The Impact of Workplace Learning on the
Students Postsecondary Placement Outcomes of
Secondary Career and Technical Education Programs in
Pennsylvania

Sun-Young Ahn

Seoul National University

Richard A. Walter

Pennsylvania State University

Abstract

Employment-bound students are the main consumers of secondary career and technical education programs. While workplace learning programs are claimed to have many benefits, they should be opportunities where employment-bound students can prepare for quality employment. This study examines the effect of workplace learning programs on student placement outcomes of secondary career and technical education programs in Pennsylvania. The main findings are the following: (1) Among various types, Co-op programs are the most extensively participated workplace learning programs. Co-op programs also appeared to be strongly tied to vocational preparation and the most effective route to related employment. (2) The higher the participation rate of the completers in workplace learning programs, the lower the rate of the completers who continued education. In contrast, the higher the participation rate of the completers in workplace learning programs, the higher the rate of the completers placed in related employment.

Introduction

College education is the most common and has been increasingly perceived as the most desirable postsecondary path for all high school graduates. However, at least one-third of high school graduates do not enter college within two years of high school graduation and it is unlikely that percentage of students matriculating directly after high school will increase much more (Gray & Walter, 2001, p.28). This population of youths is called employment-bound students. Considering the fact that formal education is a society’s best available route to prepare its citizens for the world of work (Castellano, Stringfield & Stone, 2003), secondary education should address employment-bound students’ need for career preparation.

A large proportion of employment-bound students are enrolled in secondary career and technical education (CTE)1 programs. The expectations of diverse and changing parties have affected the design of secondary CTE programs (Gray & Herr, 1998; Stevens, 1996, p.131). However, without much dissent, the goal of secondary CTE programs has been, and continues to be, the production of skilled workers who usually enter the workforce immediately after high school (Nagle, 2001). Unfortunately, many of the employment-bound students, even with a high school diploma, struggle with frequent job changes and occasional spells of unemployment in their first years after graduation (Rosenbaum, 2001).

Initiatives to improve the career preparation of employment-bound students have called for employers to open up their workplaces to students. The most influential legislation to support workplace learning programs as a means to improve employment-bound students’ preparation for the workplace was the School-to-Work Opportunities Act (STWOA), which was passed in 1994 and expired in 2001. Different types or different levels of participation in workplace learning programs are expected to bring different effects on students’ experiences including their postsecondary placement. Given the history of workplace learning’s partnership with CTE, it is puzzling that it has not been more exhaustively studied. This article will examine the effect of workplace learning programs on student postsecondary placement outcomes as well as the level of participation in workplace learning and student postsecondary placement.

Methodology

Research Questions

1. To what extend did secondary CTE programs participate in workplace learning programs?

2. What are the student placement outcomes of secondary CTE programs?

3. What is the effect of workplace learning programs upon the student postsecondary placement outcomes of the secondary CTE programs?

Data

The subjects of this study are CTE programs in Pennsylvania. This study involves an analysis of an existing data set, CATS (Secondary Career and Technical Education Information System), collected by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Two sets of data are utilized for the purpose of this study. The first set of data, obtained during 1998-1999, included workplace learning component enrollments in CTE programs. The data that we analyzed were from the period of time when the STWOA had been implemented for several years and secondary CTE programs had tried various types of workplace learning programs. Therefore, the data were deemed to represent the overall implementation of workplace learning programs.

The second set of data, obtained in 2000, which was one year after the completion of a CTE program, focused on the postsecondary status of the completers of secondary CTE programs. These data were collected from individuals responding to a follow-up survey conducted by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Initially, the data were collected from 417 secondary schools. A total of 1,364 approved programs were offered at 80 Area Vocational-Technical Schools (AVTSs) and a total of 1,161 programs at 337 comprehensive high schools. Collectively, 95,510 students attended these programs: 51,964 at AVTSs and 43,546 at comprehensive high schools. The sample in this study consists of 2,012 CTE programs in Pennsylvania. Only the programs, both for which information on workplace learning participation and placement outcome was reported, were included in the study (PDE, 2000).

