THE ROAD LESS TR AVELED:

Transcription

1 istitute for higher educatio leadership & policy THE ROAD LESS TR AVELED: Realizig the Potetial of Career Techical Educatio i the Califoria Commuity Colleges Nacy Shulock Collee Moore Jeremy Offestei February 2011 Istitute for Higher Educatio Leadership & Policy 6000 J Street, Tahoe Hall 3063 Sacrameto, CA T (916) F (916)

2 Executive Summary Potetial of Career Techical Educatio Missio is Not Fully Tapped The Career Techical Educatio (CTE) missio of Califoria s commuity colleges is ot well uderstood by policymakers i compariso to the trasfer missio of the colleges. This exploratory study, to be followed by a more comprehesive research ageda, is motivated by the belief that CTE is a vital piece of the college completio ageda but is ot receivig sufficiet attetio. While studets ca be successful i CTE i ways besides earig a certificate or degree, the issuig of workforce-related credetials is a udeiably importat fuctio of the colleges. CTE is importat to the college completio ageda because it ca help Califoria: Meet completio goals Meet workforce goals Meet equity goals Icrease postsecodary productivity Realize beefits of high school reforms. Califoria is ot yet poised to take full advatage of the potetial of the CTE missio area because CTE is geerally characterized by: A lack of priority across the system Weak credetial structures ad trasfer pathways Uderdeveloped data ad accoutability systems Higher costs that are ot well addressed A lack of itegratio with core istitutioal operatios. There is solid evidece of good job prospects for studets with certificates ad associate degrees i career fields. Studet iterest i vocatioal coursework is high, with 30% of course erollmets i vocatioal courses. Yet of the more tha 255,000 degree/certificate-seekig studets i the eterig cohort (defied as erollig i more tha 6 uits i the first year), oly 5% eared certificates ad oly 3% eared vocatioal associate degrees withi six years. Key Fidigs: Apparet Lack of Priority o Techical Credetials As a basis for explorig CTE more geerally, we studied patters of studet erollmet ad progress i four highwage, high-eed pathways (iformatio techology, egieerig techology, egieerig, ad ursig), visited CTE programs, iterviewed faculty ad staff, ad reviewed college catalogs ad other materials. We kow we ca t geeralize to all programs i all colleges, give the great variety i both, but the followig fidigs strike us as importat to ay effort to uderstad ad improve studet outcomes i CTE programs. 1. Data costraits limit kowledge ad college actios. The absece of provisios for studets to declare a program of study seriously impedes efforts to uderstad ad improve studet success i CTE programs because it is difficult to kow which studets are pursuig which programs. 2. Good studet progress is ot traslatig ito credetials. Few certificates ad degrees were awarded despite cosiderable studet progress. Far more studets accrue 30 or more college-level credits ad pass degree-applicable math tha the relatively few who ear certificates or degrees. Additioally, more studets completed at least 60 trasferable credits tha the umber who trasferred. 3. Pathway structures do ot promote attaimet of techical credetials. A picture emerged of CTE pathways that do ot reflect a high priority o careerorieted credetials or o sequecig lower-to-higher credetials withi a field. The route by which eterig studets are expected to attai the basic skills eeded for their programs was uclear. There was o strog patter of studets attaiig credetials i the chose field of study, with the great majority of associate degrees i iterdiscipliary studies rather tha i a techical field. There is a huge variety of programs i some fields ad a equally huge variatio across colleges i uit ad programmatic requiremets for the same credetial. Few studets who trasferred eared associate degrees ad few who eared associate degrees eared certificates. I INSTITUTE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION LEADERSHIP & POLICY AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO

3 Recommedatios: More Structure to Help Studets Meet Career Goals This study is the first stage of a broader research ageda aimed at uderstadig how state ad system policies might best promote the success of studets pursuig occupatioal programs. CTE is a richly complex missio area that we believe ca beefit from more attetio ad greater uderstadig by policymakers ad other stakeholders. We have much to lear from the work ahead, but this exploratory research, i the cotext of atioal mometum to icrease structure ad simplify pathways for studets, leads us to make the followig recommedatios: 1. Require studets to declare a program of study ad colleges to esure access to programs Havig studets formally select, ad colleges provide access to, well-defied programs of study would have tremedous advatages for studet success. Studets would have a clear roadmap toward completio, colleges could better alig the course schedule with studet eeds, ad the meas to moitor ad improve program outcomes would be greatly ehaced. 2. Cosider fewer ad more cosistet program offerigs Had-i-had with requirig studets to declare programs of study should be a commitmet by colleges to esure that the programs they offer are accessible to studets ad resposive to regioal eeds. The sheer umber of ad variatio across programs lead us to questio how studets ca avigate all of the choices ad whether all programs o the books are still vital. Leadig atioal researchers are callig for commuity colleges to review their multiple, variable program offerigs to esure they meet labor market eeds, based o research fidigs that may choices ad a lack of structure ca deter studet success. 3. Focus o basic skills for CTE The system's high-priority Basic Skills Iitiative has ot icluded a explicit focus o studets i CTE programs ad it does ot appear to be servig CTE well. Few CTE studets eroll i basic skills courses ad may CTE faculty believe such courses do ot beefit their studets. Yet there is o systematic alterative for addressig basic skills deficiecies amog studets i CTE programs. Few certificate programs require Eglish or math, raisig the questio whether they are producig graduates with the skills to succeed i the workplace. It is importat that the system address basic skills for the CTE missio - both curricular requiremets ad meas to help studets meet them. 4. Reexamie associate degree The associate degree i Califoria has bee asked to serve the dual purpose of preparig studets for trasfer ad for etry to the workforce. The passage of SB 1440 i 2010 is a ackowledgemet that the curret degree does ot work well for trasfer. But the degree may ot work well for workforceboud studets either. Most degrees eared by studets i the career pathways we studied were i iterdiscipliary studies a degree that does ot sigal to employers that a studet has subject matter expertise i a field. As work begis to develop a ew set of associate degrees for trasfer, parallel efforts should examie how the existig associate degree might better serve studets who are ot itedig to trasfer. 5. Coduct additioal research The data we reviewed raised specific questios that, if the Chacellor s Office could aswer with additioal research, would expedite efforts to uderstad ad improve CTE outcomes. Why do studets amass so may excess uits alog the way to earig certificates ad associate degrees? What levels of math ad Eglish proficiecy do ad should idividual certificate programs require? Are there sufficiet opportuities for icomig studets to receive kowledgeable academic ad career advisig about CTE program optios? How may studets satisfy certificate requiremets but fail to officially ear oe ad why? Stregtheig the CTE missio area i these ways should yield substatial beefits for studets, colleges, employers, ad all Califorias. Ackowledgemets We thak the followig idividuals who reviewed ad provided helpful commets o a earlier draft but, of course, we take resposibility for the fidigs ad coclusios: Pamela Burdma, Darla Cooper, Hazel Hill, Davis Jekis, Kelley Karadjeff, Nick Kremer, Jae Patto, Jessica Pitt, David Rattray, Barry Russell, Kim Schek, Eva Schiorrig, Bill Scroggis, Ro Selge, Vice Stewart, Chuck Wiseley, David Wolf, ad the Califoria Commuity College Vocatioal Research ad Accoutability Committee. THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED: REALIZING THE POTENTIAL OF CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN THE CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES FEBRUARY 2011 II

