Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

5-2014

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph. D.

Department (Legacy)

Department of Leadership, Foundations, and Human Resource Education

Committee Chair

Choi, Namok

Committee Co-Chair (if applicable)

Stone, James

Committee Member

Stone, James

Committee Member

Munoz, Marco

Committee Member

Alagaraja, Meera

Subject

Sex differences in education; Stereotypes (Social psychology); Vocational education; Technical education; Career education

Abstract

This dissertation explored he relationships among gender, coursetaking, and student outcomes of high school CTE students. The variables analyzed within this study were selected based upon an extensive review of existing literature on gender, stereotypes, occupation, nontraditional careers, and CTE coursetaking and policy. The sample examined in this study came from a Midwestern state’s database of CTE students that were enrolled in high school CTE courses from 2010-2012. Operating under a theory that gender segregation with CTE leads to a continuance of gender segregation in the workforce at large, the purpose of this study was to add to the existing body of knowledge regarding gender equity in the workforce and the persistence of occupational gender segregation by ascertaining the extent of the relationships between gender and high school CTE coursetaking. Investigation of this topic filled a void in empirical analyses of the impact of gender on CTE with respect to recent legislative changes intended to encourage increased gender equity in programs and courses. In order to assess these relationships, logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted. Additionally, a factorial ANOVA analysis was used to investigate estimated wage differences for male and female CTE completers. The results of this study indicated that gender is a significant predictor of CTE coursetaking, although its effect is small. Specifically, the findings suggest that gender gaps in coursetaking have narrowed and that both mal and female students appear to be pursuing nontraditional course enrollment across program areas. Gender was also found to be a significant predictor for earning industry certifications, with females more likely to earn an industry certification than male students. Additionally, the results indicated that gender, industry certifications, and program area all had a significant relationship with nontraditional student outcomes. Student transitions to employment or postsecondary study (either in a field related to the high school CTE program of study or in an unrelated field) could be predicted based upon these variables. Finally, when analyzing potential future earnings, program area rather than gender produced the largest effect and explained the greatest portion of wage disparities amongst individual students.

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