Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
High-quality career and technical education programs offered by community and technical colleges can offer hundreds of students a pathway to well-paying careers. However, many of these plans switched to online due to the COVID-19 pandemic and several will remain so, widening the inequality gap.
According to a study conducted by Urban Institute, "structural racism and other systemic inequalities can limit access and success in online career and technical education programs for students of color, especially Black, Latino, and Native American students."
The paper notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed racial disparities and accelerated the shift to online learning in career and technical education (CTE) programs.
As economic insecurity and disparities persist for African American, Latino, Native American and other communities of color, CTE programs that develop skills aligned with in-demand sectors can improve outcomes and mobility for communities facing structural barriers.
Many postsecondary CTE programs have followed the gradual shift toward online learning that has been occurring at universities for years, a trend accelerated by the pandemic and rapid change associated with remote education.
For while online education - and other forms of technology-enhanced education - can create opportunities for students who struggle to attend face-to-face classes, structural racism and other systemic inequalities limit some students' access to and success in online educational environments.
An example of this, according to the document, are the low levels of reading comprehension due to school segregation and the digital literacy gaps resulting from less exposure to technology, which leads to unequal educational opportunities.
Also, the lack of investment in broadband infrastructure in communities of color and the high costs of Internet devices and service have resulted in unequal access to technology, which can make online participation more challenging for African American, Latino and Native American students.
Such barriers, he explains, are compounded when CTE programs do not offer access to needed technology or career-oriented academic advising supports, and when instruction is not responsive to student needs.
The study notes that there are significant disparities in postsecondary CTE outcomes between students of color and Caucasians in community and technical college programs, and these gaps are widest in online programs.
The study conducted in conjunction with several technical colleges suggests that career and technical education programs have increasingly moved to the online modality, following the general trend toward virtual learning at community and technical colleges.
Thus, by 2016, 46 percent of CTE students had taken at least one online course, whereas in 2000 only 10 percent had done so, and from 2000 to 2016, the proportion of CTE students enrolled in fully online programs increased from 3.0 percent to approximately 7.0 percent.
The extent to which CTE students participate in online courses or programs varies by major. During that period, approximately half of students in business and marketing ?52 percent? and education ?50 percent? completed at least one online course, and both sectors had the highest proportion of fully online students at 9.0 percent.
In contrast, CTE students in engineering and architecture were the least engaged in taking online courses - 37 percent - and only 3.0 percent participated in fully online programs.
The study also reveals that, since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, nearly all students in CTE programs are expected to have taken at least one online course.
In that sense, the document explains that continuing with an online or hybrid modality would depend on the willingness of the students and the instructor, and on the availability of good technological tools and the success of students in online and hybrid courses.
Among the most notable findings, it was found that, although white students are the plurality in all sectors, they are most represented in trades - 56 percent - one of the highest paying fields, as well as engineering and architecture.
Meanwhile, African-American students are more represented in health sciences - 17 percent - while Latinos are more focused on consumer services - 29 percent - the latter sector being among the lowest paid.
Other students of color are more represented in computer science and information technology - 19 percent.