4 Career-Techical Educatio (CTE) ad the Commuity College Completio Ageda Califoria, alog with most other states, has made commuity college completio a major priority i the effort to boost educatioal attaimet for broad sectors of the populatio ad stregthe ecoomic health. The research preseted i this report is motivated by the belief that the career techical educatio (CTE) missio of Califoria s commuity colleges is a vital piece of the college completio ageda but is ot yet receivig sufficiet attetio. We are well aware that studets succeed i CTE i ways that do ot ivolve completig certificates or degrees. At the same time, the issuig of workforce-related credetials is a udeiably importat fuctio of commuity colleges. I this study we are iterested i the CTE missio as it relates to completio of certificates ad degrees. While efforts to address studet success ad college completio are geerally relevat to CTE, there are uique aspects of CTE that warrat more specific study. I this research we examie studet progress through four career pathways as a basis for explorig more broadly how CTE ca cotribute to the college completio ageda. This report is the first part of a larger project to study whether state ad system policies could better support studet success i CTE programs. Although admittedly a exploratory study, our fidigs cofirm our iitial suppositio that there is utapped potetial across the system for CTE to better serve studets ad the state. High Potetial i the CTE Missio Area CTE is importat to the college completio ageda for the reasos described below. Meetig Completio Goals Natioal college completio goals, such as those articulated by the Gates ad Lumia foudatios, iclude associate degrees as well as bachelor s degrees, ad both foudatios are ivestig i efforts to improve uderstadig of the role ad value of certificates. The Obama admiistratio, by callig for more Americas to get a year or more of college, also sigaled the importace of postsecodary certificates. The report recetly released by the Califoria Commuity College League s Commissio o the Future sets targets for icreases i certificates as well as associate degrees. 1 May associate degrees ad most certificates are awarded i occupatioal fields, ad there is evidece that the market value of associate degrees i occupatioal fields is greater tha other associate degrees. 2 That fidig is especially relevat amid the growig cocers that the completio ageda caot just be about the umber of credetials but must be about quality credetials with labor market value. Certificates, i particular, ca reduce time-to-completio of a meaigful credetial, removig a sigificat barrier to completio for the may studets whose lives do't accommodate may years of college-goig. Researchers have foud that studets with clear occupatioal goals are more likely to complete their programs of study, 3 suggestig that commuity college CTE programs ca make importat cotributios to the completio ageda. Meetig Workforce Goals Califoria faces a severe shortage of educated workers as the baby boom geeratio retires, the ecoomy shifts to everhigher depedece o high-level kowledge ad skills, ad the fastest-growig populatios are ot beig educated at levels to fill job opeigs. Data cofirm projected shortfalls i both jobs requirig a bachelor s degree ad middle skill jobs requirig more tha a high school educatio but less tha a bachelor s degree (e.g., egieerig techicia, radiological techicia, detal hygieist). A recet study foud that Califoria could have jobs for oe millio more bachelor s degree holders tha the state is curretly o track to produce. 4 Other research has documeted that a large share of future job opeigs are middle skills jobs. 5 Clearly, more Califorias with occupatioally-orieted certificates ad associate degrees are eeded to supply the state s future workforce. Meetig Equity Goals Differetial rates of completio across racial/ethic groups i the Califoria Commuity Colleges (CCC) preset a severe social ad ecoomic challege to Califoria s efforts to icrease educatioal attaimet. 6 Structured career pathways that iclude certificates ad associate degrees could be a importat meas to improve social mobility for ecoomically disadvataged Califorias. Research suggests that high school studets who take CTE coursework alog with traditioal academic courses have better employmet outcomes, ad at least comparable 1 INSTITUTE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION LEADERSHIP & POLICY AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO

5 postsecodary outcomes, compared to studets takig oly academic courses. 7 I the postsecodary area, research suggests that there are ecoomic beefits to low-icome studets who pursue loger-term certificates (30 or more uits), 8 ad that such programs ca lead to well-paid careers, particularly amog low-performig studets. 9 Studets who ear credetials i occupatioal programs ca have substatial earigs advatages over those earig traditioal academic degrees. 10 Today s ecoomy offers good-payig careers i may techical fields that do t require four-year degrees. Moreover, by oe estimate 85% of occupatioal erollmets i commuity colleges are i fields that have couterparts i four-year colleges, raisig the prospect of career ladders to higher payig positios if educatioal pathways are structured well. 11 Icreasig Productivity Streamliig ad stregtheig career pathways ca icrease postsecodary educatio productivity. Poorly structured career pathways ca result i studets takig courses i pursuit of lower-uit credetials that do t cout towards higher-uit certificates ad degrees. This iefficiecy i the accumulatio of uits has bee well documeted i the literature o commuity college trasfer but may also be a factor impedig studet movemet from lower-uit certificates to higher-uit certificates ad associate degrees. If relevat uits do t carry forward to the ext highest credetial, the cost to the state ad the cost to studets i time ad moey icrease. Additioally, CTE programs led themselves to a cohort approach ad to itegratig basic skills istructio ito the curriculum, both of which ca cotribute to icreased rates of persistece ad completio. 12 Complemetig High School Reforms A growig body of research poits to the beefits of multiple forms of career-orieted educatio i high schools ad a growig body of practice is producig promisig results. 13 Sice commuity colleges serve the vast majority of Califoria high school graduates who proceed to postsecodary istitutios, strog career-orieted offerigs that alig well with those i high schools would optimize the beefits of high school reform efforts. CTE Potetial is as yet Urealized Califoria is ot yet poised to take full advatage of the great potetial of the commuity college CTE missio area to help with the state s college completio ageda. Lack of Priority The legislature periodically reaffirms that the three core missio areas of the CCC are trasfer, CTE, ad basic skills educatio, yet the attetio paid to the CTE missio has ot matched that give the other two areas. Lawmakers express far more iterest i ad uderstadig of the trasfer fuctio, eve though they kow of the importat cotributio commuity colleges make to the state s workforce through career educatio. The Basic Skills Iitiative, a top priority of the system for several years, has bee pursued largely apart from the CTE missio. CTE programs are highly complex, as they ofte ivolve parterships with state, local, ad commuity orgaizatios, have multiple fudig streams, serve studets with a variety of goals ad prior experieces, ad offer a wide array of certificatios. Whether due to the sheer complexity of the missio area, the domiace of academic faculty i college leadership positios, or purposeful orderig of priorities by policymakers ad the college system itself, CTE carries less status across the colleges. Weak Credetial Structures ad Trasfer Pathways Despite the atioal research fidigs that certificates of at least oe year ad associate degrees i occupatioal fields have good ecoomic returs, 14 such credetials appear to be udervalued i Califoria. Relatively few studets idicate a goal of earig a certificate or a associate degree ad relatively few certificates ad associate degrees are awarded. May CTE studets amass credits i career fields without acquirig a certificate or degree or they ear a iterdiscipliary studies degree that does ot reflect their field of study. The CCC does ot differetiate applied associate degrees from associate degrees as is doe i may states. The associate degree has bee forced to serve a dual fuctio but it has ot served the trasfer fuctio well or does it clearly sigal career-relevat competecies. While the ewly authorized associate degrees for trasfer 15 are aimed to alig a subset of associate degrees with trasfer requiremets, there has bee o parallel THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED: REALIZING THE POTENTIAL OF CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN THE CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES FEBRUARY

6 Career-Techical Educatio (CTE) ad the Commuity College Completio Ageda discussio of the eed to retool existig associate degrees to better prepare studets for the workforce ad better commuicate to employers the learig outcomes from associate degree programs. Uderdeveloped Data ad Accoutability Systems Data ad accoutability systems are poorly suited to moitor progress ad success withi the CTE missio. The CCC system s Accoutability Reportig for Commuity Colleges (ARCC) reports studet success rates without accoutig separately for CTE. The sectio of ARCC o vocatioal ad career educatio reports oly the umber of certificates ad associate degrees awarded by program area, providig o iformatio about rates of studet progress ad success. Oly certificates of 18 uits or more are required to be reported, so there is o uiformity i reportig short-term certificates ad o basis for determiig the extet to which short-term certificates are eared as a step toward higheruit certificates or degrees. This would be importat data sice research has failed to documet ecoomic returs to short-term certificates aloe. 16 There are two other major shortcomigs of CTE accoutability. First, systemwide data do ot record the program of erollmet for studets because, with a few exceptios like ursig, commuity college studets i Califoria do ot formally declare a program of erollmet. Colleges report CTE outcomes to the federal govermet uder the Carl D. Perkis Vocatioal ad Techical Educatio Act but this is limited by the lack of data o program of erollmet. Studet coursetakig patters rather tha declared program itet is the basis for reported program outcomes. This method is uable to idetify studets util they are well alog i their programs, ad is thus more valuable for compliace with federal requiremets tha for iformig college efforts to improve studet success. Secod, there is o systematic reportig of employmet outcomes for CTE programs eve though the purpose of most programs is to help studets obtai payig (or higher payig) employmet. Aecdotal reports that studets get job offers or raises before earig a credetial are sometimes offered as explaatios for successful o-completios but lack rigorous labor market outcomes data by program to back up the claims. Higher Costs Not Well Addressed CTE programs ted to be more costly tha other istructioal programs. They are heavily depedet o equipmet, may have class size restrictios due to access to equipmet or specialized accreditatio requiremets, ad they ivolve more frequet curriculum chage as well as structured egagemet with the employer commuity. The state fudig formulas employed at most colleges do ot accommodate these higher costs (eve accoutig for federal Perkis fuds received for CTE programs) ad CTE program admiistrators must seek exteral fudig for what may would cosider core istructioal costs. Lack of Itegratio with Core Istitutioal Operatios Fially, at may colleges CTE seems to operate quite separately from other istructioal uits, with separate admiistrative structures, less itegratio with core studet support areas, ad separate fudig structures that leave CTE program admiistrators much more depedet o exteral resources to keep their programs operatig. Efforts to stregthe CTE are geerally udertake as separate projects or iitiatives apart from the state s multibillio dollar ivestmet i its commuity colleges usually through grat applicatio opportuities at local or regioal levels that affect small umbers of studets. 17 This lack of itegratio suggests that emergig efforts to address college completio could have less impact o CTE programs ad studet outcomes uless special care is take to reduce silos that ca iterfere with college-wide plaig for studet success. The Complexities of Studyig CTE Studet Success Ay effort to study studet progress i CTE cofrots a problem of laguage ad defiitio. Career techical educatio has largely replaced vocatioal educatio as the term used to describe educatioal programs desiged to prepare studets for employmet opportuities that do ot iitially require four-year degrees. Yet either career or techical helps us uderstad the distict ature of these 3 INSTITUTE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION LEADERSHIP & POLICY AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO

