Exploring Perceptions of Career Growth and Employability Skills Outcomes Among Career and Technical Education Program Graduates

Career and Technical Education (CTE) is often misperceived as a pathway solely for students not pursuing higher education, a misconception that reinforces stigma and hinders program development. This quantitative study examined how high school CTE programs influence postsecondary outcomes for 1,085 Texas graduates, focusing on perceptions of preparedness, employability skills, and career alignment.

Using a researcher-developed instrument, the study measured graduates’ views on curriculum relevance, access to facilities and technology, career and technical student organization (CTSO) participation, and work-based learning. It also assessed employability skills using the U.S. Department of Education's Employability Skills Framework and social-emotional competencies from the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) framework.

Key findings revealed that 86.5% of graduates pursued careers aligned with their CTE programs, with STEM (95.6%) and Information Technology (92.8%) showing the highest alignment. Graduates whose careers required certifications demonstrated higher career alignment (90.9%) than those without certification requirements (69.2%). Students in career-aligned paths also reported higher preparedness scores (M = 3.80) than non-aligned peers (M = 3.62, p = .007), though this finding should be interpreted cautiously due to the preparedness measure’s lower reliability (α = .64). No significant differences emerged in social-emotional or employability skills.

A key limitation is the predominantly White sample (83.5%), which differs from Texas CTE’s diverse enrollment (54.8% Hispanic/Latino), limiting generalizability. Despite this, findings highlight the vital role of industry certifications in fostering career alignment and underscore the strong outcomes of CTE in STEM and Information Technology pathways.