According to a study released by the conservative Fordham Institute, students who take an extra career and technical education course are more likely to graduate from high school, get a job after high school and get higher pay in that job.

The study says a typical student takes five career and technical education courses in high school. That extra course makes a student 3 percent points more likely to graduate high school, 0.6 points more likely to enroll in a two-year college and 1.5 points more likely to get a job after high school. In that job, students who took an extra career-tech course earned more than $100 extra per year.