Career and Tech Educaiton

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Micah Smith
JMU PPA 492
4/13/15
Career and Technical
Education Policy in Virginia

(Page Intentionally Left Blank)

REPORT: CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA
TO: THE HONORABLE DELEGATES BELL, LANDES, AND WILT
FROM: MICAH SMITH
DATE: APRIL 13, 2015
CC: DR. PEASLEE
Please find attached a report on the state of Career and Technical Education in the State of
Virginia. This report was created as a capstone class project within the senior seminar in Public
Policy at James Madison University.
In this report you will find a brief overview of the current state of Career and Technical
Education in the State of Virginia. It then branches into three separate policy alternatives that
could be utilized to improve the current state of Career and Technical Education in Virginia.
I believe that this report will support further research into the idea of the development of
Career and Technical Education as a statewide program.
Sincerely,
___________________________
Micah Smith

EXECUTIVE SUMMERY: CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN
VIRGINIA
This report seeks to provide a solution to the issue of unemployment and under employment
for individuals with a high school degree and no collegiate experience. It provides a basic
overview of the current situation of Career and Technical Education, and makes a case for
CTE as a solution for the issue of underemployment.
The report then lays out three policy alternatives. Policy alternative one is to remain with the
status quo, which is a decentralized offering of CTE classes that varies throughout the state.
Policy alternative two suggests the integration of CTE classes within the high school. This
would require the employment of additional teachers to offer CTE classes to these students,
and would lead to the certification of the student in certain skills. The third and final policy
alternative is to partner with the high school’s local community college in order to offer classes
to students. Some classes may be taught at the community college, which would require the
transportation of those students, while other classes may be taught by professors who would
travel to the high school.
Upon analysis this report concludes that high schools should utilize their local community
colleges to implement CTE classes for their students. However, before moving forward, a full
cost effectiveness analysis should by conducted to ensure there are no hidden costs that would
hinder the implementation of this program.

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Introduction
The issue of Career and Technical Education is one that deserves more
research. Currently many students are faced with a dilemma, they may attend their
high school, graduate, and go work a job. There are pros and cons associated with
this idea. Pros: no student loans, early introduction to the work force (at least 4 years
earlier than their college educated peers), and no stress from collegiate work. Cons:
job opportunities that are highly paid and offer advancement are scares, there is not
much upward mobility without an advanced degree. These students may also take to
collegiate path, attend school for four years, graduate, and join the work force. Pros:
Better job opportunities, “respect” from peers/family, and the college
“experience.” Cons: for many students, student loans, entering the work force 4
years later, and a sometimes difficult experience.
This dilemma is faced by many students who do not have wealthy families and
have to consider the weight of student loan debt they would obtain by going to
college. Thankfully Career and Technical Education may be able to address this
dilemma for many students.
This report examines the potential implementation options that may be taken
to allow Career and Technical Education to be more widely available for students.
There are three policy alternatives that are examined and weighed against each
other.

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Ultimately this report concludes that a full cost effectiveness analysis must be
conducted to conform the preliminary findings of this report before any
implementation may take place.

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Problem Structuring
Employment for those who just have a high school degree is becoming a more
pressing issue now than ever before. We see decreasing employment levels for this
demographic as “degree inflation” becomes a more prevalent factor within society.
The often heard statement by relatives, “go to college or you will end up flipping
burgers at McDonalds” is one that is prevalent in many young students’ lives, as they
are urged into college by their well-meaning family.
According to the bureau of labor statistics, the employment rate for those with
only a high school degree has remained consistently beneath the rate of
employment for those with higher educational achievement. More importantly for
those individuals, the median weekly earnings for high school graduates is below
that of those with higher educational levels, with the average weekly wage for that
education level in 2013 being $651 (Earnings and Unemployment Rates). This $651
divided by an average workweek of 40 hours results in an average hourly wage of
$16.27 which is below the living wage for a household of one parent and one child as
calculated for the city of Harrisonburg by the MIT living wage calculator (Living
Wage Calculations).
It is commonly found that the jobs that many years ago would have required a
high school degree now requires a college level degree, and many that used to
require a college level degree now require graduate level degrees. This idea of
“credential inflation” is written about by Randall Collins in Credential Inflation and

