Now accepting submissions
Culture, Education, and Future
e‑ISSN 2980-2741 Open Access · CC BY 4.0
Vol. 2 · Issue 1 · 2024 Jun 26, 2024 Articles

An analysis of gender differences in industry-based certification attainment rates of Texas high school graduates

RH
Robert Todd Hicks Sam Houston State University United States
JS
John R. Slate Corresponding Sam Houston State University jrs051@shsu.edu United States
JH
Janene W. Hemmen Sam Houston State University United States
Pages103-114 PublishedJun 26, 2024 LicenseOpen Access
PDF
Vol. 2 No. 1 (2024): CEF Journal
VOL 2 · NO 1 · 2024 CEF Journal View issue

Abstract

In this statewide, multiyear study, industry-based certification attainment rates were examined by gender for Texas high school graduates. Industry-based certifications included in the study were vetted by the Texas Education Agency and reported through the Texas Academic Performance Reports for the 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 school years. Inferential analyses revealed statistically significant differences in industry-based certification attainment rates for each of the three school years of data analyzed. Both boys and girls demonstrated increases in certification attainment across the years analyzed; however, the attainment rate of Texas male high school graduates increased at a faster rate than the attainment rate of Texas female high school graduates. Differences in attainment rates and associated attainment gaps between male and female graduates are presented for each of the three school years of data analyzed, as well as recommendations for future research.

Keywords

References

  1. AlMalki, H. A., & Durugbo, C. M. (2023). Evaluating critical institutional factors of Industry 4.0 for education reform. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 188(2023), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2023.122327
  2. Bühler, M. M., Jelinek, T., & Nübel, K. (2022). Training and preparing tomorrow’s workforce for the fourth industrial revolution. Education Sciences, 12(782), 1-28. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12110782
  3. Burillo, M. (2012). Marketable skills achievement awards certificate completer trends by ethnicity and gender at Texas community colleges (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX.
  4. Casto, A. R. & Williams III, J. A. (2020). Seeking proportionality in the North Carolina STEM pipeline. The High School Journal, 103(2), 77-98. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26986615
  5. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erbaum.
  6. Combs, J. P., Slate, J. R., Moore, G. W., Bustamante, R. M., Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Edmonson, S. L. (2010). Gender differences in college preparedness: A statewide study. Urban Review, 42, 441-457. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-009-0138-x
  7. Conley, D. T. (2008). Rethinking college-readiness. New England Journal of Higher Education, 22(5), 24-26. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ794245.pdf
  8. Davis, C. M., Slate, J. R., Moore, G. W., & Barnes, W. (2013). College readiness and Black student performance: Disaffirmed equity. The Online Journal of New Horizons in Education, 3(4), 23-44.
  9. Field, A. (2018). Discovering statistics using SPSS (5th ed.). Sage.
  10. Fluhr, S. A., Choi, N., Herd, A., Woo, H., & Alagaraja, M. (2017). Gender, career and technical education (CTE) nontraditional coursetaking, and wage gap. The High School Journal, 100(3), 166-182. https://www.jstor.org/stable/90024210
  11. Giani, M. (2022). Certified skills: Who earns industry-based certifications in high school, and how do they shape students’ postsecondary education and employment outcomes? The University of Texas at Austin: Texas Education, 1-7. Retrieved 19 January, 2024 from https://texaserc.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/141-UTA148-Brief-Certifications-4.6.22-REV.pdf
  12. Holman, A. G., Kupczynski, L., Mundy, M-A., & Williams, R. H. (2017). CTE students’ perceptions of preparedness for post-secondary opportunities. The CTE Journal, 5(2), 8-23.
  13. Jiang, L. (2017). Why are some STEM fields more gender balanced than others? Psychological Bulletin, 143(1), 1-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bul0000052
  14. Johnson, R. B., & Christensen, L. (2020). Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches (7th ed.). Sage.
  15. Johnson, T. (2020). Comparison of proportion of Texas campus college, career, and military readiness of all students to the proportion of Texas campus college, career, and military readiness by ethnicity/race, gender, and economic status: A Texas statewide study (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX.
  16. Leu, K. B., & Arbeit, C. A. (2020). Differences in high school CTE coursetaking by gender and race/ethnicity. Career and Technical Education Research, 45(1), 33-61. https://doi.org/10.5328/cter45.1.33
  17. Li, L. (2022). Reskilling and upskilling the future-ready workforce for industry 4.0 and beyond. Information Systems Frontier: A Journal of Research and Innovation, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-022-10308-y
  18. Texas Education Agency. (2022). 2021-22 Texas academic performance report (TAPR) glossary. Retrieved 3 February, 2024 from https://rptsvr1.tea.texas.gov/perfreport/tapr/2022/glossary.pdf
  19. Texas Education Agency. (n.d.). Career and technical education. https://tea.texas.gov/academics/college-career-and-military-prep/career-and-technical-education
  20. Yoon, S. Y., & Strobel, J. (2017). Trends in Texas high school student enrollment in mathematics, science, and CTE-STEM courses. Journal of STEM Education, 4(9), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-017-0063-6

License

CCBY 4.0
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

This work is openly licensed — share and adapt freely with attribution to the authors and the journal. View license terms ↗

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
§ 06 — Related

Similar articles in this journal

Related peer-reviewed studies published in this journal.
View all issues