Variables

The independent variables in this study include participation in workplace learning programs, area of study, type of school, location and the local unemployment rate. Participation in workplace learning programs is further defined as participation in: Community/Job Exploration Experience programs, Cooperative Work Experience programs, Internship programs, School Sponsored Enterprise programs, Supervised Agricultural Experience programs and Work-based Experience programs.

Areas of study were classified as Agricultural Education, Business Education, Health Occupations Education, Marketing and Distribution Education, Occupational Home Economics Education, Trade and Industry Education, and not elsewhere classified (Diversified occupations). Type of school was entered either as AVTS or comprehensive high school.

The local labor market factors such as industry mix, employment rates, region, and the extent of urbanization of a certain area (Desy, Mertens & Gardener, 1984, p.15) influence labor force participation and employment. In this study, location and unemployment rates were included. The county in which a CTE program is located was entered into as “rural” or “urban.” The categories are based on definitions adopted by the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Rural Health Policy. For this study, the unemployment rate of the county where each secondary CTE program is located in the year of the follow-up survey was included. The unemployment rate is used as a measure of the relative economic conditions in the various local labor markets.

The dependent variable in this study is the placement outcomes measured in percentage of the secondary CTE programs in Pennsylvania. The completer placement status was subdivided into six categories: (1) employment related to training; (2) employment unrelated to the training; (3) pursuing additional education; (4) military; (5) unemployed (looking); and (6) unemployed (not looking). Individuals were placed into one of these six categories. A student who responded as pursuing additional education as well as employed is counted as pursuing additional education if the employment is part-time (less than 35 hours per week), and counted as employed if the employment is full-time (35 hours or more per week). A student who is pursuing both additional education and military service is counted only in the military service category. Also, the percentage of the completers in each category of the postsecondary status was calculated. The principal postsecondary placement outcomes investigated were percentage in related employment, unrelated employment, and additional education.

Analysis

Univariate statistics (i.e. means and standard deviation) were used to examine the extent of participation in workplace learning programs and the placement outcomes of secondary career and technical education. To test the differences between AVTS CTE programs and comprehensive high school CTE programs in the extent of participation in workplace learning programs and the placement outcomes, the Mann-Whitney U test was conducted. Multivariate regression was employed to examine the relationships between the placement outcomes of CTE programs and the independent variables.

Limitation

The methodological limitation in this study pertains to the lack of available data to use as statistical controls. The differences in placement outcomes between high school CTE programs and AVTS CTE programs may be explained by systematic differences among students because they may attract considerably different students. This explanation was not tested since no specific information was available on individual students’ backgrounds. This is a common limitation in ex post facto correlational research.

1) Area Vocational-Technical Schools (AVTSs) are public schools which provide career and technical education to secondary school students, out-of school youth and adults in a geographical area comprised of and operated by on or more school districts and established under Sections 1840-1853 of the Public School Code of 1949 (PDE, 2001).

2) A work-based experience refers to technical skills occurring in a work setting. Students enrolled in Diversified Occupations usually have this component (PDE, 2001).>

Findings

The Extent of Student Participation in Workplce Learning Programs

The participation rate of each CTE program in a workplace learning program represents the extent or level of students participating in that particular workplace learning program. The result shows that 33.6 percent of the CTE completers participated in one or more workplace learning programs. Table 1 shows the summary of the extent of the participation in workplace learning programs.

Among various types, this study finds that Cooperative Education (Co-op) programs (19.7%) are the most extensively participated workplace learning programs. Also, other findings of this study consistently show that Co-op programs appear to be strongly tied to vocational education and also to be an effective route to employment. While extensive emphasis has been placed on Internships, especially by STWOA (Haimson & Bellotti, 2001), the extent of participation in Internships turned out to be unexpectedly small (3.1%). This low participation rate in Internship programs can be explained by the fact that the prevalent uses of Co-op programs might have reduced the need of

creating new Internship programs. In addition, Co-op programs may have more direct benefits and fit the secondary vocational education and its students better than Internship programs.

