Study: Digital CTE Courses Helped Over 2,000 Baltimore High School Students Prepare for High-Demand Careers

Throughout the country, Career and Technical Education (CTE) enrollment is rising. At the same time, staffing shortages, funding constraints, and inadequate counselor-to-student ratios are hindering districts from providing the robust career readiness programs that students need to prepare for high-demand fields. 

Baltimore City Public Schools aimed to close those gaps, supplementing their larger career program with digital CTE courses in Edmentum Courseware. To understand the impact, Edmentum’s research team analyzed data from Baltimore’s use of Courseware for career-connected learning during the 2023–24 school year. Adam Maier, Edmentum's Director of Research Impact, unpacked the study’s key findings and answered some questions about CTE. 

The full study is here.

About Career and Technical Education (CTE)

What exactly is a CTE sequence and why is completion important?

Maier: Career and Technical Education (CTE) involves a structured, multi-year sequence of courses that integrates required technical and occupational skills with the durable skills that employers increasingly prefer. Rather than taking isolated electives, students generally progress from introductory content to advanced, specialized topics.

Completion of CTE is important because high-value industry certifications, post-secondary credits, and advanced technical proficiency are typically tied to the final capstone courses. Students who don’t complete their sequences miss out on earning industry-recognized credentials that can help them in the workforce.

What tends to prevent high school students from taking CTE courses?

Maier: Attrition is a major challenge for districts. When students abandon their CTE experiences, it’s usually due to three main roadblocks:

• Rigid graduation requirements, dual-enrollment, or advanced placement (AP) schedules create scheduling conflicts with single-section CTE classes.
• Specialized instructors leave mid-year, forcing the district to freeze the advanced tiers of that sequence and leaving upperclassmen stranded.
• When programs are at a specific career center, transportation and logistics conflict with students’ other academic or after-school responsibilities.

How do digital courses alter the traditional hands-on definition of CTE?

Maier: The modern workforce increasingly relies on digital tools, remote collaboration, and sophisticated software, even in historically hands-on fields. Integrating digital learning allows students to master theory, safety protocols, terminology, and industry-standard software in a digital environment. This hybrid approach ensures that when students do enter a physical lab or workplace, their hands-on hours have made them highly efficient and focused on advanced application.

That bridge between digital learning and real-world exposure can be supported by supplemental tools to drive meaningful career exploration and discovery. This combination gives students both the foundational industry concepts and the real-world workforce insights necessary to transition smoothly into their chosen fields.

How do state education departments evaluate the success of a district's CTE program?

Maier: State accountability frameworks look closely at "CTE completers" rather than just introductory enrollment numbers. Key performance indicators generally include:

• The Completion Rate: The percentage of students who finish the full sequence of a designated sequence.
• Credential Attainment: The number of industry-recognized credentials or licenses that students earn.
• Post-Secondary Transition: The rate at which graduates successfully transition into related employment, apprenticeships, or post-secondary degree programs.

Digital options can help districts expand access to advanced coursework and improve their state-reported completion metrics.

About The Baltimore Study

How extensive was the study and who was involved?

Maier: The research looked closely at the implementation of Edmentum Courseware within Baltimore City Public Schools. The study analyzed data from nearly 7,000 students, accounting for roughly a third of all Baltimore high school students during the 2023–24 academic year.

Why did this research focus on digital CTE options?

Maier: Across the nation, administrators say that hiring and retaining qualified educators for CTE is more challenging than doing so in almost any other subject area. Even when positions are filled, specialized instructors are more likely to leave education for private industry. Furthermore, 3 out of 4 teachers rate their school’s CTE programming as a B, C, or lower, pointing to a critical need for additional courses and instructional staff.

What did the data reveal about student access to CTE courses?

Maier: The research indicated that digital courses are an integral part of how students navigate their career journeys. In total, 31% of all Baltimore CTE students used Courseware for at least one course. Students most widely accessed digital options at two points:

• Hundreds of students used Courseware courses to start their CTE journey at the beginning of high school. The availability of digital options increased the number of ninth-grade CTE participants by nearly 60% compared to paths restricted solely to traditional in-person classes.
• Courseware played an essential role in helping students complete the sequences they started. Students were 67% more likely to use digital courses when it was the final, culminating capstone class in their journey. In fact, nearly half of all final CTE courses in the district used Courseware.

Were Baltimore’s digital CTE courses as rigorous as traditional classroom settings?

Maier: Yes. A primary concern for any academic leader is ensuring that alternative delivery models maintain high standards. The study found that digital CTE courses are equally as rigorous as their traditional counterparts. Students earned similar grades in Courseware classes when compared to equivalent, demographic-matched peers taking the same courses in a traditional setting.

Did the digital CTE courses align with real-world workforce demands?

Maier: The research showed a strong alignment with high-growth industries. Nearly half of the digital CTE courses that CTE students took were focused on health and biosciences or construction and skilled trades. Both sectors are projected to grow faster than the national average over the next ten years, ensuring that students are building relevant skills for in-demand careers.

What can school and district administrators take from this study?

Maier: This study aimed to determine if high-quality, digital CTE courses could expand opportunities for students. The findings demonstrate that while digital CTE courses do not replace the hands-on learning in a traditional classroom, they serve as a powerful supplement to help districts improve both student outcomes and CTE course completion and dramatically scale participation rates for students.

To learn more about Baltimore City Public Schools’ use of Edmentum Courseware for career-connected learning, dig deeper into the research here. 

Adam Maier is the Director of Research Impact at Edmentum, where he leads the organization's efforts to share its research with all audiences. Prior to Edmentum, Adam led TNTP's Research Center of Excellence, where he oversaw the research design and analysis for many of TNTP’s recent reports, including Unlocking Algebra, Paths of Opportunity, False Signals, Unlocking Acceleration, and The Opportunity Myth. Adam has worked as an educational researcher and analyst for nearly two decades and prior to that taught high school math, physics, and statistics for four years.