The Value of Career and Technical Education in Addressing College and Career Readiness and the Ill-Prepared Workforce

Are we truly preparing high school students to be college and career ready? In this time when the graduation average has shown a significant increase, why are more students lacking the basic skills to be successful in the workforce than ever before? The problem studied in this book is that schools are not providing the necessary entry-level skills desired by industry, or that lead to successful employment in the 21st century. Furthermore, this study examined new entry-level employees to the workforce and the perception of employers, as to the skill level needed to be successful in 21st century industry. Today’s economy demands a better educated workforce than ever before, and jobs in this new economy require more complex knowledge and skills than the jobs of the past. Research from the Center for Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University debunks the often-cited myth that the economy lacks jobs for young people to fill, finding instead that industries across the economy have created a wealth of new jobs that require workers with appropriate education and training (American Institutes for Research, 2013). The center also projects that nearly two thirds of jobs created in the United States by the year 2018 will require some form of postsecondary education (Carnevale et al., 2010).