The Mann-Whitney U tests3 were used to test the differences in the participation rates in each type of workplace learning programs between AVTS CTE programs and comprehensive high school CTE programs. AVTS CTE programs had higher student participation rates in Co-op programs (U = 90078.000; p < .001), Internship programs (U = 144278.50; p < .05) and School-Sponsored Enterprise programs (U = 143058.500; p < .01) than did comprehensive high school CTE programs. Comprehensive high school CTE programs had higher participation rates in Supervised Agricultural Experience programs (U = 130153.000; p < .001) and work- based experience programs (U = 116305.500; p < .001) than did AVTS CTE programs. Table 2 shows the results.

This finding allows for speculation that each workplace learning program is perceived to have a different value or purpose, therefore, used in different ways. Notable is that AVTS CTE programs showed higher participation rates in Co-op programs and Internship programs, which involve relatively more intensive contacts with employers than other workplace learning programs. School-Sponsored Enterprise programs are also more widely used in AVTSs as a part of the preparation for employment, by providing hands-on learning for employment-bound students, where employer-involved workplace learning programs may not be easily accessible.

Student Placement Outcomes of Secondary CTE Programs

Examining the placement outcomes of secondary CTE programs is important because the postsecondary status of their completers reflects the nature of the service the secondary CTE programs are providing. Among the completers who responded to the follow-up survey, 53.44 percent reported that they were employed; 26.31 percent were employed related to their training, and 27.13 percent were employed unrelated to their training. In addition, 34.20 percent pursued additional education. Table 3 presents the results.

The results show that the majority of the completers found employment immediately after high school, which affirms that employment-bound students are the main consumers of secondary CTE. Make note that there is a clear difference between AVTS CTE programs and comprehensive high school CTE programs in placement outcomes. The great majority, 60.3 percent, of the completers of AVTS programs was employed, as compared with 42.13 percent of the completers of high school CTE programs. AVTS CTE programs do have higher student placement rates than comprehensive high school CTE programs in related employment. In addition, a higher rate of the completers from AVTS CTE programs (32.56%) obtained their employment in areas related to their education and training than those from comprehensive high school CTE programs (16%) (U = 312629.000; p < .001). In contrast, a higher rate of the completers in comprehensive high schools (46.26%) pursued additional education than those in AVTSs (26.88%) (U = 331740.000; p < .001). Small but statistically significant differences were found in the rates of unrelated employment between programs in high schools (26.12%) and those in AVTSs (27.74%). Table 4 presents the results.

This result shows that AVTS CTE programs and comprehensive high school CTE programs are playing a different role in terms of preparing their students for postsecondary career paths. AVTS CTE programs can be described as having more emphasis on job preparation than comprehensive high school CTE programs. Interestingly, concerning unrelated employment, there is only a very small difference between AVTS CTE programs and high school CTE programs.

The Effect of Workplace Learning on Student Placement Outcomes

To examine the impact of participation in workplace learning programs on placement outcomes of the secondary CTE programs, multivariate regression analysis was conducted. This procedure holds constant the effects of other important and relevant variables, so that it can isolate the impact of workplace learning program participation on the dependent variables. Tables 5-7 show the results.

First, the findings show that the higher the participation rate of the completers in workplace learning programs, the lower the rate of completers who continued additional education. In contrast, the higher the participation rate of the completers in workplace learning programs, the higher the rate of the completers placed in related employment.

Ideally, workplace learning is expected to enhance participating students’ academic performance by bringing real-world context and application, subsequently raising academic aspiration. However, current workplace learning programs do not seem to accomplish this goal.

Second, it was found that most of the independent variables that show a positive relationship with related employment tend to show a

negative relationship with unrelated employment and vice versa. This means that programs that somehow have many assets helpful to their students in preparing for related employment lead a fewer number of students to unrelated employment. Considering the importance of acquiring related employment for the employment-bound students, CTE educators as well as students and parents need to take note of this finding. A significant portion of high school graduates, who do not wish to attend postsecondary education, should be provided extensive job training to enter the labor market upon graduation. To serve these students more effectively, secondary CTE programs should be aware of which factors lead to related employment and which factors lead to unrelated employment. Another interesting observation was that most of the independent variables worked differently for “related employment” and “additional education.”

