Vocational Course Taking and Achievement

Résumé du livre

A study sought to determine the relationship between vocational course taking and academic achievement as measured by the 1990 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Analysis of the data measured by the NAEP shows a consistent inverse relationship between vocational course taking and NAEP assessment scores. The relationship holds for mathematics, science, and reading achievement. This association persists after attempts are made to take other curriculum characteristics and background characteristics into account, although it attenuates among students whose parents did not complete high school. Despite the consistent finding that vocational course taking is inversely related to achievement on the NAEP tests, this cannot be taken as evidence that increased vocational course taking depresses achievement. Rather, it might be found that students who generally score lower on tests also tend to take vocational courses, or that students who take vocational courses miss the academic courses that may help increase test scores. (Twenty-three tables, three figures, as well as a summary of the study's methodology, are included.) (KC)