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the Future of Universities. He
states, “The process of credential
inflation is largely self-driven; it
feeds on itself. As educational
attainment has expanded, the
social distinctiveness of that degree and its value on the occupational marketplace
has declined; this in turn has expanded demand for still higher levels of education.”
(Collins, 2011, 229)
This decrease in value of undergraduate college degrees trickles down to the
devaluation of high school degrees as well. This may be seen in the decrease of
employment levels as shown in the graph below.
In 1990 the
split between
employment
levels by degree
holders and non-
degree holders
for men was just
over 5%. However in
the 2012 data the
percent difference goes to above 15%, and while the percent difference does not
Figure 1: The Condition of Education
Proportion of employment by degree and gender
“A GIVEN LEVEL OF EDUCATION AT
ONE TIME GAVE ACCESS TO ELITE
JOBS.”

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seem to change greatly in women there is still a significant discrepancy in the
two levels of educations career attainment.
While this issue does seem overwhelming, as there is a certain amount of the
population that cannot, for financial, intellectual, or by reasons of desire, attend
college. There is, however, another alternative to the traditional college track. The
field of career and technical education, the new term for what was once vocational
education, is one that is poised to correct this issue of lacking employment for high
school graduates.
Underemployment for high school degree holders is widespread throughout
the United States. It affects Virginia, although Virginia’s employment levels are
higher than the national average. This issue is increasingly becoming more severe
as credential inflation increases and employment levels for those without a college
degree decrease.
Not only does this issue affect those individuals who have difficulty finding
and maintaining careers, but it also effects the overall economy with a higher draw
on unemployment programs and food stamp programs needed to account for those
individuals. Should these citizens obtain gainful employment, they would also
contribute back to society via increases in the tax base.
These issues may be operationalized with a few easily measurable statistics.
The first and most obvious is the unemployment rate for those without a college

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degree. Most importantly the statistics for this issue will be the employment
levels for those with career and technical training after their high school degree.
We find there are a few main causal factors that contribute to this issue of low
employment within high school only graduates. Education level is an obvious causal
factor in this issue with the information listed previously. There are also several
other factors that will contribute to the low employment levels of that demographic.
The influence of new technologies that vary depending on the career will requires
specific technical training to use. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Most
occupations that typically require only a high school diploma or equivalent also
require on‐the‐job training (OJT) to attain competency in the skills needed in the
occupation. In 2012, 91 percent of occupations assigned high school as the typical
entry‐level education required OJT”
(Education and Training Outlook). CTE
certifications will allow workers to
require less OJT than their
counterparts with no training.
In addition, there are increased
requirements for demonstrated office
type skills that are not necessarily
taught in high school such as proficiency in Microsoft Office and email etiquette for
the business setting. The graph above from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the
requirements for entry for jobs in 2012. Jobs that do not require postsecondary
Figure 2 Education and Training Outlook

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education are not the ones that are paying well, nor do they have high employment
rates, as shown earlier. (Education and Training Outlook)
Past policies to address this issue of underemployment have primarily
focused upon bolstering college enrollment numbers; programs such as the Virginia
529 program, which focuses on the high cost of college by creating a savings
programs that, “may be applied towards the cost of tuition and mandatory fees at
any eligible educational institution, whether a Virginia public college, Virginia
private college, or out–of–state college” (Virginia 529). Other programs like the
Virginia Early College Scholars Program seek to bolster enrollment by providing at
least 15 college credits to qualified students while the student is in high school in
order to encourage students through college. (Early College Scholars).
Within Virginia, in the 2014 session alone, four bills came about that
influenced Career and Technical education (CTE); HB 887, HB 1054, HB 758, and HB
886. House Bill 887, which was signed into law, “directs the State Board of Education
to develop model criteria and procedures for establishing a jointly operated CTE
high school to be recommended for funding as a Governor’s Career and Technical
Education School” (State Policies Impacting CTE). HB 1054 added computer science
courses to the CTE curriculum list. HB 758 refined the requirements for teachers in
the CTE field by requiring those teachers to be licensed in the fields in which they
teach. Finally, HB 886, “mandates that the State Council of Higher Education
publishes and disseminates a web link with postsecondary education and

