Navigating inequities: industry partnerships and racial exclusion in career and technical education
OA Version
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Abstract
Persistent racial inequality in the US labor market can in part be traced to competing roles of career and technical education (CTE) today. CTE can enhance skills and promote socioeconomic equality in some cases, but in others, it may work to shunt certain students into substandard education. Using the quantitative analyses at the state and at the individual levels complemented with qualitative case studies, this dissertation aims to comprehend the factors that contribute to the development of CTE and the outcomes that CTE, both alone and with the factors that influence it, interactively results in. It finds that the involvement of industry stakeholders in CTE as coalitional bases is crucial to the quality of its programs in provision of work-based learning opportunities, although the politicization of unions may hinder their utilization in some regions. Furthermore, racial exclusion steers students of color towards CTE in general and less desirable programs within it. As a result, CTE is not equally experienced by students of all racial backgrounds, as its positive outcomes on job prospects and outcomes are limited only for White students; their Black counterparts in fact have negative results in these measurements. Hence, the perceived lower status of CTE in the United States may essentially stem from the circumstances in which more Black students are relegated to this educational pathway. After analyzing the effects of race, education, and industry partners both respectively and interactively, this dissertation casts light on the broad understanding of the relationship among working-class power, involvement of employers, racial exclusion, skills development, and employment in the United States. Through a fundamental reimagination of these notions, we have a responsibility to build a system where everyone can reach their full potential.
Description
2024