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Julie Edmunds
Spillover Effects of Specialized High Schools
Specialized high schools are an increasingly popular way to prepare young adults for postsecondary experiences and expand school choice. While much literature ex- amines charter school spillover effects and the effects of specialized schools on the students who attend them, little is known about the spillover effects of specialized high schools on traditional public schools (TPS). Using an event study design, we show that one type of specialized high school, North Carolina’s Cooperative Innovative High Schools, initially attracted students who were higher achieving and more likely to be white than TPS students, but these specialized schools became more representative of the district population over time. On average, the opening of specialized schools had a mix of null and positive spillover effects on TPS student achievement. While there is some evidence of negative spillovers from the first schools that opened, the effects become more positive over time.
Implementation and Impacts of Career-Focused Advising
Recent policies have expanded the availability of career-focused advising in high schools, including for students pursuing career and technical education (CTE) courses of study who might not have been adequately served by traditional college-focused advising. However, there is limited research on the effects of these policies. This study examines the implementation and impacts of career-focused advising in the context of North Carolina’s career coaching program, which places community college staff on select high school campuses to provide guidance around career pathways and high school coursetaking that can prepare students for those pathways. Using descriptive analysis and interviews, we found that the program connected students with information about career opportunities as well as about the state’s dual enrollment program, which can help students to get a jumpstart on earning a credential while still in high school. We used two quasiexperimental methods to analyze the impacts of the program. Our school-level event study analysis found that a school receiving a career coach increased the rate of participation in the dual enrollment program, on average, and may result in an increase in students intending to directly enter the workforce after high school and a decrease in four-year college enrollment. Our student-level propensity score-weighting analysis found that students who met with the career coaches took slightly more CTE dual enrollment courses in high school and were more likely to enroll at two-year colleges after high school than similar students who did not meet with a coach.
CTE-Focused Dual Enrollment: Participation and Outcomes
Recent policy efforts have attempted to increase the number of dual enrollment courses offered within Career and Technical Education pathways and there is evidence to suggest that this practice is widespread. However, there is very little research on student participation in CTE dual enrollment and on its impacts. This study examines participation in the CTE dual enrollment pathway in North Carolina, finding that about 9% of North Carolina students participated in CTE dual enrollment courses in 11th or 12th grade and disparities in participation among subgroups were less than for college transfer dual enrollment courses. Using a quasi-experimental approach to examine the effect of the program, the study found that participation is CTE was positively associated with college credits earned in high school, graduation from high school, and overall enrollment in college within one year after high school. The study also examined results by subgroup.