Linking Attitudes and Behaviors to Student Success in Career and Technical Education

目前，职业技术教育（CTE）的许多领域与快速发展的高科技和stem相关行业保持一致，如计算、网络安全、先进复合材料和材料以及工程。CTE还支持对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）内容的更好理解，并为广大学生培养STEM能力。对于农村地区和贫困地区的学生来说，在高需求的CTE领域获得职业机会尤为重要。在农村地区建立一个强大的人才库可以促进这些社区的经济增长。不幸的是，许多面向高要求技术职业道路（如计算机科学和信息技术）的CTE课程的总体入学率很低。尽管他们的范围有限，但研究表明，低入学率可能是由于学生的误解，使得追求CTE项目不受欢迎。该项目将：(1)利用调查和区域研讨会，在一个全面的利益相关者群体中识别误解和偏见；(2)收集和分析信息，制定新的CTE传播和推广战略；(3)实施新的传播和外联战略；(4)创建一个分析平台，定期评估和评估这一实施的有效性。拟议的活动可以增加对所有州共同面临的挑战的认识，以及犹他州可能独有的问题。由此产生的实施计划有可能取代对CTE的误解，使其更现实地认识到CTE对特定目标受众的高价值。评估新的沟通策略是否改变了行为（包括利益相关者的决策）的能力，可能与制定有效的沟通和外展策略有关，以传达STEM的整体价值。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Currently, many fields of Career and Technical Education (CTE) align with fast growing high-tech and STEM-related industries, such as computing, cybersecurity, advanced composites and materials, and engineering. CTE also supports greater understanding of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) content and development of STEM competencies for a broad range of students. Access to careers in high demand CTE areas is especially important for students in rural areas and in poverty. Building a strong talent pool in rural areas could increase the economic growth of these communities. Unfortunately, overall enrollments are low in many CTE programs that educate students for high demand technical career pathways (e.g., computer science and information technology). Although they are limited in scope, studies suggest that the low enrollment may result from student misperceptions that make pursuing CTE programs undesirable. This project will: (1) use surveys and regional workshops to identify misperceptions and biases within a comprehensive group of stakeholders; (2) collect and analyze information to develop a new CTE communication and outreach strategy; (3) implement the new communication and outreach strategy; and (4) create an analytics platform to regularly evaluate and assess the effectiveness of this implementation. The proposed activities could increase knowledge about challenges that are common across all states, as well as issues that may be unique to Utah. The resulting implementation plan has the potential to replace misperceptions about CTE with more realistic perceptions about the high value of CTE for specific target audiences. The ability to assess whether the new communication strategy changes behavior, including decision making by stakeholders, may be relevant for developing effective communication and outreach strategies for communicating the overall value of STEM.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.