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employment data to each public high school and higher-education institution”
(State Policies Impacting CTE).
Other states have had several different approaches to the issue of CTE. With
House Bill 5 in 2013 Texas established the ability for high school students to earn
postsecondary credentials while simultaneously enrolled in high school. Minnesota
with the passage of 120B.024 has changed their graduation requirements to allow the
replacement of a few previously required traditional high school credits (literature,
electives, etc.) with CTE credits that would be taught in the high school. The list of
states with recent changes to their CTE programs is large and varied. Thirty six
states passed legislation allowing funding for CTE programs in 2014 (State Policies
Impacting CTE), but their methods for doing so have varied by state.

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Analysis Plan:
The analysis plan section will state the alternatives
that could be implemented in order to address the current
issue laid out in the Problem Structuring segment earlier.
A successful policy alternative to this issue will
address the high unemployment rates for those with only a
high school degree. It will create more CTE degree
holders that could earn their degree with low cost, while
keeping costs low to taxpayers.
To provide potential solutions to the issues
presented in the previous section, there are four possible
policy alternatives that shall be examined.
Policy Alternative #1: Status Quo (No Changes)
Policy Alternative #2: CTE classes to be taught within
High School
Policy Alternative #3: Partnership development between Community Colleges and
High Schools
Policy Alternative #4: Subsidization of postsecondary CTE training
Alternatives
Policy Alternative #1:
Status Quo (No Changes)
CTE classes to be taught
within High School
Partnership development
between Community
Colleges and High Schools
Subsidization of
postsecondary CTE training

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Policy alternative number one
This policy would make no changes to the current CTE educational structures
that are in place today. Currently, there is no standardized program to allow greater
CTE education for students. As discussed later in this report, several Virginia high
schools implement CTE classes in their own ways. The main focus of the analysis of
the current policies will be forecasting the types of employment that would be
available for those without a CTE degree, as well as forecasting the rates of
employment that pay a living wage.
Policy alternative number two
This policy would attempt to increase the number of students enrolled within
CTE classes by increasing the number of classes taught within high schools that fit
CTE criteria. This plan would allow school districts to supplement currently required
electives with a class or classes that would lead to CTE certifications upon
graduation of high school. While this program would be able to be implemented by
the individual school districts, if this program was to have the far reaching impacts
required to effect statewide unemployment numbers this should be mandated by the
Virginia General Assembly.
Policy alternative number three
This policy would allow and encourage greater partnerships between high
school and their local community colleges that offer CTE licensure. This alternative
is modeled after the current dual enrollment plan that allows for certain introductory
level college classes to be taught by a community college teacher at the high school.

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It would differ importantly from the current dual enrollment model as there
would be options for the school regarding implementation. There are two main
options that will be examined for the implementation of policy alternative number
three. Either classes would be taught within the high school itself, or classes could
be taught at the community college, and require the transportation of students to
their local community college.
This program would be funded by the secondary schools, which would
require an increase of funding to those schools that would correlate to the number of
students taking advantage of that program.

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Criteria for Evaluation
These four alternatives must all be evaluated with the same criteria. While
there are many criteria that may be examined, for the course of this assessment the
four criteria of Effectiveness, Cost, Equity, and Political Feasibility will be considered.
Effectiveness
The first criterion of effectiveness will be measured by the change in
employment numbers of jobs that require CTE certification. This criterion will
effectively be the same throughout the four alternatives as the benefits of CTE
licensure are roughly the same however they are earned. It is feasible to expect that
all CTE credits/licensures will result in this outcome regardless of the way in which
they were earned, as there is no evidence to the contrary.
Thus, because of this caveat, effectiveness will be prospectively analyzed by
the past statistical pass/fail rates of CTE certification/licensure by type of program.
Which will examine the effectiveness of the program as one that will lead to
certification.
Cost
The second criteria of cost can be determined for the given alternatives by an
analysis of the inputs needed to implement that program. It will be operationalized
by factoring the number of additional teachers needed for each alternative, the

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number of additional administrative resources, and the amount of additional
material resources needed (building/utility costs), if any are needed. This data will
be obtained by utilizing data from standard class size and the average teacher salary
for the classes required.
Equity
The third criteria of equity must be accessed in several different ways. The
first is horizontal equity, in other words, are all students in high school able to obtain
these CTE credits equally? Currently there are equity discrepancies within the
secondary school system depending of geographic locality. According to Hussar
and Sonnenberg Virginia is in the bottom quartile of states when it comes to equity of
funding per student (Hussar, Sonnenberg). Driscoll and Salmon also addressed this
in a more recent report entitled How Increased State Equalization Resulted in Greater
Disparities: An Unexpected Consequence for the Commonwealth of Virginia, they
summarized that, “most of the improvement in the level of equity occurred from
fiscal year 1975 to fiscal year 1994. From fiscal year 1994 to fiscal year 2003, little
improvement in the level of equity occurred, and equity actually declined from fiscal
year 2003 to fiscal year 2005” (Driscoll and Salmon).
Secondly, intergenerational equity must also be considered. In this case, as
many of the policy alternatives are within high school, those who have graduated
high school would not have the chance to obtain these benefits even though
they would need to pay in taxes for the programs.

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Finally, vertical equity must also be accessed. Vertical equity, the equity
between differing socio-economic classes, will be important as many of these
programs will presumably be utilized by lower income individuals, which may in the
short run increase the need for taxes. However, this issue is not expected in the long
run as a successful program that increased employment and income for previously
underemployed individuals would increase the tax base.
Political Feasibility
Finally, political feasibility must also be determined, as there are many
different stakeholders in each of these policy alternatives. To begin, the most
obvious stakeholders are the students and their families, these are followed closely
by teachers/education systems. Finally, the employers that higher CTE license
holders must be considered as well.
With the varied views of stakeholders that are involved in this issue, the
political feasibility of this issue will vary depending on what opinions are taken by
the stakeholders, as well as what lobbying power those stakeholders can muster.

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Analysis
Within the analysis section this report will discuss the different proposed
policy alternatives. It will apply the aforementioned criteria of effectiveness, cost,
equity, and political feasibility to the alternatives.
Policy Alternative #1: The Status Quo
The status quo in this issue is the baseline measure of effectiveness, cost,
equity, and political feasibility. To determine the successes or failure of the policy
alternatives we must first determine the baseline.
Effectiveness: As a benchmark the status quo effectiveness is the rate at which
degree licensure in a CTE field will result in a job placement. As disused in the
above criteria for evaluation section there is no evidence to suggest that the hire
rates for CTE holders are effected by the manner in which they obtain that licensure.
Cost: The current costs to the state for career and technical education are the
benchmark by which the alternatives must be compared. Currently the state differs
on its spending on CTE by locality, as there are several different modes of
implementation across the state.
Equity: The issue of equity is great throughout the state. There are currently
several areas that implement CTE education into their local high schools, while these
students are not exiting high school with a licensure that is likely to lead to gainful

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employment like in policy alternative #2 they have a significant advantage
over their fellow classmates in localities that do not offer any CTE training within the
high
school. The table on the following page shows the percentages of students
within school districts that have earned an Industry Certification in the 2013-2014
school year. Upon examination it is easily seen that there are some areas that have a
significant number of students earning CTE credit while there are many more areas
where students are unable to obtain these credits through the high school.
Political Feasibility: The political feasibility for the status quo is extremely
high. As there are no changes that are made this will be the most politically feasible
of the options. Additionally this issue does not seem to have high saliency, thus there
is no significant call for the reformation of the Career and Technical Education field,
thus “doing nothing” is a perfectly feasible option.

