Profile of Workforce Development Educators: A Comparative Credential, Composition, and Characteristic Analysis

The Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) is administered by the National Center for Educational Statistics to obtain information about teachers, such as education and training, teaching assignment, certification, workload, and perceptions and attitudes about teaching. Data are weighted to approximate the population of teachers in the USA. In this study, the most recent SASS results were employed to formulate a comprehensive profile of Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher characteristics or Workforce Development in Education. Characteristics analyzed included: gender, age, teaching experience, teaching status, race and ethnicity, educational level, certification status, caseload of students with categorical disabilities and caseload of those with limited English proficiency. These characteristics were compared within the seven identified Workforce Development teaching areas and, to make further distinction from akin fields, were also collectively compared to the STEM education fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. Analysis of the identified characteristics provided a profile of in-service Workforce Development teachers, the students that they teach, how they compare to each other within CTE, and how they compare to other STEM teachers.