Rhonda Ritter
University of North Texas
United States
SITE
March 19, 2014
 Role
of education in society
 Variables
 Students
 Burden
beyond educators’ control
labeled as at-risk
on society
“Are students who have a 2.0 or lower GPA
and have completed at least three Career
and Technology Education courses less
likely to drop out of high school when
compared to students who completed no
CTE courses?”
 2000
• Approximately one-half million of 10 million
students enrolled in high school (Kaufman, Alt, &
Chapman 2004)
 2008-2009
• 607,000 students in grades 9-12 (Chapman, Laird, Ifill &
KewalRamani 2011)
 2011
• 1.2 million annually, 7,000 students daily (Alliance
for Excellent Education 2011)
 Low
socioeconomic status and family
structure
 Unsuccessful
in academic courses
 Loss
of interest with no connection to
real-world
 Process
of disengagement on social and
academic level (Cohen & Besharov 2002)
 Carl
D. Perkins Career and Technical
Education Improvement Act 2006
 Funding
to improve and develop
academic and career and technical skills
for students in CTE courses (Public Law 109-270
2006)
Agriculture, Food & Natural
Resources
Human Services
Architecture & Construction
Information Technology
Arts, Audio/Visual
Technology, & Comm.
Law, Public Safety, Corrections &
Security
Business Management
& Administration
Manufacturing
Education & Training
Marketing
Finance
STEM
Government & Public
Admin
Transportation, Distribution &
Logistics
Health Science
Career Development
Hospitality & Tourism
(http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=5415)
 Prepare
to manage dual roles of family
member and wage earner (TEA 2010)
 Gain
entry-level employment (TEA 2010)
 Provide
skills needed by employers (Cohen &
Besharov 2002)
 Provide
work habits desired by
employers (Cohen & Besharov 2002)
 More
likely to be engaged in learning,
tend to stay in school (Cohen & Besharov 2002)
 Builds
positive relationships, provides
innovative delivery methods (ACTE 2007)
 Empowers
students, relates to real-world,
makes it more interesting and enjoyable
(Anderson et al 2004)
 Increased
chances of unemployment
 Increase
incidence of divorce and births
outside marriage
 Increased
involvement with welfare and
legal systems
 Poor
health (Bloom & Haskins 2010)
 Result
in approximately $192 billion in
combined income and tax revenue losses
to US
 Great
hardships on labor market and
economic welfare (Rouse 2005)
 Produce
productive citizens
 Contribute
 Increase
 Receive
to the national job labor market
earning potential of students
higher wages (Bishop & Mane 2004)
 Decreased
2005)
 More
risk of dropout (Plank, DeLuca & Estacion
diverse sense of learning
 Establish and encourage pathway to
successful future
 Career focus gives students sense of
direction (Bishop & Mane 2004)
 Motivates them to achieve and stay in school
 More individually relevant choices available
to them
 Quantitative
 Sample
 Male
study
9-12 grade students
and female
 Participated
 Transcript
 Results
in at least three CTE courses
verification of GPA
tabulated
 Sample
size
 Previous
studies finding no significant
difference
 Definition
 Lack
of dropout
of complete transcripts
 Provide
 More
means of staying in school
engaging
 Real-world
 Envision
applications
future
Rhonda Ritter, M.Ed
University of North Texas, Denton, TX
Hull-Daisetta High School, Daisetta, TX
rhonda.ritter@my.unt.edu
rritter@hdisd.net