Ohio Equity in CTE: In-Demand Jobs and CTE Pathways Alignment Map and Crosswalk Project
Student educational opportunities are largely influenced by where they go to school. Unequal access to education and training opportunities that lead to in-demand career opportunities can have a dramatic impact on the long-term economic stability and mobility of learners and workers. In 2022, leaders in the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce’s (ODEW) Office of Career-Technical Education saw the opportunity to examine equity, opportunity, and place in the context of alignment between its CTE pathways and programming to high-demand and critical occupations across Ohio.
Throughout 2022 and 2023, AIR’s experienced team worked with ODEW leaders and subject matter experts to create an extensive crosswalk of high-demand and critical jobs in Ohio’s CTE career fields and pathways and examined the alignment to program availability through geographic information system (GIS) mapping.
The result was a public, interactive GIS tool, the Ohio In-Demand Jobs and CTE Pathways Alignment Map, aimed at two primary audiences:
- Ohio’s CTE leaders, teachers, and policymakers interested in examining equitable access to CTE programming that leads to in-demand jobs or additional, industry-relevant postsecondary training and education.
- Parents and students making decisions about which CTE pathways align with student interest and high-demand and critical job opportunities that provide family-sustaining wages.
This interactive map allows users to explore top in-demand jobs (by employment and starting and median wages) and available CTE programming, as well as filter map elements by geography, career fields and pathways and other factors.
AIR's ongoing partnership with ODEW employs new tools for examining the equity of place and opportunity across geography (like GIS mapping) and infusing labor market data into decisions about educational programming.