The pattern that can be found here is that a secondary CTE program tends to focus on either (1) guiding and shaping its completers’ career

path to related employment or unrelated employment or (2) helping its completers prepare for related employment or additional education. When a CTE program successfully focuses on job preparation, it tends to reduce the rates of the students obtaining unrelated employment, while showing significantly lower rates of the students pursuing additional education. In contrast, when a CTE program more focuses on preparation for postsecondary education, it does not seem to be successful in placing its employment-bound students in related employment. What is often said is that high school graduates need to be prepared both for workplaces and postsecondary education. However, as Lynch (2000) states and the findings of this study show, success both in postsecondary education and workplaces or both in academic instruction and practical vocational preparation do not seem to be accomplished simultaneously in the current secondary CTE system.

This finding provides a sense of the reality of secondary CTE, which is an essential piece of groundwork for understanding and improving secondary CTE. For now, it seems unrealistic to assume that secondary CTE can undertake these two tasks successfully at the same time. When a CTE program helps students prepare more efficiently for related employment, a smaller number of students tend to find themselves locked up in unrelated employment, while the focus on job preparation seems to hamper the chance of pursuing postsecondary education. When preparation for college is emphasized, CTE students who do not pursue postsecondary education may suffer by not being properly prepared for or not being assisted to find employment. The difficulty of achieving two important goals at the same time needs further study.

Third, the result of multivariate regression shows that (1) Co-op programs and Work-based Experience programs have a positive and statistically significant coefficient at the .05 significance level, when the percentage of related employment is regressed; (2) Co-op has a negative and statistically significant coefficient, when the percentage of additional education is regressed; none of the other independent variables has any significant coefficient in any dependent variable. Substantively, these findings imply that (1) CTE programs that participated in Work-based Experience and Supervised Agricultural Experience programs tend to place more of their completers in jobs related to their vocational education, while not showing any differences in their placement in unrelated employment or additional education; (2) CTE programs that participated in Co-op tend to place more of their completers in jobs related to their education, while showing less of their completers seeking additional education; (3) CTE programs that participated in the other three workplace learning programs: Community/Job Exploration programs, Internship programs and School-Sponsored Enterprise programs, do not show any differences in their placement outcomes in these three categories.

Fourth, the findings indicate that the completers of AVTS CTE programs are more likely to be employed related to their training. In contrast, CTE programs in high schools show significantly higher rates of completers who pursue additional education. Therefore, the conclusion drawn is that CTE programs in AVTSs and those in high schools do assume and perform different roles for their students’ postsecondary career path. Entry-level job training does not seem to be the main function of the CTE programs in comprehensive high schools. Instead, they appear to exist as a part of college preparation curriculum of high school adding diversity to the curriculum. In contrast, AVTS CTE programs seem to be the main route for employment-bound students to prepare for entry-level jobs.

The apparent difference between AVTSs and comprehensive high school may not be a surprising finding, because secondary vocational schools have long been perceived to serve mainly employment-bound students. However, the difference between the two types of schools found in this study may add further emphasis to the question, why does this difference occur and what does the difference mean to the attending students? Do AVTS vocational education and comprehensive high school vocational education have different educational goals? If they pursue the same goals, why are there different results in placement outcomes result? If they do have different goals, what are they? In particular, there needs to be a reexamination of what this difference means to employment-bound students attending comprehensive high school CTE programs. If CTE programs in comprehensive high schools do not enhance their students’ chances either in finding related employment as much as AVTS CTE programs or in pursing postsecondary education as much as other academic education programs, comprehensive high school CTE programs may end up serving only as a way to segregate disadvantaged youths from others without any benefit for them.

Fifth, there were differences in student placement outcomes among vocational areas of study. To see whether areas of study make a difference in placement outcomes, the researcher compared Trade and Industry Education, the mode (50%), and the rest of the programs. The negative coefficients of the six dummy variables imply that Trade and Industry Education, the mode, is the most effective program leading students to related employment. In unrelated employment, only Agriculture programs show higher rates than the Trade and Industry programs, and Health Occupation and Diversified Occupation programs show significantly lower rates. Meanwhile, the completers of Business Education, Marketing and Distributive Education, Health Occupational Education, and Occupational Home Economics Education programs, compared to those of Trade and Industry Education programs, tend to seek additional education rather than find related employment. Table 8 summarizes the significant independent variables for three categories of placement outcomes.

