Career and Technical Education as a Foundation to Support Postsecondary Transitions in STEM for Students with Disabilities

“职业和技术教育作为支持残疾学生STEM中学后过渡的基础”奖是一个扩大参与研究项目，旨在调查非传统和不太正规的教育途径，特别是职业和技术教育（CTE）经验，为追求中学后STEM学位和职业的残疾高中生。研究小组将研究高中三种形式的CTE学校，特别是那些由2006年卡尔D。帕金斯职业和技术教育法案，被认为是支持学生向STEM大学专业和最终STEM职业的学校到中学后过渡的关键：（1）STEM课程，（2）基于学校的就业计划，（3）劳动力参与。STEM课程包括传统和应用STEM课程，在结构化的课堂环境中向学生传授定量概念，逻辑和解决问题的技能。校本就业体验包括学校组织和赞助的促进职业发展的活动，如合作教育、实习和职业指导。劳动力参与包括为雇主所做的有偿工作。在高中期间为残疾学生提供了哪些CTE体验？2. CTE在高中的经历是否提高了残疾学生过渡到大学STEM学习领域的几率？如果是，哪些经验最有益？3.在上过大学的条件下，高中的CTE经历是否能提高残疾学生在大学毕业后过渡到STEM专业的几率？如果是，哪些经验最有益？4.对上述四个问题的回答是否因个别学生的具体残疾类别而有所不同？5.这些结果是否可推广到多个具有全国代表性的数据集？为了解决这些研究问题，该研究将对两个现有的国家数据集进行二级数据分析：2002年国家教育统计局教育纵向研究（ELS）和1997年国家青年纵向调查（NLSY97）。 预计结果将推进该领域对残疾学生在中学后阶段追求STEM的未来CTE经验的了解。

The "Career and Technical Education as a Foundation to Support Postsecondary Transitions in STEM for Students with Disabilities" award is a Broadening Participation Research project designed to investigate non-traditional and less formal educational pathways, specifically career and technical education (CTE) experiences, for high school students with disabilities pursuing postsecondary STEM degrees and careers.The research team will examine three forms of CTE in high school, specifically those identified by the 2006 Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, considered critical in supporting the school-to-postsecondary transition of students moving toward STEM college majors and, ultimately, STEM careers: (1) STEM course-taking, (2) school-based employment programs, and (3) labor force participation. STEM course-taking includes both traditional and applied STEM courses that impart quantitative concepts, logic, and problem solving skills to students in a structured classroom setting. School-based employment experiences include activities organized and sponsored by schools that promote career development, such as cooperative education, internships, and career mentoring. Labor force participation includes paid work done for an employer.There are five specific research questions.1. What CTE experiences are provided to students with disabilities during high school?2. Do CTE experiences in high school improve the odds of students with disabilities transitioning into a STEM field of study in college? If so, which experiences are most beneficial?3. Conditional on having attended college, do CTE experiences in high school improve the odds of students with disabilities transitioning into a STEM profession after college? If so, which experiences are most beneficial?4. Do answers to the preceding four questions differ by specific disability classification of the individual student?5. Are these results generalizable to multiple nationally-representative datasets?To address these research questions, the research will conduct secondary data analyses of two existing national datasets: the NCES Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97).This project will be evaluated by an independent evaluator, Dr. Vi-Nhuan Le, and will include formative and summative assessments. Results are expected to advance the field's knowledge about the future CTE experiences of students with disabilities pursuing STEM at the postsecondary level.