THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TECHNICAL SKILL ATTAINMENT AND POST-GRADUATION RELATED PLACEMENT OF SECONDARY CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION STUDENTS IN MISSOURI

This study was conducted using quantitative methods to determine if a relationship exists between former Career and Technical Education (CTE) concentrators’ Technical Skill Assessment (TSA) performance and their attaining related placement after high school. The study included data from 65,606 Missouri CTE concentrators who graduated during the years 2015-2019. To investigate the relationship between TSA assessment performance and attaining related placement, multiple descriptive models were run and disaggregated by CTE program area, gender, race/ethnicity, IEP status, and SES. The data revealed students who pass their TSA assessment are more likely to attain related placement compared to those not passing their assessment. Health Sciences, Marketing, and Agriculture students had the highest rates of passing the TSA assessment and attaining related placement. Additional analysis to determine the relationship between TSA assessment performance and attaining related placement involved multiple binary logistic regression models. The logistic regression models helped determine how passing the TSA assessment, student demographics, and CTE program area all interacted and influenced students attaining related placement. Statistically significant findings were determined for TSA assessment, Black students, those without IEPs, and those not disadvantaged in the SES category. Passing the TSA assessment remained a significant predictor of attaining related placement throughout all models. In all models, Black students, when compared to White, students with IEPs, and disadvantaged students in the SES category had decreased odds of attaining related placement. The findings from this study may add merit to the numerous CTE systems in the United States. Keywords: technical skill attainment, TSA, TSA assessment, career and technical education, CTE, related placement, CTE accountability measures, industry-recognized credentia