7 commuity college programs. May four-year programs are just as career orieted as are oe- ad two-year programs ad may are highly techical. Some fields desigated as CTE i the commuity colleges, like ursig, have wellestablished trasfer pathways to uiversities ad others do ot. The Chacellor s Office data system classifies certai programs ad courses as vocatioal for purposes of compliace with the Perkis Act but about 20% of the vocatioal courses are trasferable ad efforts are uderway to icrease the trasferability of CTE coursework. 18 The term sub-baccalaureate credetials to referece certificates ad associate degrees cootes somethig of lesser value ad could impede efforts to stregthe these pathways ito well-payig careers that are a promiet feature of today s ecoomy. While the atio could beefit from ew termiology that better reflects the ecoomy, which offers good techical career optios at all levels of postsecodary educatio, we raise the issue here as cotext for our efforts to examie studet success withi the CTE missio. Our prior work has documeted patters of studet success for all degree/ certificate-seekers, but i this report we examie success i occupatioal programs specifically. We leared that both the defiitios of CTE programs ad the pathways alog which oe might measure progress are ambiguous. For example, we chose egieerig as oe pathway to study but wrestled with whether egieerig techology ad egieerig are oe pathway or two, ad certaily betwee them they spa the CTE ad the trasfer missios of the colleges. We chose ursig, which could potetially be the upper ed of a career pathway that icludes allied health fields, ad which certaily ecompasses the trasfer fuctio. We settled o four pathways (explaied o page 9) that admittedly do ot represet the full breadth of CTE offerigs ad cosider the research merely exploratory ad illustrative of issues that should be addressed o a larger scale. Trackig studet progress toward occupatioal program completio is complicated by variability i the value of certificates ad degrees across occupatios ad by the differet goals of the diverse populatios that eroll i CTE courses ad course sequeces. Geuie questios have arise, with respect to the atioal college completio ageda, about the wisdom of usig the umber of baccalaureate degrees as a measure of college success, irrespective of degree field ad measures of degree quality. But with CTE we ecouter more fudametal questios of whether ad which credetials should be couted ad how well a cout of completed credetials measures the value of these programs. As examples: Associate degrees i some trasferable techical fields lack or are perceived to lack market value, so may trasfer-boud studets do ot bother to satisfy degree requiremets. May studets ear a iterdiscipliary studies associate degree that does ot accurately reflect their occupatioal field of study, makig it hard to defie ad moitor success i those occupatioal programs. May CTE studets are older, workig professioals who eed coursework rather tha degrees, ofte for improved job security or advacemet; may already have degrees (10% of the studets who eared certificates i our study already had bachelor s degrees). There is a huge variety of certificates of varyig legths, may of which are shorter tha the 30 uits foud by researchers as a threshold for ecoomic retur but may evertheless have career advacemet value for studets, raisig questios about which certificates should be couted as completios. Some studets are seekig idustry certificatio ad/ or licesure as opposed to college-awarded certificates, outcomes that are ot tracked by the colleges. THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED: REALIZING THE POTENTIAL OF CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN THE CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES FEBRUARY

