Not Your Parent's Vocational Education: CTE Concentration and Mathematics College Readiness.

Career and technical education (CTE) is often perceived to be focused primarily on career readiness, and not necessarily on college readiness. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of CTE concentration on high school students' college readiness in mathematics. The researchers obtained a convenience sample of ACT Aspire (mathematics) scores for 865 students at a rural high school in Arkansas. The sample included scores for students who participated in three or more CTE courses as well as for students who took fewer than three CTE courses. The results show that neither CTE concentration nor sex appear to have a significant influence on the mathematics readiness of high school students. The researchers argue that this neutral influence may be related to a broader change in the scope of CTE programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]