Specifications include, but are not limited to: integrate existing data with district and school-specific qualitative information attained by skilled external researchers. Utilizing existing participation data and a brief literature review, the research will engage interested parties within each district on a single participation gap issue, to be chosen by the district. Researchers will support each district in identifying a target CTE program and population group, and conduct outreach to relevant stakeholders (students, parents, teachers, administrators etc.) to assess sources of equity gaps and possible mitigation strategies through qualitative analysis informed by existing qualitative information. Outreach can include interviews, focus groups, surveys and other strategies to gain context-specific answers to equity and recruiting challenges. Information collected can then be integrated with quantitative data to inform recommendations for communicating to and recruiting target populations. 2.1.1. The resulting summary analysis will include recommended communication strategies to meet identified needs and align with each district’s enrollment goals for CTE in consortium member districts. The project was piloted in the 2022-23 academic year with 3 school districts and 8 program areas.