8 Career-Techical Educatio (CTE) ad the Commuity College Completio Ageda A Summary Look at CTE Erollmets ad Outcomes I spite of defiitioal issues ad the challeges of studyig studet progress ad completio, the importace of preparig Califorias to fill good middle skill positios i the ecoomy ad to acquire the foudatio for further educatio justifies the effort to uderstad these complex issues. To that ed, we preset some summary data as backgroud for the aalysis that follows. Ulike the trasfer missio of the colleges, the CTE missio area exists i a highly competitive area i which for-profit istitutios play a large ad growig role. Figure 1 shows that while the for-profit sector erolls fewer tha 10% of all udergraduates i two-year (or less) istitutios i Califoria, it awards over 20% of the associate degrees i career fields 19 ad betwee oe-half ad two-thirds of certificates. Figures 2 ad 3 compare the career fields i which certificates ad associate degrees are awarded by the for-profit ad public sectors. Each graph shows the four largest program areas i that sector ad, for compariso purposes, the share of awards i the other sector s top four programs. (Not show i the for-profit graph is family ad cosumer scieces, which accouts for 11 percet of CCC awards but a egligible share at the for-profits.) Health professios accout for the largest share i both sectors ad busiess is also amog the top four i each sector. While 91% of the awards by the for-profit sector are i four areas (health, mechaic ad repair, busiess, ad persoal/culiary), those four areas accout for oly 55% of the awards by commuity colleges, which have a broader rage of offerigs. Figures 4 ad 5 preset data o CTE course-takig, progress, ad completio i the CCC. Figure 4 shows that early oe-third of all credit erollmet i the commuity colleges is i vocatioal courses. Despite these robust course erollmets, few studets ear certificates or associate degrees i vocatioal areas. Figure 5 shows that of the 255,253 degree-seekig studets eterig the CCC i , oly 5% ad 3%, respectively, had eared certificates or vocatioal associate degrees after six-years - far fewer tha the share that trasferred to a fouryear istitutio. (We defie degree-seekig as erollig i more tha six uits i the first year.) Oly 29% of all associate degrees awarded across the CCC i 2008 were i fields idetified by the system as CTE, while 56% of all degrees Figure 1 Share of Total Erollmet Compared to Share of Completio i Career Fields, For-Profits ad Commuity Colleges i Califoria Public Private, for-profit < 2 years Private, for-profit, 2 years 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Total Udergraduate Erollmet Associate s i Career Fields Certificate of Less tha 1 Year Certificate of 1-2 Years Certificate of 2-4 Years Source: The Itegrated Postsecodary Educatio Data System (IPEDS). Survey year INSTITUTE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION LEADERSHIP & POLICY AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO

9 Figure 2 Certificates ad Associate s Awarded i Career Fields by Private For-Profit 2-Year Colleges i Califoria by Field 7% 6% 1% 8% Health professioals ad related cliical scieces Mechaic ad repair techologies/techicias Busiess, maagemet, marketig, ad related support services 11% 67% Persoal ad culiary services Security ad protective services Other Source: The Itegrated Postsecodary Educatio Data System (IPEDS). Survey year Figure 3 Certificates ad Associate s Awarded i Career Fields by Public 2-Year Colleges i Califoria by Field 21% 27% Health professioals ad related cliical scieces Mechaic ad repair techologies/techicias Busiess, maagemet, marketig, ad related support services 11% 5% Persoal ad culiary services Security ad protective services Family ad cosumer scieces/huma scieces 13% 5% 18% Other Source: The Itegrated Postsecodary Educatio Data System (IPEDS). Survey year THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED: REALIZING THE POTENTIAL OF CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN THE CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES FEBRUARY

10 Career-Techical Educatio (CTE) ad the Commuity College Completio Ageda Figure 4 Distributio of Credit Erollmets, Fall % 15% 61% 16% Trasfer, ot vocatioal Basic Skills Vocatioal - trasferable Vocatioal - o-trasferable Source: Commuity College Chacellor s Office Data Mart, reflectig the system s course classificatio defiitios Figure 5 Milestoe Attaimet withi 6 Years amog All Seekers Percet of Seekers Achievig Milestoe 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 73% Retaied 2d Term 56% Retaied 2d Year 5% Certificate 8% No- Vocatioal Associate 3% Vocatioal Associate 23% Trasferred Note: Studets may be icluded i more tha oe completio measure as they could have, for example, eared both a certificate ad a associate degree. Source: Divided We Fail, IHELP, INSTITUTE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION LEADERSHIP & POLICY AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO

11 were i iterdiscipliary studies. 20 We kow that these geeral purpose associate degrees do t serve studets well i qualifyig them to trasfer as juiors ito specific majors, 21 ad this has bee addressed through ew legislatio (Chapter 428, Statutes of SB 1440) to develop associate degrees for trasfer. We also suspect that they do t help studets qualify for jobs i techical fields sice they do t provide studets with core cotet i a techical area or sigal to employers what skills studets have gaied. With early oe-third of course erollmets i vocatioal courses ad a ecoomy that is growig more depedet o workers with techical postsecodary preparatio, it seems reasoable to explore how studets pursue ad progress through CTE programs, why so few studets ear vocatioal credetials i the commuity colleges, ad whether commuity college programs are structured to meet studet ad employer eeds. This report oly begis to address these questios. Research Pla Our research methods were ecessarily adaptive because of the fudametal data costrait of ot beig able to idetify which CCC studets are attemptig to pursue which occupatioal pathway. Most studets do ot declare a program of erollmet so system data caot track erollmet by academic program. We had to use coursetakig behavior to judge which studets were likely pursuig each pathway. The fidigs are ecessarily less coclusive tha our previous studies of studet success where we did ot try to draw ay coclusios about specific academic programs. We take care to offer appropriate caveats i the presetatio of our fidigs. 2. Lear about the pathways. We studied the demographics ad the erollmet patters of commuity college studets who completed programs i these four areas those who had eared certificates or associate degrees at a commuity college or had trasferred ad eared a bachelor s degree at a Califoria State Uiversity. This helped us kow what patters of progress ad success to look for whe we studied a ew cohort of icomig studets. I order to lear more about the pathways, we visited CTE programs at several colleges, coducted telephoe iterviews with CTE program staff ad other experts, reviewed catalogs for 20 colleges of varyig sizes ad from differet regios of the state to uderstad curricular requiremets i these four fields, ad reviewed published material. 3. Lear about progress of studets attemptig the pathways. As best we could, give data limitatios, we applied the milestoe ad success idicator framework we have used i previous research 22 to lear where studets may be ecouterig obstacles o the path to completio. We drew o the fidigs about completers (step 2 above) to determie what milestoes ad success idicators to moitor. The remaider of this report describes these steps i order ad offers fidigs ad recommedatios that are ecessarily prelimiary give the exploratory ature of this study. Our research ivolved the followig steps: 1. Select CTE pathways. We selected four pathways that were of iterest i their ow right as high-wage, higheed fields, but primarily as a sample of the uiverse of CTE programs i order to lear more geerally about issues of studet progress ad success i CTE programs. THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED: REALIZING THE POTENTIAL OF CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN THE CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES FEBRUARY

