Date of Degree

5-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

Program

Business Administration

Advisor

Ernesto Escobedo

Advisor

Dawn Benitez

Advisor

Thomas Teeter

Abstract

Existing literature on education and industry pipeline underscores the rising call for addressing the alignment of the two sectors to achieve relevant career pathways for students. These efforts were demonstrated when Congress enacted the Perkins Act in 1984, emphasizing career and education alignment by strengthening CTE programs in public schools. This study quantitatively determined the students’ skilled trade preparedness by analyzing the relationship between the student's College and Career Readiness Standard (CCRS) skills and those of students who pursued CTE courses and their counterparts. Three student categories composed of STEM, STEM-related, and non-CTE concentrates who graduated in May 2023 from a metropolitan Texas public University form the independent variable, while skilled trade preparedness served as the dependent variable. A Chi-Square Test for independence (with Yates’ Continuity Correction) indicated a significant association between CTE-STEM career clusters and skilled trade preparedness, X2 (1, n = 384) = 41.24, p = .001, with a significant effect size phi = .334. On the other hand, non-CTE career clusters reported X2 (1, n = 384) = .560, p = .454, with a negligible effect size phi = .047. This study found that CTE programs in Texas were significantly aligned with the industry compared to the non-CTE programs.

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