Career and technical education (CTE) programs are doing something right – just look at the data. The graduation rate for CTE students is more than 90 percent, nearly 15 percentage points higher than the rate for students overall.

CTE classes tend to focus on real-world, project-based learning and skill-based instruction that help prepare students for jobs. These kinds of learning experiences can also help students do better academically. As the skill level required for many jobs rises and schools turn to the Common Core State Standards that emphasize critical thinking, the CTE approach may offer lessons for preparing all students for [...]Continue Reading »

One section of the National Center for Education Statistics’ newly released Projections of Education Statistics to 2022 homes in on enrollment in higher education. This piece of the 41st edition of NCES’ annual forecast of future trends in important education indicators is a virtual storehouse of information about enrollments in the nation’s colleges and universities since 1997 and a guide to where the nation is likely to be in 2022.

Two trends shown in the charts below:

While the Bachelor’s degree is and probably will remain for the next decade the most commonly awarded degree in the United States, the number of [...]Continue Reading »

Career and technical education teachers (labeled Vocational/Technical in the charts below) make up about 11 percent of all public high school teachers across the country, according to 2011-2012 data from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). There are over 125,000 career and technical education teachers. Nearly 42 percent of these teachers are age 50 or older. Almost a quarter (23.5 percent) have more than 20 years of full-time teaching experience.

While career and technical education teachers have the highest percentage of teachers without a bachelor’s degree (14.2 percent), nearly 80 percent have bachelor’s or master’s degrees [...]Continue Reading »

One section of the National Center for Education Statistics’ newly released Projections of Education Statistics to 2022 homes in on enrollment in higher education. This piece of the 41st edition of NCES’ annual forecast of future trends in important education indicators is a virtual storehouse of information about enrollments in the nation’s colleges and universities since 1997 and a guide to where the nation is likely to be in 2022.

Two trends shown in the charts below:

While the Bachelor’s degree is and probably will remain for the next decade the most commonly awarded degree in the United States, the number of [...]Continue Reading »

The Department of Education held a technical symposium last week to discuss what kind of data and analysis the federal government should use for President Obama’s accessibility, affordability, and  outcomes rating for U.S. colleges (Official title: Postsecondary Institution Rating System).

Three key takeaways from the meeting:

First, the current higher education data infrastructure urgently needs improvement. This message was delivered by just about every presenter, and it is probably the most important message of the day. There was general consensus that student-level data (the student unit record) rather than institution-level data  would provide a much stronger foundation for the ratings.

One example:  When [...]Continue Reading »

Parents and students want to know:  Who or what is to blame for the skyrocketing (up 50 percent in 10 years) cost of a college education? Some blame faculty salaries, cuts in state aid, or excessive spending. But “Administrative Bloat”— a flurry of new vice presidents, provosts, deans, and other professional workers – has been a target high on everyone’s list.

New analysis from AIR’s Delta Cost Project breaks down staffing and compensation changes in higher education and sheds new light on the role of administrative bloat in the cost of college.

Administrative positions have increased across all types of higher education [...]Continue Reading »

Flipping the classroom. A Detroit high school was one of the lowest performing schools in Michigan until they decided to flip the classroom. By recording lessons online for students to watch at home, teachers have more time in the classroom to work through problems. (YouTube)

An epidemic. Cheating has become very common in schools, with cheating making the headlines in some of the country’s most prestigious schools. These students speak about why they cheat and the pressure of being a student. (Teen Vogue)

Twelve Days of Christmas. This student gets into the holiday spirit by turning all-nighters and mental breakdowns into a [...]Continue Reading »