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Building bridges to life after high school: Contemporary career academies and student outcomes

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  • Hemelt, Steven W.
  • Lenard, Matthew A.
  • Paeplow, Colleen G.

Abstract

Career academies serve an increasingly wide range of students. This paper examines the contemporary profile of students entering career academies in a large, diverse school district and estimates causal effects of participation in one of the district's well-regarded academies on a range of high school and college outcomes. Exploiting the lottery-based admissions process of this technology-focused academy, we find that academy enrollment increases the likelihood of high school graduation by about 8 percentage points and boosts rates of college enrollment for males but not females. Analysis of intermediate outcomes suggests that effects on attendance and industry-relevant certification at least partially mediate the overall high school graduation effect.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:68:y:2019:i:c:p:161-178
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2018.08.005
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    Cited by:

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    2. 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).
    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. Kemper, Johanna & Renold, Ursula, 2024. "Evaluating the impact of general versus vocational education on labor market outcomes in Egypt by means of a regression discontinuity design," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    8. Blazar, David & Gao, Wenjing & Gershenson, Seth & Goings, Ramon & Lagos, Francisco, 2024. "Do Grow-Your-Own Programs Work? Evidence from the Teacher Academy of Maryland," IZA Discussion Papers 16983, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Career academies; Career and technical education; High school graduation; College enrollment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development

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