12 Four Career Pathways Settig the Stage Choosig Pathways to Study To select the high-wage, high-eed, career pathways for study, we examied the Occupatioal Employmet Projectios of the Califoria Employmet Developmet Departmet to fid fields with relatively high expected growth i employmet ad relatively high media wages. 23 We also examied data o the aual umber of udergraduate certificates ad degrees awarded by the CCC ad Califoria State Uiversity (CSU) systems i related programs. 24 Based o these data, as well as coversatios with workforce ad educatio experts, we selected four occupatioal areas for study: 1. Nursig 2. Egieerig 3. Egieerig techology 4. Iformatio techology Our focus o high-eed, high-wage fields led to a selectio of fields with more rigorous math ad sciece requiremets ad more obvious opportuities at the baccalaureate level tha is the case for may CTE programs. While this limits the ability to extrapolate specific fidigs to other CTE programs, examiig studet success i these fields may still serve as a foudatio for a broader research ageda o the CTE missio of the commuity colleges. Each of the fields icludes a umber of occupatios. Nursig occupatios iclude registered ad vocatioal urses ad ursig assistats. Egieerig icludes the various subfields of egieerig (e.g., electrical, civil) ad egieerig techology occupatios iclude egieerig techologists, drafters, ad desigers. We had origially grouped egieerig techology ad egieerig ito oe pathway of egieerig-related occupatios, o the presumptio that pathways might exist from egieerig techology i commuity college to egieerig at the uiversity level. But our early research idicated that, despite similarities, the two disciplies fuctio as separate pathways with differet levels of foudatioal skills ad little movemet betwee the pathways. So we studied egieerig techology as a separate pathway despite fairly modest growth ad umbers of people employed. Iformatio techology occupatios iclude computer programmers, software ad hardware egieers, etwork admiistrators, ad various iformatio techology specialists. Descriptio of Pathways Nursig There are four major ursig pathways i the commuity colleges: 1. Programs, typically certificates, that prepare studets to become licesed vocatioal urses (LVN) 2. Programs that prepare studets for registered ursig (RN) ad award a associate degree i ursig (ADN) 3. Programs that prepare LVNs for RN licesure 4. Preparatio for trasfer to bachelor s programs i ursig (BSN) at four-year uiversities; BSN studets hold the same licesure as ADN studets but take additioal coursework i subjects such as public health ad maagemet. Nursig programs geerally admit studets i cohorts that progress through coursework ad cliical traiig o a fulltime basis. Admissio to a ADN program i the commuity colleges requires that studets pass a etrace exam that tests skills i math, readig, Eglish, ad sciece. Studets also have to complete prerequisite coursework prior to admissio to the ADN program. Although prerequisite courses vary by commuity college, college-level Eglish, microbiology, chemistry, huma physiology, ad huma aatomy are commo. There are fewer requiremets for admissio ito LVN programs tha for ADN programs. LVN applicats are ot required to take a admissios exam (although they may have to demostrate competecy i math, Eglish, or other subjects) ad geerally have fewer prerequisites. Although some commuity colleges offer programs that trai LVNs to become RNs, articulatio betwee LVN ad ADN programs remais difficult because the programs have differet prerequisites. The differece i prerequisites occurs both betwee programs offered i differet commuity colleges ad betwee programs i a sigle college or district. Although some cosistecy is achieved through accreditatio requiremets, the lack of a statewide ADN curriculum creates articulatio problems betwee ADN ad BSN programs ad has led to a system that requires program-by-program articulatio. Through our iterviews we leared that articulatio problems are greatest betwee the commuity colleges ad the CSU ad Uiversity of Califoria (UC). Studets who 9 INSTITUTE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION LEADERSHIP & POLICY AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO

