Effect of Passing a CTE Technical Assessment on College Enrollment

Abstract

When comparing students with similar scores on either side of the passing threshold, pooling together all assessments, and controlling for student demographics, we find that passing a CTE technical assessment has no impact on the likelihood of attending college. While estimates are not precise enough to rule out potential positive or negative effects, our results suggest that (if anything) effects are more likely to be negative or zero than positive. We similarly find no impact on college-going when we restrict the analysis sample to a subset of the most popular tests (with some exceptions). For those on the margin of passing a CTE technical assessment, the signal afforded to students from passing the assessment does not appear to affect students’ propensity to attend college. That passing among this slice of students has no impact on college attendance suggests that, while the tests may be indicative of learning (a hypothesis we are not in a position to confirm), they do not seem to alter students’ future academic plans.