The Relation of High School Career and Work-Oriented Education to Postsecondary Employment and College Performance: A Six-Year Longitudinal Study of Public High School Graduates

The employment and college enrolment history of high school graduates (N = 4,476) of a large, suburban school district was examined, with particular interest in how the postsecondary employment and school of graduates who had completed a career- and work-oriented secondary educational program (N = 399) compared with that of other graduates (N=4,476). Overall, program participants fared better on many employment outcomes than non-program participants, and as well as non-program participants on college performance. They worked more quarters and had more continuous employment than non-program participants. Program participants also earned more over the six-year follow-up and each year from 1994 through 1998. They were also less likely to be employed in areas traditionally considered short-term or temporary in their first jobs than were non-program graduates, and more were employed in trades than were non-program participants. Finally, program participants performed nearly the same on college outcomes as did non-program participants. Results call for adjusting thinking about the benefits of career- and work-oriented secondary education for all students, whether their postsecondary plans are to enrol in college or to enter employment.