30 years later: The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) monitoring system shows African American students have consistently low enrollment patterns. A study of six Washington State urban school districts' vocational -technical education and career pathway pro

The primary purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the issue of discrimination in education as it relates to why African American students continue to fail in achieving successful career pathways. The sources of data utilized included Washington State public school enrollment and Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Vocational-Technical Education Program enrollment data.;This dissertation studied the effects of vocational training or the lack of same for African American students who traditionally are not successful in Vocational-Technical Education programs, and in selecting career pathways. A historical review of OCR issues, as well as monitoring information, provided substantial evidence that this target population continues to show consistently low participation in several Vocational-Technical Education programs that were designed for successfully achieving career pathways. The conclusion showed that there exist patterns of consistently low participation of African American students in Vocational-Technical Education in 4 of 6 Washington State urban local school districts included in this study. Summary and recommendations were provided.