09/10/2026
The CTE research that made expansion politically easy came from dedicated CTE schools, not from added pathways at comprehensive high schools.
New Massachusetts research covered by Chalkbeat found that when comprehensive high schools expanded CTE, graduation rates showed little improvement, four-year college enrollment fell, and the early earnings advantage faded by age 27. The difference is not the course title. It is the employer partnerships, the instructional depth, and whether anyone can measure program quality before the first cohort graduates.
Read the full analysis of what districts should measure in year one.
https://www.corelearningexchange.com/blog/cte-expansion-replication-gap-2026.html
New Massachusetts research finds expanded CTE at comprehensive high schools did not lift graduation rates, and early earnings gains faded by age 27.