Date

3-2014

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Chair

Fred Conner

Keywords

business and industry, career and technical education, career pathways, completers, teacher experience, workplace readiness

Disciplines

Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Educational Methods | Secondary Education and Teaching

Abstract

Over the last decade attention has been placed on the emergent gap between education and the workplace. In response, school systems have provided instructional opportunities such as career pathways to better prepare students with the necessary knowledge and skills needed to be workplace ready. This dissertation sought to review two factors considered essential to this endeavor--teacher experience in business and industry and career and technical education (CTE). In doing so, this causal-comparative study examined 594 high school students in a northwest Georgia school district to see if there was a difference in the ACT WorkKeys® scores of students completing a career pathway taught by an instructor with two or more years of experience in business and industry and students completing a career pathway taught by an instructor without two or more years of experience in business and industry. Additionally, there was an examination to see if a difference exists between the scores of students completing a CTE career pathway and students completing a non-CTE career pathway. Students took the ACT WorkKeys® assessment in Applied Mathematics, Locating Information, and Reading for Information with their results reported as scale and level scores. Though no statistically significant differences were concluded related to the effects of teacher experience on the workplace readiness of high school students, this study serves as an indicator that workplace preparation needs to be further addressed to ensure a viable workforce in the 21st century.

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