Abstract:
Career Technical and Agricultural Education (CTAE) provides opportunities for learners to participate in academic rigorous, engaging, and career readiness courses to meet the workforce demands for the twenty-first century, to persist and succeed in graduation from high school, and to earn specialized skills. The State of Georgia lags behind national four-year cohort graduation rates. This mixed-method study employed a qualitative historical component and a quantitative Graduation Rate Model based on human capital theory. The purpose of the study is to offer insights by exploring the historical evolutionary impacts of major American federal and Georgia state legislation on education and human capital from the founding of the nation to the present. Also, the purpose of the study is to analyze The State of Georgia high school four-year cohort graduation rate relationships and mean scale scores and differences of learners designated as CTAE concentrators and Non-CTAE concentrators using four locales (town, rural, suburban, and city), for the State of Georgia 179 school districts, and from 48 school districts or locales, with twelve each randomly selected school district locales, applicable to Academic Years 2014-2016. There was a p-value of < 0.05 to test quantitative hypotheses. Findings were that American federal and the State of Georgia legislation impacted education and human capital. Twelfth grade CTAE concentrator graduates had higher mean scale scores than Non-CTAE concentrator graduates in all school district locales. CTAE concentrator graduates had higher mean differences than Non-CTAE concentrator graduates in all school district locales. Suburban school district locales tended to have higher mean graduation rate scores than other school district locales. Program Types and School District Locales lacked significant interactions.
Keywords: High School Graduate, Student Graduation Rate, CTAE Concentrator, Non-CTAE Concentrator, Locale Type, Human Capital Theory