Career and Technical Education in Michigan- Students with Disabilities
Author(s):
Brian Jacob, Jeremy Guardiola
Key Findings:
- Students with disabilities (SWD) participate in Career and Technical Education (CTE) at roughly the same rate as other students. Students with specific learning disabilities and speech or language impairments are most likely to enroll among all SWD. Girls with disabilities are less likely to participate compared to observably similar girls without disabilities.
- Both boys and girls with disabilities are more likely to participate in agriculture and skilled trades programs and less likely to enroll in business and communications programs. That said, the skilled trades offer promising labor market prospects in Michigan.
- SWD are less likely to complete CTE programs compared to students without disabilities. Approximately half of this gap can be explained by other characteristics like socioeconomic status and prior academic achievement.
- SWD who complete a CTE program are 48% more likely to graduate high school relative to observably similar SWD who never enroll in a CTE program. This trend holds across sexes and most disability types. These benefits appear greater for SWD than students without disabilities.
85% OF ALL STUDENTS NATIONWIDE GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL, YET ONLY 69% OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES DO SO.” Page 2