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The above table was created via the school_report_card_for_2013.14 report, in conjunction with the 2013-2014 Graduation report by county.
(http://bi.vita.virginia.gov/doe_bi/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=Main&subRptName=Graduation
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/career_technical/path_industry_certification/index.shtml) It shows the school districts by county /city. It also
shows the number of students who earned an Industrial Certification in the 2013-2014 school year as a percent of the graduating class size.
It is important to note that for a few counties the percent is higher than 100%. This is expected as students may earn certification while a junior and as such are not
factored in to the total graduating in the 2013-2014 year.
Accomack
County
0 Charlotte
County
21 Frederick
County
105 Lee County 13 Page
County
22 Shenandoah
County
18 Botetourt
County
95 Dickenson
County
72 Harrisonburg
City
0 Montgomery
County
4 Rappahannock
County
65 Washington
County
47
Albemarle
County
25 Charlottesville
City
31 Fredericksburg
City
17 Loudoun
County
7 Patrick
County
61 Smyth County 52 Bristol City 11 Dinwiddie
County
17 Henrico
County
12 Nelson County 5 Richmond City 0 Waynesboro
City
37
Alexandria
City
36 Chesapeake
City
25 Galax City 92 Louisa County 18 Petersburg
City
17 Southampton
County
33 Brunswick
County
0 Essex
County
5 Henry County 16 New Kent County 20 Richmond
County
57 West Point 103
Alleghany
County
55 Chesterfield
County
14 Giles County 18 Lunenburg
County
0 Pittsylvania
County
19 Spotsylvania
County
26 Buchanan
County
0 Fairfax
County
43 Highland
County
0 Newport News
City
10 Roanoke City 44 Westmoreland
County
54
Amelia
County
74 Clarke County 21 Gloucester
County
29 Lynchburg
City
0 Poquoson
City
24 Stafford
County
17 Buckingham
County
59 Falls
Church
City
9 Hopewell City 12 Norfolk City 4 Roanoke
County
53 Williamsburg-
James City
County
30
Amherst
County
26 Colonial Beach 5 Goochland
County
0 Madison
County
38 Portsmouth
City
61 Staunton City 73 Buena Vista
City
28 Fauquier
County
0 Isle of Wight
County
9 Northampton
County
7 Rockbridge
County
44 Winchester
City
63
Appomattox
County
0 Colonial
Heights City
12 Grayson County 0 Manassas City 42 Powhatan
County
29 Suffolk City 17 Campbell
County
16 Floyd
County
50 King and
Queen County
0 Northumberland
County
0 Rockingham
County
74 Wise County 0
Arlington
County
51 Covington City 51 Greene County 10 Manassas
Park City
112 Prince
Edward
County
41 Surry County 91 Caroline
County
124 Fluvanna
County
98 King George
County
0 Norton City 0 Russell County 60 Wythe County 72
Augusta
County
0 Craig County 5 Greensville
County
0 Martinsville
City
24 Prince
George
County
8 Sussex
County
0 Carroll
County
65 Franklin
City
7 King William
County
42 Nottoway County 40 Salem City 32 York County 32
Bath County 79 Culpeper
County
36 Halifax County 0 Mathews
County
78 Prince
William
County
58 Tazewell
County
52 Charles City
County
49 Franklin
County
67 Lancaster
County
29 Orange County 55 Scott County 60
Bedford
County
11 Cumberland
County
23 Hampton City 69 Mecklenburg
County
0 Pulaski
County
49 Virginia
Beach City
34
Bland
County
90 Danville City 32 Hanover County 50 Middlesex
County
0 Radford
City
30 Warren
County
16

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Policy Alternative #2: CTE Classes within High School
We find policy alternative #2 to be partially implemented already within the
school system. As the chart on the previous page shows, with the current
implementation there are severe equity issues that must be addressed in order to
make this a sustainable program.
Effectiveness: The creation of classes within the high school is highly
effective. As the classes are within the high school itself there is no issue with
students being asked to do anything more than their peers are. The courses that
would be taken for the CTE licensure would be used as replacement for the existing
requirements of graduation, this allows the student to not be required to spend extra
time in high school, which will keep their costs low. The pass rates for this program
vary too much to accurately place a percentage of passing. There are too many
program/certifications offered, each with their own pass percentage, to warrant an
“across the board” pass rate.
Cost: The criterion of cost for this policy alternative is highly complicated.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the national average salary for a CTE
teacher in secondary education is $55,160 (Bureau of Labor Statistics), after visiting
several job posting for CTE teachers in Virginia it seems that the national average
salary holds true in Virginia as well. According to a report by the National Center
for Education Statistics the average class size for a CTE teacher is 20 students per
class, which is slightly below the class average size of 23 for “traditional” classes
(Public High School Teachers of Career and Technical Education).

