Degree Name
EdD (Doctor of Education)
Program
Educational Leadership
Date of Award
8-2011
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Eric S. Glover
Committee Members
Pamela H. Scott, Donald W. Good, Angela Lewis
Abstract
The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if the number of Career and Technical Education (CTE) graduates who go on to postsecondary education or some other training program, to the military, or to employment upon high school graduation was significant in comparison to the state baseline for secondary placement. This study further compared CTE graduation rates to overall graduation rates. The graduation rates were compared based on gender as well. School systems that provided CTE courses and that had CTE concentrators for the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years were used for this study. Eight school districts were chosen in the upper east Tennessee region and were evaluated using graduation data and secondary placement data from the Tennessee Department of Education Report Card.
The research cited in this study supported the supposition that CTE graduates do in fact help to increase the overall graduation rates for school districts. This study focused on five research questions and each null hypothesis was tested using a one-sample chi-square test.
Results indicated that there were positive significant differences for CTE concentrators who proceed to postsecondary education, military, and employment as compared to the state baseline for secondary placement. The study further revealed that the graduation rate for Tennessee CTE concentrators was higher than the overall graduation rate for the selected school districts in this study. Positive differences were also noted between the sample CTE graduation rate and the overall Tennessee CTE graduation rate as well as between those rates and the overall Tennessee graduation rate for all students. Further analysis revealed that no significant differences existed between male CTE graduates and female CTE graduates. The research findings suggested that CTE graduation rates can help improve a school district's overall graduation rate.
Document Type
Dissertation - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Loveless, Melissa Ann, "Career and Technical Education (CTE) Graduation Rates in Tennessee: A Comparative Study." (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1330. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1330
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.
Included in
Educational Administration and Supervision Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons