Manufacturers have expressed concerns about talent shortages, citing the perceptions held by students/parents of the industry as a major contributing factor. At the same time, policymakers/educational leaders continue to call for STEM education programming to maintain competitiveness in such industries. Accordingly, manufacturers have launched…

This article argues that current Supply Chain Management (SCM) education and training is inadequate to meet the human capital needs of industry. To bridge this gap, we propose the development and deployment of SCM educational programs that provide learning opportunities earlier in students' educational journeys. We argue that such programs should…

Career and technical education (CTE) is a vital education model in 21st century America. Furthermore, disciplinary literacy has gained traction over the last 20 years as an essential way to develop literacy skills across content areas. However, most disciplinary literacy studies focus on the academic subjects of English, history, science, and…

Most vocational high school (SMK) graduates do not have high financial competitiveness and are still unemployed, even contributing to the highest unemployment rate compared to graduates from other schools. This study aims to identify resource sharing between schools, vocational training agencies, and industry in preparing vocational high school…

The mission of high school career and technical education (CTE) programs is to prepare high school graduates for a career. This study provides insight into the educational practices that support students with the skills necessary for workplace success, as not all CTE program graduates are prepared for the workplace with industry-ready skills. The…

Nationally, the labor market is calling out for workers to fill the increasing number of job vacancies, but those qualified, skilled, and able to fill them are limited in supply or retiring in large numbers. As America's key industries offer high salaries in return for candidates with the necessary skills and credentials to fill their vacancies,…

Texas, like many states, considers students to be "college, career, or military ready" if they earn an industry-based certification (IBC) in high school. While the expansion of opportunities for students to earn IBCs has been stimulated through state policy, limited research has systematically examined what factors influence students'…

The exploitation of animals for human purposes raises several ethical concerns in the educational realm that ought to be carefully dealt with. Derived from the content analysis of sample of 39 Portuguese secondary and high school textbooks, this study aims to understand how factory-farmed animals are represented within the following themes: food…

Industry commitment plays a vital role in vocational education programs, especially in vocational high schools. The involvement of the industry is the key to the success of implementing vocational education. However, how to measure industry commitment in vocational learning is still not discussed. This study aimed to develop and test the validity…

Conferred by businesses, industry groups, and state certifying entities, industry-recognized credentials (IRCs) are intended to signal that students have mastered specific workplace knowledge and skills. This first-of-its-kind study assesses the impact of specific IRCs earned in high school on various employment and postsecondary outcomes for…

With the rapidly changing technology, it is no surprise that the number of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) occupations continues to rise. Between 2009 and 2015, available STEM jobs in the United States grew by 10.5%, twice the growth of non-STEM jobs (Fayer et al., 2017). However, the United States is currently falling…

Career Technical Education (CTE) at the high school level is a sequence of courses that prepares students with the academic and technical knowledge and skills needed to either continue their studies or enter the workforce after high school (Gray & Lewis, 2018). While there is research regarding how high school CTE programs support academics,…

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, state education leaders have been developing numerous innovative approaches to supporting high school students who are pursuing career pathways and preparing them for successful outcomes beyond secondary education. This topical brief summarizes state needs and strategies related to supporting…

Research on nature of science (NOS) has confirmed that students' understanding of NOS is best achieved by explicitly considering NOS a cognitive learning expectation and providing opportunities to reflect on it. However, little has been discussed on how to design and use tasks enhancing students' NOS understanding. In an attempt to fill this gap,…

Before the shelter-in-place orders began, Biotech Partners (BP) was already engaged in contingency planning with its school and industry partners in an effort to mitigate potential disruptions caused by the looming health crisis. For 25 years prior, BP had successfully mentored and prepared underrepresented high school students to complete…