National Assessment of Career and Technical Education (NACTE)

This study assesses the effect of legislative innovations introduced by congressional lawmakers and changes in policy interpretation by federal education administrators on the implementation of Carl D. Perkins Act of 2006 (Perkins IV). Study findings will culminate in the production of a final report assessing the effectiveness of Perkins IV in improving CTE program delivery and outcomes and offering recommendations for strengthening the law after it formally expires.

Study activities call for evaluating three aspects of state and local implementation of Perkins IV funded programs:

• Accountability Systems—How‚ and to what extent‚ performance reporting requirements are promoting accountability and program improvement
• Programs of Study—How state and local grantees are integrating challenging academic standards and rigorous technical content into sequenced‚ non-duplicative coursework aligned across the secondary and postsecondary education levels.

• Finance Systems—how federal and state financing of state CTE occurs and is changing over time.

This study employs a complex research design making use of multiple data collection strategies‚ including:

• Survey of state directors on their perceptions of CTE program delivery and operations‚ as well as fiscal and program administrative data.
• Survey of a national‚ statistically representative sample of local secondary and postsecondary CTE providers.
• Case study visits to state agencies and local secondary and postsecondary providers to interview administrators and gather data on progress and challenges.
• Review of state CTE content standards and programs of study materials by expert teams to assess and rate material quality.
• Targeted analysis of state websites and the extent literature to identify and download information to inform study conduct.
• Statistical analysis of state accountability and fiscal data to assess state and local levels of performance and historical trends.