Examining the effect of program design on career and technical program completion, technical skill attainment and job placement

Community college career and technical education programs struggle with meeting federallyunded Perkins performance measures. To address this need the 30-45-60 program design was developed. The study purpose was to determine if the 30-45-60 program design influenced career certificate, technical certificate or Associate of Applied Science degree completion rates, technical skill attainment, and job placement rates for students enrolled in the welding, precision machining and manufacturing and electrical technology programs. A Chi-square test of independence indicated no significantly significant relationship between the 30-45-60 program design and completion of a certificate or degree (p = .222). A closer look revealed no significantly significant relationship between the 30-45-60 program design and the career certificate (p = .392) or the Associate of Applied Science degree (.576) but was statistically significant for technical certificate (p = .000). A statistically significant relationship was found for technical skill attainment (p =.038) and job placement (p = .000)