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Vocational and Career Tech Education in American High Schools: The Value of Depth Over Breadth

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  • Daniel Kreisman
  • Kevin Stange

Abstract

Vocational education is a large part of the high school curriculum, yet we have little understanding of what drives vocational enrollment or whether these courses help or harm early careers. To address this we develop a framework for curriculum choice, taking into account ability and preferences for academic and vocational work. We test model predictions using detailed transcript and earnings information from the NLSY97. Our results are two-fold. First, students positively sort into vocational courses, suggesting the belief that low ability students are funneled into vocational coursework is unlikely true. Second, we find higher earnings among students taking more upper-level vocational courses – a nearly 2% wage premium for each additional year, yet we find no gain from introductory vocational courses. These results suggest (a) policies limiting students’ ability to take vocational courses may not be welfare enhancing, and (b) the benefits of vocational coursework accrue to those who focus on depth over breadth.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Kreisman & Kevin Stange, 2017. "Vocational and Career Tech Education in American High Schools: The Value of Depth Over Breadth," NBER Working Papers 23851, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23851
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    Cited by:

    1. Sönke Hendrik Matthewes & Guglielmo Ventura, 2022. "On Track to Success? Returns to vocational education against different alternatives," CVER Research Papers 038, Centre for Vocational Education Research.
    2. Bonilla, Sade, 2020. "The dropout effects of career pathways: Evidence from California," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    3. Steve Machin & Sandra McNally & Camille Terrier & Guglielmo Ventura, 2020. "Closing the Gap between Vocational and General Education? Evidence from University Technical Colleges in England," CESifo Working Paper Series 8678, CESifo.
    4. Eric Brunner & Shaun Dougherty & Stephen Ross, 2019. "The Effects of Career and Technical Education: Evidence from the Connecticut Technical High School System," Working Papers 2019-047, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    5. Moriyasu, Ryosuke & Kobayashi, Toru, 2022. "Impact of career education on high school students’ occupational choice: Evidence from a cluster-randomized controlled trial," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    6. Celeste K. Carruthers & Christopher Jepsen, 2020. "Vocational Education: An International Perspective," CESifo Working Paper Series 8718, CESifo.
    7. Marianne Bertrand & Magne Mogstad & Jack Mountjoy, 2021. "Improving Educational Pathways to Social Mobility: Evidence from Norway’s Reform 94," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(4), pages 965-1010.
    8. Sönke Hendrik Matthewes & Guglielmo Ventura, 2022. "On Track to Success? Returns to Vocational Education Against Different Alternatives," CEPA Discussion Papers 58, Center for Economic Policy Analysis.
    9. De Groote, Olivier, 2019. "Dynamic Effort Choice in High School: Costs and Benefits of an Academic Track," TSE Working Papers 19-1002, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Jun 2023.
    10. Cowan, James & Goldhaber, Dan & Holzer, Harry J. & Naito, Natsumi & Xu, Zeyu, 2020. "Career and Technical Education in High School and Postsecondary Career Pathways in Washington State," IZA Discussion Papers 13817, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Leighton, Margaret & Speer, Jamin D., 2020. "Labor market returns to college major specificity," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    12. Hemelt, Steven W. & Lenard, Matthew A. & Paeplow, Colleen G., 2019. "Building bridges to life after high school: Contemporary career academies and student outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 161-178.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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