Can technical education in high school smooth postsecondary transitions for students with disabilities?

Participation in Career Technical Education (CTE) programs has been
proposed as a valuable strategy for supporting transition to independence
among students with disabilities. We exploit a discontinuity created by
admissions thresholds from a statewide system of CTE high schools. Our
findings suggest attending CTE high schools has large positive effects on
completing high school on time, employment, and earnings, including for
individuals 22 years or older. Attending CTE schools also results in more
time spent with non-disabled peers and higher 10th grade test scores.
These results appear concentrated among male students, but the sample of
female students is too small to support strong conclusions about outcomes.
Notably, these estimates are for a system of CTE high schools operating at
scale and serving students across a wide spectrum of disabilities, and the
estimated effects appear broad based over disability type, time spent with
non-disabled peers in 8th grade and previous academic performance.