The Front End of the CTE Teacher Pipeline: Characterizing the Prior Work Experiences of CTE Teachers

Career and technical education (CTE) teachers are unique in that they often enter teaching with previous workplace experience in industry. Understanding their prior work experiences and the financial benefits (or losses) they face when switching from industry to teaching can offer insight into how to attract and retain these educators, yet very little is known about this “front end” of the CTE teacher pipeline. In this paper, we link employment and earnings data from unemployment insurance records with data on staffing and certifications for incoming CTE teachers in Washington state to provide a descriptive look at CTE teachers’ entry into the profession. We find that CTE teachers come from a wide range of industries. We also find that CTE teachers, on average, see substantial pay increases, about $13,000 in annual earnings, upon first entering teaching. The increase in earnings is widely felt with the median teacher from every industry group receiving increased annual earnings associated with the transition into teaching.