Pathways into the CTE Teaching Profession: A Descriptive Analysis of Degrees, Licenses, and Race in Maryland

Despite significant interest in Career and Technical Education (CTE), little is known about CTE teachers. Using ten years of Maryland administrative data, we find that almost one-fifth of CTE teachers enter the profession with a high school diploma or associate’s degree, reflecting state policies al...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: David Blazar, Danett Song, Ramon Goings, Jay Plasman, Michael Gottfried
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2025-08-01
Series:AERA Open
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584251361382
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Summary:Despite significant interest in Career and Technical Education (CTE), little is known about CTE teachers. Using ten years of Maryland administrative data, we find that almost one-fifth of CTE teachers enter the profession with a high school diploma or associate’s degree, reflecting state policies allowing trade/industry professional experience to substitute for higher degrees. Relatedly, CTE teachers are roughly twice as likely as non-CTE teachers to enter through alternative licensure pathways that bypass traditional teacher education (68% vs. 36%). In Maryland, there is a larger share of Black teachers in versus out of CTE (37% vs. 22%), leading to greater race matching opportunities for Black students. This pattern extends across nine out of the eleven total CTE career clusters. We hypothesize that these patterns are related: decreased barriers to entry may support more Black individuals to become CTE teachers, with potential implications for their Black students’ career success.
ISSN:2332-8584