Career Technical Education and Business Collaborating to Meet the Needs of the Economy in Southwest Ohio: Truth or Fallacy

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe how CTE superintendents garner information related to economic need; how business leaders recruit new employees; and what types of communication and practices CTE and business leaders employ to collaborate strategically concerning future economic trends. The attitudes, practices, and potential barriers related to CTE superintendents and business leaders meeting the local economic needs were examined. Participants in the study included seven CTE superintendents and four business leaders from three businesses from one county in southwest Ohio. The study found that superintendents believe that through advisory committee meetings, business meetings, and other political efforts, they are reaching out to business and industry to extract the information needed to add and delete programming based on local businesses needs. Business leaders continue to utilize traditional job postings and personal referrals in order to find new employees. Furthermore, more collaboration and communication between career centers and local businesses are needed so that career centers understand the needs for the their local businesses and the businesses become more of a resource for the career center. This study intended to ascertain the best practices that Ohio career technical centers employ to define and meet the needs of local business as well as collect the perceptions from business administrators concerning the effectiveness of career technical education.