2013 earned an average of 2.60 credits in career and technical education (CTE). This represents a decline in participation since 1992, when graduates earned an average of 3.13 CTE credits. A new brief from the National Center for Education Statistics, Public High School Students’ Career and Technical Education Coursetaking:1992 to 2013, examines the CTE coursetaking of public high school graduates in 2013 and changes in CTE coursetaking between graduates in 1992 and those in 2013.  Key findings include: In 2013, 88 percent of public high school graduates earned CTE credits. Graduates earned more credits in business, finance, and marketing than in any other CTE area. Although participation in CTE overall declined from 1992 to 2013, declines were evident in only 3 of the 10 CTE subject areas (business, finance, and marketing; mechanical repair and operation; and engineering, design, and production). Males earned more CTE credits than did females. Graduates who took Algebra I or lower-level mathematics courses at the start of high school completed more CTE credits than those who initially took high-level mathematics courses. The report uses data from three NCES longitudinal studies of high school students: the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, and the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009.