Congress made accountability for results a central focus of Perkins V (aka the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act), setting out new performance requirements for states and local programs.
Signed into law in 2018, Perkins V requires each state to report on 11 secondary and three postsecondary core indicators — setting statewide goals in each of the core indicators. This DataPoints explores data from the U.S. Education Department (ED) on the postsecondary core indicators, and whether each state has met 90% of the goal for the core indicator.
The three postsecondary core indicators are:
- Postsecondary placement (e.g. continued education, military service or employment)
- Students who earned a postsecondary credential
- The number of students in non-traditional program concentration (individuals whose gender comprises less than 25% of the individuals employed in the related occupation or field of work)
Each of the postsecondary core indicators for 2023 are presented in the map above. There was a wide range of state goals via the Postsecondary Placement indicator, ranging from 4.0% in New Mexico, to 99.5% in Indiana. Forty-six of the 50 states met the benchmark of 90% of their goal for postsecondary placement. The number of states meeting the benchmark was 46 for each of the years with data (2021, 2022 and 2023).
In 2023, 49 of the 50 states met the benchmark of 90% of their goal for students earning postsecondary credentials. In comparison, only 45 states met this benchmark in 2021. The state-defined goals for this indicator ranged from 6% for Rhode Island to 100% for Montana and Wyoming.
Overall, the goals for students entering nontraditional programs were lower than for the other two core indicators, ranging from 6% for Rhode Island, to 30% in Indiana. Forty-five of the states met this benchmark in 2022 and 2023, and only 44 in 2021.
