Abstract
Fewer than half of students enrolled in Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses in a rural Texas school district completed a full program of study, with disparities exceeding 20 percentage points among economically-disadvantaged students, emergent bilingual students, and students receiving special education services. This dissertation in practice examined these disparities as issues of system design rather than student readiness. The study was conducted in a district serving approximately 4,600 students, with a primary focus on its comprehensive high school of approximately 1,351 students.
Using an improvement science framework and a convergent embedded mixed-methods design, the study examined three baseline years and one implementation year (2025–2026). Root cause analysis identified four primary barriers to CTE pathway completion: fragmented advising practices, the absence of a formal CTE leadership structure, misalignment between programs of study and regional workforce needs, and master scheduling practices that did not consistently support pathway completion. In response, the intervention included four coordinated components: a district CTE Leadership Team, a structured advising protocol, workforce-aligned program review, and Industry-Based Certification (IBC) monitoring. Each component was refined through iterative Plan–Do–Study–Act cycles.
Analysis of archival district data demonstrated a statistically significant increase in IBC attainment (χ²(3, N = 5,311) = 250.73, p < .001, Cramér’s V = .22). IBC attainment increased from a pooled baseline rate of 4.4% to 17.5% during the implementation year, with 236 students earning at least one certification. Pathway completion rates remained relatively stable and were comparable across special education and economic status groups; however, emergent bilingual students experienced significantly lower completion rates. Certification gains were also uneven across student groups, with female, Hispanic/Latino, and at-risk students earning certifications at significantly lower rates than their peers.
Thematic analysis of 17 interviews conducted with administrators, counselors, teachers, and industry partners identified five themes, including increased pathway awareness, stronger cross-role collaboration and shared accountability, and greater program relevance. Because the study did not include a control group, the findings should be interpreted as associational rather than causal. The findings suggested that equitable CTE improvement requires organizational coherence through intentional leadership structures, clearly assigned advising responsibilities, workforce-aligned programming, and ongoing disaggregated outcome monitoring. The results further demonstrate that improvement in one CTE outcome does not necessarily translate into equitable improvement across all outcomes or student groups.
Keywords: career and technical education, rural schools, improvement science, PDSA, equity, industry-based certification, workforce alignment
Date of publication
Fall 11-4-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Language
english
Persistent identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/10950/5214
Committee members
Dr. Michael Odell, Dr. Dana Morris, Dr. Dominick Fazarro
Degree
Doctor of Education in School Improvement
Recommended Citation
Anderson, Dustin Lyn, "BUILDING ORGANIZATIONAL COHERENCE IN RURAL CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION: AN IMPROVEMENT SCIENCE EVALUATION OF LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE, STRUCTURED ADVISING, AND WORKFORCE ALIGNMENT" (2026). Education Theses and Dissertations. Paper 52.
http://hdl.handle.net/10950/5214