3) Originally, t-tests were conducted to test the mean differences between AVTS programs and high school programs in the extent of participation in off-campus learning programs. However, the values of standard deviation were deemed relatively large. To assess the normality of the distributions of the data on the extent of participation in off-campus learning programs, SPSS Explore procedures were conducted and the skewness values of the distributions were found to be relatively large. Therefore, a nonparametric test, the Mann-Whitney U test was conducted to test the differences between AVTS CTE programs and high school CTE programs regarding the extent of participation in off-campus learning programs. The Mann-Whitney U tests were to test the differences between AVTS CTE programs comprehensive high school CTE programs regarding the student placement outcomes for the same reasons.

Conclusions and Implications

This study examined the effect of participation in workplace learning programs on the placement outcomes of secondary CTE programs. Following are the main conclusions from the findings and their implications.

Employment-bound students are the main consumers of secondary CTE programs. While high school students take some vocational courses for a variety of reasons, many completers’ choice of concentration in their chosen vocational area reflects their intention of seeking employment immediately after high school, which is a decision based upon a variety of factors in each student’s life. For many students, secondary CTE is a consciously made choice and their intention in their choice should be acknowledged.

However, secondary CTE is often perceived only as the last choice of academically or economically disadvantaged students who cannot see their future in college. This limited perception of secondary CTE does not fully recognize that its unique and important mission is the preparation of employment-bound students for a rewarding career. The symptoms of failing to meet employment-bound students’ needs are reflected in the student postsecondary placement outcomes. Unfortunately, among the completers who were employed, the larger number of youths reported to have a job unrelated to their vocational education. Unrelated jobs that high school graduates obtain are often jobs that require little vocational training and preparation, therefore, the value of CTE may be significantly reduced in unrelated employment. Those who gain employment unrelated to their high school education are more likely the ones left on the margins of society, therefore, the higher rate of unrelated employment should be taken as a significant concern.

Since preparation for employment has not been clearly acknowledged as the main function of secondary CTE, workplace learning programs have subsequently not been explicitly sought as a way to improve the job preparation of employment-bound students. Preparation for employment and subsequent success on the job cannot be properly accomplished without experiences of working in the workplace (Gray & Walter, 2001). Therefore, some form of workplace learning programs should be an essential part of the process in which employment-bound students prepare for their employment. According to the findings of this study, Co-op programs are the most effective workplace learning programs for related employment. Workplace learning programs are labor intensive and require energy and resources from school personnel, as well as from employers, to sustain them. Therefore, a more effective approach may be to focus on Co-op programs as part of vocational preparation for employment-bound students. By doing so, a clearer picture of what we can expect from Co-op programs will emerge, facilitating the holding of Co-op programs accountable for their learning processes and outcomes.

This study found that participation in workplace learning programs is found to have an effect on the placement outcomes of secondary CTE programs; CTE programs with higher participation rates in workplace learning programs show higher rates of related employment but lower rates of additional education. This finding shows a challenge posed to workplace learning programs as well as secondary CTE as a whole. What has been often assumed is that workplace learning programs can provide students with opportunities to learn job-related skills and soft skills they cannot otherwise acquire in a classroom, while not hindering, if not raising, the students’ aspirations or academic performances to continue their education in postsecondary education institutions. However, according to this study, participation in workplace learning programs is found to improve participants’ chances in related employment, yet reduce their chances in postsecondary education.

What seems clear is that we can accomplish more from workplace learning programs by targeting them on employment-bound students. Strictly limiting workplace learning programs to employment-bound students is not desirable. However, claiming that workplace learning programs can benefit every student, regardless of their postsecondary plan, or any CTE education program, regardless of its mission, is also not legitimate.

Intensifying the employment preparation element in secondary CTE programs has been often criticized as a means of tracking. However, operating secondary CTE in the same way and by the same goals that college preparation education is being operated is far from a solution to eliminating the unfair part of tracking effect of the present education system. Rather, the unique role of secondary CTE needs to be redefined and reestablished in the education system as well as in the workforce development system. Also, workplace learning programs should be incorporated as an integral part of secondary CTE to improve employment-bound students’ preparation for employment.

References

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