Where Do CTE Teacher Education Graduates Go? Career and Technical Teacher Education Five-Year Graduate Follow-Up Study.

Overview & Synopsis

Graduates of the career and technical education (CTE) teacher education program at Western Michigan University (WMU) were surveyed 5 years after graduation to determine their employment patterns, salaries, job satisfaction, and satisfaction with WMU's CTE teacher education program. Questionnaires were mailed to 143 CTE teachers. Responses were received from 80 (56%) of them. Selected findings were as follows: (1) 85% of the WMU CTE teacher education graduates are employed in education; (2) 59% are employed at the high school level, and 13% are employed at the middle school level; (3) 83% of graduates stated that they use the knowledge and skills learned in WMU's CTE professional education preparation; (4) 83% of the graduates rated WMU's CTE professional education preparation as excellent (35%) or good (48%); (5) overall, the graduates were very satisfied (60%) or satisfied (35%) with their CTE professional education courses at WMU; (6) overall the graduates were very satisfied (50%) or satisfied (33%) with their present employment status; (7) 50% of the respondents who are employed in education were earning between $30,000 and $35,000 annually versus 40% of respondents who are employed in business and industry; and (8) the reported level of job satisfaction was higher among graduates employed in education than among graduates employed in business and industry (81% versus 72%). (MN)