This is the beginning of Section 4, Root Causes of Low Participation and Strategies.

In this section, we discuss some of the root causes and strategies that contribute to the low levels of participation in CTE. We are focusing on participation of females in nontraditional careers, especially participation in STEM careers. However, with no or few modifications, all of the strategies can be equally as effective in addressing students of both genders, all ethnicities and socio-economic levels, as well as students from the other Perkins special population groups. As you review the content in this section, think about how the strategies can apply to increasing participation of male students in health care and other CTE programs.

The term root causes refers to the initiating factor or factors that frequently lead to low levels of participation and completion of nontraditional students in STEM and CTE courses. This information models NAPE’s Nontraditional Career Preparation: Root Causes and Strategies documents. The section is organized into categories based upon their areas of influence. Each category is divided into root causes about which a theory is proposed.