Date of Award

January 2016

Degree Type

Open Access Dissertation

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

First Advisor

Charles S. Hausman

Department Affiliation

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Second Advisor

James R. Bliss

Department Affiliation

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Third Advisor

Robert Biggin

Department Affiliation

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Abstract

This research was driven by the desire to determine if graduation rates of high school students in Kentucky are significantly affected when they decide to concentrate on a Career and Technical Education (CTE) career pathway. To clarify, the research questions that prompted this study seek to find out if 12th grade CTE concentrator students in programs of study at (16) randomly chosen Area Technology Centers (ATCs) across the state had different graduation rates than those 12th grade students not engaged in CTE career pathways in (16) corresponding high schools for the 2012 – 2013 school year. The study also compared the graduation rates of CTE concentrators from the 53 state operated ATCs to the graduation rates of the 12th grade general academic students in all public school districts in Kentucky for the 2012 – 2013 school year. The study utilized a quantitative approach and an independent samples t-test with SPSS software to examine data to determining if there was a significant difference in the graduation rates of the two groups of students. A p < .05 level of significance was used for all analyses in the study to determine if the null hypotheses could be rejected.

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