Giving Compass' Take:

• MDRC conducted research to understand how organizations in secondary, postsecondary, and workforce career and technical education used data strategies to implement the most successful programs. 

• Why is it critical to have data strategies that inform present and future CTE programs? 

• Read more about recognizing the value of career and technical education. 

Career and technical education (CTE) programs (programs that teach students specific workplace skills aligned with the labor market) may track data for lots of different reasons: to comply with funding requirements, to manage their services and continually improve, to measure their progress toward their goals, and to evaluate whether they are making a difference for students. When used intelligently, data can be powerful. Data can help a program refine its model, pinpoint successes, and communicate lessons with funders and stakeholders.

Yet if data are so important, why don’t more programs have successful data strategies?

Perhaps the reason is that there have been few guides available to help programs develop those strategies, even as CTE programs have received more attention and grown considerably in recent years. To fill that void, MDRC conducted a scan of leading CTE programs, starting with the projects affiliated with its Center for Effective CTE.

MDRC research staff members and partners were interviewed about the challenges and opportunities data provide. MDRC also reached out to innovative leaders, consultants, and organizations in secondary, postsecondary, and workforce CTE — the three main areas of the field — to discuss their data strategies and the challenges they have faced.

Read the full article about CTE data strategies by  Hannah Dalporto at MDRC.