Some Important Statistics About Career and Technology Students

Students working on proyect

HCPS computer technology program students disassemble desktop computers.

It's a big decision for a parent or guardian to consider letting their student apply for a career and technical education program at one of HCPS' Advanced Career Education Centers. With 30 programs that cover more than 100 career fields, it's a lot for families to consider. ACE is for students preparing for college and readying themselves for:

  • Work before college.

  • Work during their college years.

  • Work after college.

  • Careers directly after high school.

ACE Centers are ready to prepare all their students to be college- and career-ready. Henrico ACE Centers work because the results have proven that students, compared to students who have not participated in an CTE/ACE Center program, are better prepared to enter college and better prepared to start their careers. Here’s some information every parent should know:

  • CTE reduces dropout and increases on-time graduation, particularly CTE courses taken in 11th and 12th grades. (Gottfried and Plasman, “Linking the Timing of CTE Coursetaking With High School Dropout and College-going Behavior,” American Educational Research Journal, 2017)

  • The more students participate in career and technical student organizations, the higher their academic motivation, academic engagement, grades, career self-efficacy, college aspirations and employability skills. (Alfeld et al., Looking Inside the Black Box: The Value Added by Career and Technical Student Organizations to Students’ High School Experience, National Research Center for CTE, 2007)

  • Students attending CTE high schools have demonstrated higher rates of on-time graduation and credit accumulation and a greater likelihood of successfully finishing a college preparatory mathematics sequence. (Neild et al., The Academic Impacts of Career and Technical Schools: A Case Study of a Large Urban School District, 2013)

  • Eighty percent of students taking a college preparatory academic curriculum with rigorous CTE met college and career readiness goals, compared to only 63% of students taking the same academic core who did not experience rigorous CTE programs. (Southern Regional Education Board, High Schools That Work 2012 Assessment)

  • CTE students were significantly more likely than their non-CTE counterparts to report developing problem-solving, project completion, research, math, college application, work-related communication, time management and critical-thinking skills during high school. The Society for Human Resource Management has identified employer demand for many of these skills. (Lekes et al., CTE Pathway Programs, Academic Performance and the Transition to College and Career, National Research Center for CTE, 2007; SHRM and WSJ.com/Careers, Critical Skills Needs and Resources for the Changing Workforce, 2008)

  • The average high school graduation rate in 2012 for CTE concentrators was 93 percent, compared to the national adjusted cohort graduation rate of 80%. (Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education data; Civic Enterprises et al., Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic: Annual Update, 2014)

  • Work-based learning helps students apply and extend classroom learning, gain motivation and understanding, explore careers and develop critical understanding of the work environment. (Alfeld et al., Work-Based Learning Opportunities for High School Students, National Research Center for CTE, 2013)

  • Students who take advanced CTE courses in high school see higher earnings, including a 3.2% wage increase for CTE concentrators. (Kreisman and Stange, Vocational and Career Tech Education in American High Schools: The Value of Depth Over Breadth, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2017)

Teacher working with student

Students working a staged crime seen in our Criminal Justice class.

An ACE Center program is not much different than elective classes students may have taken in middle or high school, such as computer, marketing, business or any one of HCPS' more than 100 other CTE elective classes. The main difference is that, instead of the program lasting one class period, an ACE Center program lasts three periods. That allows for a more in-depth education in the subject. All HCPS ACE Center programs offer college credits, industry certifications or state licenses. The programs are also located in one of three ACE Centers where each class has a large working lab for hands-on education in each offered subject. The school division offers free round-trip transportation to and from ACE Centers from students' home schools. Classes take place during the regular school day and students’ traditional academics, band, sports and other activities still occur at their home schools. Students' futures are important and families should consider all options. Consider HCPS Advanced Career Education Centers.

For questions, explore the HCPS website and contact HCPS' Department of Workforce and Career Development for help deciding if an ACE Center program is right for your student.