Does Expanding Access to High Quality Technical Education Induce Participation and Improve Outcomes?

Yerin Yoon, Shaun M. Dougherty | Economics of Education Review (2026)

• Policy Summary: Annenberg Policy and Practice Series

Career and Technical Education (CTE) has expanded with the intention to meet a changing economy and broaden pathways to higher education and training. Using longitudinal administrative data from Massachusetts, we generate causal evidence on the impact of high-quality CTE expansion in comprehensive high schools on students' college and workforce outcomes.

Fifteen Years of Change in High-Quality CTE Participation

Yerin Yoon, Shaun M. Dougherty | Educational Researcher (2026)

In many states, including Massachusetts, demand for high-quality Career and Technical Education (CTE) has grown faster than program supply, raising concerns about equitable access. Using fifteen cohorts of administrative data, this brief examines how participation in high-quality CTE has changed across students demographic groups. 

Technical Education: Boys and Men

Hannah C. Kistler, Shaun M. Dougherty | The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (2026)

Male students graduate from high school and enroll in college at lower rates than females. Male participation in the workforce has also declined over the past several decades. We present evidence on changing workforce demand and participation that highlights how opportunities for female-dominated employment have outstripped those for male-dominated occupations. We also show how several of the high-growth occupations that do not require a BA fall under the category of career and technical education (CTE), suggesting that CTE has a role to play in improving outcomes for males. 

Who Leaves? Interdistrict Magnet School Openings and Enrollment Dynamics in Nearby Schools

Yerin Yoon | Education Finance and Policy (2026)

Connecticut expanded interdistrict magnet schools (IMS) intending to reduce racial and socioeconomic segregation across districts, yet the potential unintended effects on student composition in nearby schools remains unclear. Leveraging the staggered rollout of IMS openings, this study provides causal evidence on how IMS openings affect enrollment dynamics in nearby traditional public and private schools and suggests that policies designed to reduce segregation across districts may have unintended socioeconomic and racial compositional consequences for the students left behind in nearby schools.

Charter School Expansion, Catholic School Enrollment, and the Implications for School Choice

Shaun M. Dougherty, Andrew Miller, Yerin Yoon | R&R at Education Finance and Policy | Working Paper 

Catholic schools have seen more than a 30 percent decline in enrollment over the past 20 years. While some of the decline in enrollment may have been spurred by secular trends or the clergy sex-abuse scandal, the increase in free schools of choice, principally public charter schools, may explain at least some of this decline. In this paper we estimate the effect of the opening of charter schools in proximity to Catholic schools across the entire U.S.