Each year, Mississippi spends about $500 per student on CTE education, or $13.3 million statewide.
job that students are qualified for when they graduate and the average income in that job is calculated into what is necessary for living standards in their region to determine if the money that was spent training them was spent wisely, said Kerr. “If they are able to graduate and support themselves without public assistance in a family-sustaining job, the return on value is considered good,” she added. But these numbers don’t tell the whole story. The team also wants to know what lies behind the numbers. Using the ROI data, the team will determine the top 10-25 programs and the bottom 10-25 programs and look deeper into these schools. “If someone tells you, ‘You’re not doing well,’ what does that really mean?” said Hardjono, “Without comparison, it’s hard to determine where you are,” she added. The ROI model will give schools that comparison and help them target areas for improvement. “The end result is a tool for the schools,” said Hardjono. Mulvihill hopes the ROI model will help validate CTE spending and make that spending more effective: “CTE competes with other programs for a relatively limited amount of funding, and I think what we want to do is tell our story and say ‘here is where we have been successful and here is where we think we can expand.’” Parker agrees and also thinks this model could translate to other areas of education. “Our overall goal is to get our students to a job, so this could eventually become an education return on value, not just one for CTE,” she said. Hardjono, Kerr and Lim are currently compiling information from the last 4 years for every district in the state. Mulvihill expects to have preliminary ROI data this fall, which the MDE will use to determine that the numbers are accurate and that the process is sound. Then the MDE will share those numbers with the districts. “We want to say to a district, ‘here are the five programs you are offering, and here is how we perceive your classes to be performing, and here is how your programs match up to business in your area,’” said Mulvihill. “What we want districts to do is take a look at these numbers and make strategic plans, so they can see if they need to tweak or change their offerings to make sure they are benefitting students, businesses and industries in their areas and their local communities,” he added. Certainly this data will be useful to local school districts, but others will want to see it as well. Team members mentioned state legislators, local school board members, and business and industry executives among potentially interested parties. Right now schools have data they use for federal funding reports, but this model ties that data to the local economy. By considering the economic outlook of an area, and the state at large, educators focus on more than just helping students be successful in the classroom; they can help them be successful in the future as well.“That’s what makes this model different,” said Parker. 7