Background

In an effort to provide information on employment outcomes for students who have participated in career technical education (CTE) programs at California community colleges—including whether students became employed within their field of study, if their community college coursework positively affected their earning potential, and why students dropped out of CTE programs—the RP Group partnered with the Bay Area Community College Consortium and practitioners from around the state to develop a universally available survey methodology. This survey is based on completer and leaver surveys that have been conducted at several colleges and was tested through a pilot study in 2011-12 with twelve colleges, two districts, and one program of study (Medical Assisting) at seven different institutions in the Bay Region.

The CTE Outcomes Survey has grown to include all 114 California Community Colleges, and several non-credit institutions. Results are being used by practitioners to improve CTE programs locally. Results are being posted on the CTE Launchboard (a collaborative effort between Cal-PASS+ and the Chancellor's Office Doing What Matters for Jobs and the Economy), and results have been shared at annual meetings of the California Community College Association for Occupational Education (CCCAOE), the Research & Planning Group of California Community Colleges (RP Group), the California Association of Institutional Researchers (CAIR), the national Association of Institutional Researchers (AIR), the National Council for Workforce Education (NCWE), and the Strengthening Student Success conference.

After successfully launching the CTE Outcomes Survey and overseeing the project for the first two years, The RP Group shifted ongoing administration to the Office of Institutional Research at Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC), which had been administering the survey on behalf of the RP Group. Beginning with the 2013-14 survey, SRJC assumed full responsibility for the CTE Outcomes Survey.