Funded by the Mississippi Department of Education View Brief
In the fall of 2020, the RCU contacted current Mississippi CTE Directors and Test Coordinators encouraging the participation of one qualified person from each district to complete a survey exploring school district’s CTE enrollment and promotion strategies. This study sought to answer the following questions: 1) Who do school districts task for the public relations and promotion of your CTE programs?, 2) What marketing strategies do school districts to attract students to their CTE programs?, 3) What methods do school districts use to communicate the value of CTE programs to parents?, 4) Which CTE promotion strategies do school districts use more to increase industry involvement, and 5) Where and how do school districts need more assistance in CTE public relations?
For more information on the RCU's work on CTE Promotion and Marketing, please contact Dr. Sean Owen at sean.owen@msstate.edu.
In this study, the RCU conducted a statistical analysis on the assessment data of the cohorts of secondary CTE students that were enrolled in over 50 different secondary CTE courses during the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 academic years. This study sought to answer two questions: 1) Do students who take multiple, formative CTE assessments score higher on statewide exams than their peers who did not take any formative tests?, and 2) Do these MS-CPAS formative assessments serve as a valid predicator of the summative MS-CPAS test scores?
For more information on the RCU's work on formative assessments, please contact Ben Alexander at ben.alexander@rcu.msstate.edu.
2013-present Funded by the Mississippi Department of Education View report
In this study, the RCU examined four-year graduation-rate data for a cohort of 15,470 students who entered secondary public school programs in the 2007-2008 academic year and were enrolled in one or more career and technical education (CTE) courses during their academic careers. This study has two primary purposes: 1) to calculate by career cluster and pathway the impact of CTE involvement on graduation rates for the cohort, and 2) to measure the influence of student demographics and socioeconomic status on CTE graduation rates within the cohort. Results from the 2007-2008 cohort were reported in 2013. This work is ongoing as we include additional cohorts in the study.
For more information on the graduation-rate study, please contact Sean Owen at sean.owen@rcu.msstate.edu.
2011-2018 Funded by the Mississippi Department of Education View report
Following a restructuring of the career and technical education (CTE) framework and purpose at the national level and the adoption of 16 career clusters for statewide secondary education in Mississippi, the RCU has designed a survey to gauge Mississippi educators' perception of CTE. The purpose of this survey is to determine if perception and the current state of CTE are aligned. This research project is ongoing.
2010-2016 Funded by the Mississippi Department of Education View report
In 2010, the Mississippi Department of Education and the RCU began researching alternative forms of statewide assessment for career and technical education (CTE) programs. Portfolio assessments were used in 2010, and in 2012 some programs began transitioning to performance-based assessments (PBA). During the 2013-2014 academic year, the PBA project expanded from four programs to eight, and in April 2014 over 1,000 CTE students completed a PBA along with or in place of a multiple-choice exam. Throughout this project, the RCU was involved in researching assessment methods, facilitating the writing of assessment materials and manuals, delivering training and assessment materials, collecting and reporting results, and analyzing performance data. The research included an annual efficacy report with a disaggregation of collected data, explanation of findings, and recommendations for future use of PBA.
For more information on PBA, please contact Riesa Blackwell at riesa.blackwell@rcu.msstate.edu.
Betsey SmithDirector, Research and Curriculum Unit
662.325.2510 betsey.smith@rcu.msstate.edu
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