Dropping Out of High School and the Place of Career and Technical Education: A Survival Analysis of Surviving High School

Publication October 2005

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 are used to examine the association between the CTE-to-academic-coursetaking ratio and the likelihood of dropping out. Descriptive statistics are presented for 1,628 individuals born in 1980. Transcript and survey data are then used in estimating nonproportional hazards models with time-varying covariates for a subsample of 846 youth. The research found a highly significant curvilinear effect of the coursetaking ratio on the likelihood of dropping out for youth who were less than 15 years old upon entering 9th grade. For them, a CTE:academic course ratio of 1:2 was beneficial. For youth who were 15 or older upon high school entry, factors other than coursetaking predicted their high rates of dropping out.

Plank, S., DeLuca, S., & Estacion, A. (2005, October). Dropping out of high school and the place of career and technical education: A survival analysis of surviving high school. St. Paul, MN: National Research Center for Career and Technical Education. 

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