The Interplay of CTE Credit-Taking, Occupational Program Choice, and Full-Time Work Directly After High School

Abstract

We examined the impact of secondary Career and Technical Education (CTE) credit-taking on students attaining full-time employment following graduation from high school in the United States, and whether such credit-taking impacted students entering employment in a related field. We focused on occupational programs, and we used four levels of CTE credit-taking (Aliaga, 2023). Similarly, we examined the impact of job-related school strategies on full-time employment and working in a related field. This study was conducted using data from the United States High School Longitudinal Study of 2009. We found that different levels of CTE credit-taking do predict working full-time after school, depending on the occupational program, and they also predict working in a related field.