Exploring the Role and Effects of High School Advising on CTE Students' Transition to Postsecondary Education and the Workforce

This paper presents a synthesis of three collaboratively conducted studies exploring the relationship between career-focused advising and the postsecondary transition with an emphasis on students enrolled in Career and Technical Education (CTE). The studies included a survey administered to high school seniors in New York City schools, an impact study of career coaches in North Carolina, and a qualitative study looking at implementation of advising in New York City and North Carolina. Key themes coming from the three studies included: 1) postsecondary transition advising is a schoolwide phenomenon; 2) the content and intensity shifts over a student's time in high school; 3) advising tends to focus more on college with less attention paid to career opportunities except in settings with an explicit career emphasis; 4) students with more advantaged backgrounds tend to participate in advising at higher levels; 5) higher participation in advising is associated with an increase in CTE-related activities; 6) college-focused advising is associated with higher enrollment in four-year schools while career-focused advising is associated with higher enrollment in two-year and lower enrollment in four-year institutions; and 7) additional research on how advising outcomes differ by student characteristics is needed. This article also summarizes key methodological takeaways about doing research related to advising. [This paper was created by the Early College Research Center, UNC Greensboro.]