13 eared a ADN degree i the commuity colleges have a easier time trasferrig to BSN programs i private uiversities. Egieerig There is oe domiat pathway i egieerig followed by commuity college studets trasferrig to a four-year uiversity without earig a commuity college certificate or associate degree. Lack of aligmet betwee associate degree requiremets ad trasfer requiremets is partly accoutable for this patter, as the heavy uit requiremet for some majors does ot fit well withi the curret associate degree format. (This should chage uder SB 1440, the ewly passed law that requires developmet of associate degrees for trasfer i specific disciplies.) I additio, there is little market demad for egieers with less tha a bachelor s degree, reflectig licesure requiremets. Cosequetly, while most colleges have egieerig articulatio agreemets with uiversities, may lack formal egieerig programs that cofer associate degrees. Of the twety colleges whose catalogs we reviewed, 11 offer associate degrees i egieerig ad two offer certificate programs. Studets seekig to trasfer i egieerig, with or without the associate degree, take a heavy load of math ad physical sciece courses, but fewer egieerig courses, as most of those courses are take at the uiversity followig trasfer. As egieerig fields become more specialized, evolvig ito differet disciplies, trasfer becomes more problematic. The choices are more difficult for studets to avigate ad the array of specialized course offerigs are more difficult for commuity colleges to offer. Relatively few associate degrees are awarded i Egieerig compared to the umber of colleges offerig the degree, likely because studets fid they are better served by followig idividual articulatio agreemets for trasfer requiremets tha by satisfyig degree requiremets. Most of the associate degree programs we idetified were geeral egieerig programs, suggestig that they may become eve more uder-subscribed as the field becomes more specialized. They were also extremely variable, ragig from 19 to 29 geeral educatio uits ad 9 to 53 major uits. The ew legislatio authorizig associate degrees for trasfer could chage this situatio dramatically. New egieerig trasfer degrees should be desiged to esure that studets take a efficiet route toward meetig lower divisio major requiremets for trasfer to CSU i their egieerig specialty. Determiig the core competecies for such two-year egieerig degrees is a challege facig the egieerig field atioally. 25 Calculus ad physics are the gateway courses that studets must pass i order to proceed to the subsequet set of calculus-based math ad physics courses. These courses set this pathway apart from the egieerig techology pathway. Egieerig Techology There are two major pathways i the commuity colleges for studets studyig egieerig techology: 1. Certificate ad associate degree programs coverig a set of etry-level techical skills, with the associate degree addig geeral educatio coursework to the techical courses that the certificate requires 2. Preparatio for trasfer ito baccalaureate programs i egieerig techology ad related fields - fields less prevalet i the state s public uiversities tha egieerig but oes that are icreasigly viewed as preparig importat parts of the egieerig team. 26 Studets preparig for direct etry ito the workforce may have more opportuities if they ear the associate degree because of the additio of the geeral educatio coursework, but the certificates ad the degrees are both aimed at preparig studets for the workforce ad cover a diverse set of fields such as laser techology, mechaical draftig, ad surveyig. Of the 20 colleges whose catalogs we reviewed, 11 offer certificate programs ad most of them offer more tha oe egieerig techology certificate. Oe college offers 11 differet certificate programs i egieerig techology fields. We foud a huge variety of certificate program legths as well, ragig from 4 to 55 uits of credit. Oly 5 of the 36 certificate programs require a math course ad oe requires Eglish. The associate degree offered at 11 of our 20 sample colleges falls uder the systemwide requiremets for Eglish ad math but beyod that, they exhibit sigificat variatio as well, ragig from a low of 18 to a high of 35 geeral educatio uits required ad from 18 to 50 required major uits. Table 1 (top half) shows more specifically the variatio we foud across oe particular certificate program i three THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED: REALIZING THE POTENTIAL OF CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN THE CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES FEBRUARY

14 Four Career Pathways Settig the Stage colleges i souther Califoria. Oe college requires far fewer total uits ad, for the two colleges with the same uit requiremet, specific requiremets vary cosiderably. Egieerig techology coursework is rarely trasferable to egieerig because it is ot calculus-based or sufficietly sciece-orieted. Oe program faculty we iterviewed thought, however, that a curriculum could be desiged to provide such a pathway. Trasfer is possible ito other four-year programs such as egieerig techology, maufacturig techology, ad costructio maagemet. The variety of associate degree requiremets ad a usettled defiitio of a lower divisio egieerig techology core amid rapidly chagig fields, make it problematic for studets to use the associate degree as a route to trasfer eligibility. Iformatio Techology I the area of iformatio techology, there are three major pathways i the commuity colleges: 1. Idustry certificatio, where studets pursue coursework to prepare them for exams that lead to certificatio of skills by idustry associatios (e.g., Cisco Certified Networkig Associate, Microsoft Certified Systems Admiistrator) 2. Commuity college certificate ad degree programs coverig a set of etry-level skills, with the coursework for a certificate ofte applicable to a related associate degree 3. Preparatio for trasfer ito baccalaureate programs i computer sciece, computer egieerig, or other IT programs. Studets itedig to trasfer geerally do ot seek a IT-related associate degree alog the way, as the requiremets for those degrees are ot well aliged with the requiremets for trasfer. Those iterested i idustry certificatio may or may ot seek a CCC certificate i the process (some colleges have certificates that cosist of courses studets would take to prepare for certificatio exams). I additio to these pathways, may studets, icludig some who already have related degrees, take IT courses to upgrade specific skills, ad others take courses to lear computer skills eeded as part of o-it certificate ad degree programs. The wide rage of roles played by the CCC i the IT area icreases the complexity of uderstadig studet pathways ad studet success i these programs. Eve for the pathways ivolvig completio of a CCC credetial, there is wide variatio across the colleges i the types of certificates ad degrees offered ad the requiremets to obtai them. Of the 20 colleges whose catalogs we reviewed, IT-related programs were offered at 19. O average, each college offered 7 differet certificates ad 3 differet associate degrees, but oe college offered 28 differet IT certificates ad aother offered 9 differet IT associate degrees. Certificate uit requiremets also varied cosiderably, icludig, for example, a 8-credit certificate i Cisco Networkig Associate ad a 39-credit certificate i Computer Network Egieerig. Fewer tha 10% of the certificate programs require Eglish or math courses. Associate degree program requiremets for uits i the major varied from 16 to 43 with comparable variatios i geeral educatio requiremets. Table 1 (bottom half) illustrates the variatio we foud for oe associate of sciece program i the IT pathway. Amog three souther Califoria colleges, there is cosiderable variatio i geeral educatio requiremets, umber of credits required i the major, core course requiremets, ad the level of math required. The breadth ad variatio of program offerigs, combied with the various pathways, suggests that it may be challegig for studets to uderstad their optios. The umerous short-term certificates offered also raises questios about market value give research demostratig that workforce ad ecoomic beefits may oly be associated with loger-term certificates of at least 30 credits. 27 Some colleges are movig to structure programs as a series of stackable short-term certificates to ecourage completio, but that may prove to be a beefit oly to the extet that completio of the shorter-term certificates actually ecourages studets to cotiue the program. Our iterviews ad review of documets revealed several commo issues cofroted by colleges offerig IT programs icludig the prevalece of math barriers, the challege of professioal developmet i fast-chagig fields, limited adoptio of ew pedagogical approaches that may be more effective i egagig studets, ad employer opiio that such programs do better at providig techical skills tha the busiess ad project maagemet skills employers value INSTITUTE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION LEADERSHIP & POLICY AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO

15 Table 1 Certificate ad Associate Program Variability Across Colleges Certificate: Draftig/Computer-Aided Desig (CAD) El Camio College Citrus College Sata Barbara City College 31 credits Itro to Mechaical Draftig Wireframe w/surfaces, Solid Modelig & Assemblies Advaced Parametric Solid Modelig & Assemblies Orietatio to CATIA Product Modelig w/catia Aalyses & Simulatios w/catia Adv. CATIA Fuctios Geometrical Dimesioig ad Toleracig 2-Dimesioal Mechaical CADD I & II Techical Mathematics 19 credits Begiig Drawig Digital Media Productio I Computer Aided Desig ad Mechaical Drawig OR Begiig Computer Aided Desig (CAD) Itermediate Computer Aided Draftig OR Itroductio to Egieerig CAD Techical Illustratio Advaced Mechaical Drawig Advaced Computer Aided Desig ad Draftig - Mechaical (CADD) 31 credits Basic Draftig Computer-Assisted Draft ad Desig I ad II 18 credits of draftig electives, up to 16 of which may be Work Experiece i Draftig Associate of Sciece : Computer Sciece Gledale Commuity College Chabot College Sata Barbara City College 37 major credits 30 GE/other required credits Itro to Programmig Cocepts of Programmig Laguages Programmig i C/C++ Java Computer Architecture & Assembly Laguage I & II Data Structures I & II Itro to Algorithms usig Pascal Math required: Itermediate Algebra, Calculus optioal major credits 19 GE/other required credits Itro to Programmig Usig Visual Basic.Net Itro to Programmig i C++ Object-Orieted Programmig i C++ Java Programmig Itro to UNIX Itro to HTML Math required: Statistics or Trigoometry, Calculus optioal major credits GE/other required credits Programmig Fudametals Computer Cocepts C Programmig Java Programmig Itro to UNIX Assembly Laguage Programmig Itro to Data Structures Math required: Discrete Math ad Calculus I & II THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED: REALIZING THE POTENTIAL OF CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN THE CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES FEBRUARY

16 Four Career Pathways What Ca We Lear from those Who Succeed? As a iitial effort to lear about studets i these four career areas ad their progress alog the educatioal pathway, we studied the patters exhibited by commuity college studets who successfully completed a postsecodary credetial i oe of these areas. There are limits to what ca be cocluded based o studyig successes because there is o way to determie whether the patters observed amog successful studets are ay differet from what we would observe amog usuccessful studets (i.e., o way to coclude that the observed patters were the reasos for the studet s success). Nevertheless, we hoped to gather some iitial iformatio about the kids of course-takig patters studets who succeeded had egaged i that might have helped to accout for their success, iformatio to be used i additioal aalyses ad as the basis for iterviews with subject-area experts. We examied data for all trasfer studets who eared a bachelor s degree from the CSU or a certificate or associate degree from a CCC i oe of the four areas i 2007 or 2008 (see box at right). 29 Figure 6 shows the total umber of studets studied by pathway ad type of credetial eared. The four pathways preset a iterestig variatio i the mix of credetials. Egieerig is almost exclusively a bachelor s degree field. While there were a small umber of associate degrees Data Used to Study Successful Certificate/ Earers The CCC Chacellor s Office maitais studet-level data for each college for each term with iformatio o every course erollmet as of the cesus date, ad certificates ad degrees awarded. The CSU Chacellor s Office maitais studet-level data for each uiversity for each term icludig all degrees awarded by major field. We obtaied two sets of data for the aalysis of certificate/degree earers: 1. Records for all CCC studets who eared associate degrees or certificates i oe of the four pathways i 2007 or All of the course erollmets for these studets, over whatever period of time they atteded a commuity college, were icluded (records dated back to ). All certificates ad degrees eared as of 2008 were icluded, although colleges are required to report oly certificates of 18 credits or more, so shorter-term certificates are ot fully represeted i the data. 2. Records for all CCC trasfer studets who eared a bachelor s degree from CSU i oe of the four career areas i 2007 or The CSU Chacellor s Office provided the relevat studet idetifiers to the CCC Chacellor s Office, which the provided all CCC records for those studets (the same iformatio as described i item 1 above). Figure 6 Certificate/ Earers i the Four Pathways (CSU ad CCC, 2007 ad 2008) Bachelor's degree Associate degree Certificate 16,000 14,000 14,531 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 2,000 2,621 1,169 2,952 0 Nursig Egieerig Egieerig Techology IT 13 INSTITUTE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION LEADERSHIP & POLICY AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO