Situated Sugarcoating: How Policy Contexts Moderate Teachers' Strategies for Motivating Student Behavior.

Career and Technical Education

CTE courses are designed to “focus on the skills and knowledge required for specific jobs or fields of work” ( National Center for Education Statistics at IES, 2024 ) in order to “provide both a bridge to well-paying jobs for non-college bound students, and a head start on more advanced career training for those who seek a college degree” ( Carruthers et al., 2024 , p. 2). And indeed, research shows that CTE participation has been linked to positive education and workforce outcomes, including an increased likelihood of high school attendance ( Plasman et al., 2024 ), high school graduation ( Brunner et al., 2023 ; Dougherty, 2018 ; Ferreira & Martins, 2023 ; Gottfried & Plasman, 2018 ; Lindsay et al., 2024 ), college enrollment ( Brunner et al., 2023 ), short-term employment ( Lindsay et al., 2024 ), and short-term wage returns ( Brunner et al., 2023 ; Hendricks et al., 2021 ; Kreisman & Stange, 2020 ).

While research suggests that CTE participation improves students’ postsecondary outcomes, concern about CTE’s impact on employment outcomes lends support for the growing emphasis on IBCs. Despite CTE’s central role of preparing students for the labor market, there remains a lack of rigorous evidence suggesting that CTE participation improves long-term earnings ( Lindsay et al., 2024 ). Further, initial labor market benefits may fade over time, particularly if CTE students are unable to enter careers with opportunities for advancement or to “upskill” over time ( Hanushek et al., 2017 ). Thus, ensuring CTE programs provide students with verifiable skills or certifications sought by employers remains a key priority, and IBCs are posed as one potential solution to these concerns.

Industry-Based Certifications

Increasingly, CTE courses include opportunities for students to earn IBCs ( Giani, 2022 ; Xu & Backes, 2023 ), with more than half of states having implemented policies that allow students to earn IBCs in CTE ( Advance CTE & The Association for Career and Technical Education, 2024 ). The logic of IBCs is that coursework alone may be a weak signal to employers that prospective employees possess the knowledge and skills needed to perform particular job functions. Like participating in CTE, earning IBCs in high school has been linked to positive education and workforce outcomes, including an increased likelihood of high school graduation ( Glennie et al., 2017 ; Walsh et al., 2019 ), college enrollment ( Glennie et al., 2023 ; Glennie et al., 2020 ; Walsh et al., 2019 ), college graduation ( Glennie et al., 2023 ; Glennie et al., 2020 ), short-term employment ( Baird et al., 2022 ; Giani, 2022 ; Turley, 2023 ; Xu et al., 2024 ), and short-term wage returns ( Baird et al., 2022 ; Giani, 2022 ; Hendricks et al., 2021 ; Walsh et al., 2019 ; Xu et al., 2024 ). Further, research suggests students’ completion of related CTE courses and IBCs is positively correlated with affective benefits, like students’ sense of self-efficacy in their ability to persevere in overcoming challenges and their performance on various tasks ( Spillers & Lovett, 2022 ).

However, when analyses that explore the benefits of earning an IBC in high school are broken down by outcome, subject area, and student characteristics, the value of IBCs appears less definitive. For instance, the relationships between IBC receipt and postsecondary and workforce outcomes vary across IBC subject area ( Giani, 2022 ; Xu et al., 2024 ). There is evidence of gender segregation in IBC participation that aligns to gendered workforce patterns and evidence that students’ academic achievement levels influence which IBC exams they take ( Eagan & Koedel, 2021 ). Further, research suggests not only that there is a limited relationship between IBC receipt and labor-market needs ( Dalton et al., 2021 ), meaning students may not be earning credentials that actually provide entry points into in-demand fields, but also that the majority of IBC earners were neither enrolled in a major nor employed in an industry after high school that matched their IBCs ( Giani, 2022 ), further limiting the potential long-term value of these credentials.

Students’ and Educators’ Perceptions of CTE & IBCs

One critical gap in our understanding of the benefits and value of both CTE and IBCs is the lack of qualitative research on students’ and educators’ perceptions of CTE and IBCs. Most of the extant literature consists of quasi-experimental, large-scale quantitative studies that focus on the educational and labor market outcomes related to CTE and IBCs. While these studies provide valuable insights, they do not capture students’ motivation for participation in CTE and IBCs, educators’ roles in shaping these CCR experiences, or how schools’ responses to policy mandates may mediate these dynamics – we know that students are increasingly participating in these opportunities in high school, but we do not know what motivates students or what they view as the costs and benefits of participation.

Several researchers have called for more qualitative research to understand the reasons students pursue CTE and IBCs, as well as external “push” and “pull” elements outside of students’ educational or career goals that may influence student participation ( Ansel et al., 2022 ; Carruthers et al., 2024 ; Dalton et al., 2021 ; Glennie et al., 2023 ; Jacob & Ricks, 2023 ; Xu et al., 2024 ). Students could “be “pushed” into obtaining a certification if institutional pressure or policy levers strongly encourage students to earn certifications ( Dalton et al., 2021 , p. 6).

For example, the viewpoints of CTE teachers, school counselors, and administrators may play a crucial role in shaping students’ understanding of and subsequent interest in pursuing CTE and IBCs. Previous research on educational stakeholders’ beliefs about CTE indicates that educators’ perspectives on its purpose and value can sometimes lead to misrepresentations in comparison to other college and career readiness pathways ( Cashdollar, 2023 ); in their eagerness to highlight the advantages of CTE courses, such as “low-risk, high-reward learning opportunities,” educators downplayed the relative advantages of other careers that required postsecondary degrees ( Cashdollar, 2023 , p. 1716). These biases may in turn influence students’ abilities to make informed and accurate decisions about their career aspirations. However, this phenomenon is not well documented, and students’ voices have remained largely absent from these examinations. Our investigation was guided by three questions: How do students perceive the value of CTE courses and IBCs, respectively?

How do educators perceive the value of CTE courses and IBCs, respectively? Do educators perceive different dimensions of value for students, for themselves, and for their schools?

How do educators motivate students to earn IBCs, and how is this influenced by the policy context?

Theoretical Framing: Situated Expectancy-Value Theory

We investigate student and educator perceptions of CTE and IBCs using the lens of situated expectancy-value theory (SEVT), an updated version of the original expectancy-value theory (EVT), which posits that students’ motivations and behaviors are influenced by the expectations and values they associate with completing tasks along their educational pathways ( Eccles, 1983 , 1984 ; Eccles & Wigfield, 2020 ). Originally specific to adolescents in mathematics, EVT was developed to understand students’ achievement related choices, and has since been applied in the study of career choice and persistence across various educational contexts ( Eccles & Wigfield, 2020 ; Eccles & Wigfield, 2023 ; Wigfield & Eccles, 2020 ).

EVT posits that “individuals’ expectancies for success (ESs) and subjective task values (STVs) are the most proximal psychological determinants of task and activity choice, performance, and engagement in the chosen activities” ( Eccles, 1983 ; Eccles & Wigfield, 2020 , p. 3). Expectancies for success, which is very similar to Bandura’s (1997) self-efficacy construct, can be defined as an individual’s belief in their ability to be successful at a task. Subjective task values are delineated into intrinsic value, utility value, attainment value, and cost. Intrinsic value, or the expected enjoyment of engaging in a task is commonly referred to as interest. Utility value is how useful a task is to an individual’s current or long-term goals. Attainment value is a measure of the perceived personal importance of a task, or how important completing a task successfully is to an individual. Finally, cost refers to the possible sacrifices required to complete the task, and is sometimes disaggregated into effort cost, opportunity costs, and emotional costs.

In the last decade, Eccles & Wigfield have articulated their support for moving towards a situated expectancy-value theory (SEVT), which recognizes that ESs and STVs are situated with time and place ( Eccles & Wigfield, 2020 ). In other words, SEVT also acknowledges the “social, contextual, and psychological factors that influence which specific aspects of each STV components are weighted most heavily as individuals assess the relative STV of various short- and long-term activity options” in any specific context ( Eccles & Wigfield, 2020 , p. 6); these factors could include things like students’ personal identities and identity beliefs, prior experiences, peer and parental influences, school and classroom characteristics, and broader cultural contexts, to name a few. This reframing as SEVT also emphasizes that individuals will assign and develop their own hierarchies of, or relative importance of, ESs and STVs of certain tasks in ways that are “both situationally specific and culturally bound” ( Eccles & Wigfield, 2020 , p. 2).

Although this sharpening focus on how the social and cultural context shapes motivational influences is a positive development, SEVT scholars rarely engage with how the policy contexts shapes motivation, particularly in regards to moderating the relationship between socializers and those whom they are trying to motivate. In particular, SEVT does not elucidate potential mechanisms that may explain situations in which socializers motivate others to complete a task, even if they do not perceive that task to be valuable. This study is designed to examine these mechanisms by exploring students’ and educators’ ESs and STVs relative to CTE courses and IBC exams within the broader sociopolitical context of CCR policy reforms.

Thus far, SEVT’s application in CTE and IBC research has been limited. One study used EVT to analyze students’ motivations for participating in CTE programs in a sample of rural schools, finding that students prioritized courses that offered paths to shorter-term financial benefits via accelerated entry into the workforce ( Newman, 2024 ). Another examined students’ likelihood of concentrating in computing CTE pathways specifically, and found no association between math/science expectancy-value constructs and students’ computing course-taking, indicating that EVT did not adequately capture the factors that motivate students to take computing courses ( Perry & Montoya, 2024 ); however, this study relied on survey data rather than interview data. Hayes (2021) explored community college students’ perceptions of the value of their CTE experiences, revealing that students recognized intrinsic value through the practical, hands-on nature of the classroom experiences and identified attainment and utility value in the importance they placed on completing CTE programs to achieve their future career goals ( Hayes, 2021 ). To our knowledge, no studies have incorporated the “situated” component of SEVT to examine CTE or IBCs, suggesting that additional research is necessary to better refine how SEVT can be applied to understand students’ motivations in CTE programs, the focus of the present paper.

We anticipate that students will build ESs and recognize all four STVs via their engagement in CTE and completion of IBCs; we hypothesize that these curricular experiences will increase students’ confidence in their abilities to successfully complete tasks (i.e., expectancies for success), especially when their skill-building experiences align to students’ career interests (i.e., intrinsic value). We expect students to place a high level of importance on mastering CTE content and passing IBC exams (i.e., attainment value), due to their ability to facilitate immediate employment or postsecondary goals (i.e. utility value). Because CTE and IBC participation in Texas is largely financed by schools or districts, rather than by students directly, we expect students to identify minimal costs associated with these experiences.

To better understand the context in which students develop ESs and STVs relative to CTE and IBCs, we also investigate educators’ perceptions. While we expect students and educators to align on some

Data Collection

All public high schools in Texas were eligible to participate in this study. However, this work is part of an ongoing study where we categorized high schools into a policy implementation typology by students’ rates of CTE and IBC completion ( Giani et al., 2025 ). We categorized each school as having High- (>50%), Low- (1–49%), or No-Certification rates and High- (>50%), Low- (1–49%), or No-Alignment, resulting in a 6-category typology that we descriptively titled: No Certifications (Uninvolved), No Alignment (Unaligned), Low Certifications-Low Alignment (Sporadic), Low Certifications-High Alignment (Limited, But Strategic), High Certifications-Low Alignment (Gaming the System), and High Certifications-High Alignment (High Performing). The high schools included in this qualitative investigation were strategically recruited across these categories. Recruitment contacts were principals, vice principals, counselors, and CTE educators identified from the public websites of each school. Recruitment materials, sent via email, advertised opportunities for students and educators to participate in paid, hour-long interviews and focus groups.

We conducted interviews and focus groups with students ( n=68 ), educators, and administrators (n=58) at (k=7) Texas high schools to understand student and educator perceptions of CTE and IBC experiences. The choice between interviews and focus groups depended on participant availability and campus scheduling. Because the same questions and topics guided both formats, the data were comparable and could be analyzed together to identify shared themes across participants.

All student participants took part in focus groups; we conducted a total of twelve student focus groups, with an average size of 5.6 participants. When possible, students were grouped with other students in their CTE program, but groups were sometimes combined to accommodate students’ schedules. Most CTE teachers participated in focus groups; we conducted 9 teacher focus groups, with an average size of 4.4 participants. Individual interviews were conducted with educators if they were unavailable for the focus group timeslot; 4 individual interviews were conducted. All administrators and counselors took part in one of six focus groups, with an average size of 2.3 participants. We separated these focus groups from the CTE teachers to ensure teachers were not limited in their responses by the presence of their administrators.

Informed consent was obtained from all participants at the beginning of each focus group or interview; in cases where student participants were under 18 years of age, parental/guardian informed consent was obtained in advance of the interview. This study was conducted in compliance with the Institutional Review Board at a large research institution in the Southwest. Tables A1 – 3 in the appendix detail our semi-structured interview and focus group protocols and their alignment to our theoretical framework, SEVT. All conversations were recorded and then transcribed for analysis.

Table 1 provides an overview of our participants and their schools’ characteristics, including campus size, region, and the percentages of all students at each school that earn IBCs, participate in CTE, and concentrate in CTE pathways (i.e. take three or more courses in the same subject).

Data Analysis

Qualitative data analysis began at the beginning of the study and continued throughout, using deductive, inductive, and thematic analytical techniques ( Braun & Clarke, 2022 ). This was intended as a process of “making sense of the data.. . [which] involves consolidating, reducing, and interpreting what people have said and what the researcher has seen and read—it is the process of making meaning” ( Merriam, 1998 , p. 178). Immediately after conducting each interview, the researchers wrote an analytical memo about the conversation. These memos serve as a “code- and category-generating method” that allowed us to obtain a broad sense of participants ‘experiences and to begin to draw comparisons across groups ( Saldana, 2009 , p. 50). We continued our analysis by reading cleaned transcripts and adding comments to capture our emergent reflections ( Creswell & Poth, 2018 ). This process allowed us to identify the basic concepts present in the dataset, building a vocabulary of our data ( Saldana, 2009 ). We then used focused coding to categorize the data by applying a priori (theoretic) codes from SEVT ( Miles et al., 2020 ); “focused coding searches for the most frequent and significant initial codes to develop the most salient categories in the data corpus” ( Saldana, 2009 , p. 156).

Transparency and Openness

Materials and analysis code for this study are not available. The quantitative data underlying this article were provided by the Texas Education Research Center’s (ERC) statewide longitudinal data system. The quantitative and qualitative data cannot be shared publicly for the privacy of individuals in each dataset. The code used to create the analytic data files in the ERC and produce the typology are available upon request to the corresponding author.

Intrinsic Value

Students and educators saw the intrinsic value of CTE coursework and experiences as inherent to the programs themselves, as most students were selecting CTE courses based on their interest in the subject matter, either as a long-term career goal or a form of career exploration. Students reflected on how much fun they had being creative in CTE courses, saying “it doesn’t feel like a class. Class is boring. I would compare it to recess if I was a little kid. I don’t feel like it’s a class.” Students find these courses to be “very valuable” and “more engaging” than core coursework due to the “hands-on” experiences and “interactive projects.” However, the addition of IBCs sometimes added “test prep” and “book work” that students did not find as interesting.

In comparing CTE to core coursework, one student in a Health Science pathway reflected that sharing career interests with her classmates had substantial benefits for her socially and academically, where she and her classmates: …really connected on our love for science and for our love of healthcare and wanting to go into this field. It was really nice to find a group of people that could really share that deep interest and career path that you wanted to also pursue, instead of just having a bond over a book in a class. So, you shared this deeper level connection with these people that then followed you throughout all of these courses. You could create study groups and apply to colleges together.