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Unfortunately, in the field of CTE, teachers must hold the certification for
which subject they are teaching. Thus, every school will not be able to offer CTE
classes/certifications in every subject. In a hypothetical “best case” situation a high
school could offer 5 certifications which would require
at least 5 teachers, assuming that each teacher took
4 classes of 20 students a class those 5 professors
could reach 400 students across the 5 certification
areas. Thus in this scenario the school would be
required to pay an additional $275,800 per year to
educate 400 students.
While this hypothetical example may seem like a fitting solution, it is
extremely simplified. It assumes perfectly equal demand for each of the 5
certification areas, which upon examination of the number of the credential
examinations taken in 2013-2014 is not true. According to a report filed with the
Virginia Department of Education
(credentials_sorted_showing_where_utilized_in_cte_courses_2013-14), the most
popular examination is “Economics and Personal Finance” with a total 36,969
attempted exams across the state in the year 2013-2014. This is in stark comparison
to the 274 different certification/licensure exams attempted only once across the
state in the 2013-2014 school year.
Teacher 1: 4
Classes: 80
Students
Teacher 2:
4 Classes:
80 Students
Teacher 3: 4
Classes: 80
Students
Teacher 4:
4 Classes:
80 Students
Teacher 5: 4
Classes: 80
Students

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The benefits to this policy alternative is that because the schools are already
built, with the exception of adding to the issue of overcrowded building, there is
space for these CTE classes to take place, and no need for new buildings.
Equity: This alternative struggles with the issue of equity. With the current
system of funding in the Virginia School system, where much of the funding comes
from the local governments, there will always be an issue with equitable funding and
the expanse of the CTE program. This program, if mandated, would require an
increase in the amount of funding for all school districts from the state. However,
those schools with a high supplementation of local government funding would be
better able to implement more diverse programs leading to more certification
opportunities than would those areas with smaller amounts of supplementary local
funding.
Political Feasibility: This alternative has moderate politically feasibility. The
public school system is historically against increased mandates by the government,
however as CTE is already a program that has enjoyed a successful implementation
in many areas any initial resistance is likely to be less severe. This issue is not highly
partisan, thus there is no reason to expect high political resistance on the basis of
ideals and beliefs. The greatest expected resistance will be from local governments
who would be responsible for some of the funding, and those members of the
General Assembly concerned with budget expansion.

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Policy Alternative #3: CTE Partnerships with Community
College
The idea of a CTE partnership with local community colleges is very similar to
the dual enrollment options already given to students. The existing program is
described on the Department of Education website as, “The Early College Scholars
program allows eligible high school students to earn at least 15 hours of transferable
college credit while completing the requirements for an Advanced Studies Diploma.
The result is a more productive senior year and a substantial reduction in college
tuition. Students earning a college degree in seven semesters instead of eight can
save an average of $5,000 in expenses” (Early College Scholars). This program would
simply allow the opportunity to earn CTE credits as a part of this dual enrolment
program.
Effectiveness: program effectiveness is very high for this alternative. Not
only are students earning the normal CTE licensure, they are also earning it at a
college level. While there is no evidence to support that employers prefer CTE
degrees earned at the college level, it does give the student a taste of the collegiate
environment. Additionally, in many cases the professor will travel to the individual
high school which allows for greater class flexibility on the students end. The
framework for Virginia’s dual enrolment program is laid out within Superintendent’s
Memo No. 073. It gives high schools options when it comes to how the dual
enrollment takes place, stating, “First, high school students may be enrolled in the
regularly scheduled college credit courses with the other students taught at the

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community college. Second, high school students may be enrolled in specially
scheduled college credit courses conducted exclusively for high school students
taught at the high school. Third, high school students may be enrolled in specially
scheduled college credit courses conducted exclusively for high school students
taught at the community college” (Superintendent’s Memo No. 073).
The VCCS (Virginia Community College System) filed a report with the
Perkins office which stated 42.7% of CTE concentrators who left postsecondary
education earned a degree, certification, or industry recognized certification.
(Career and Technical Statistics)
Costs: the costs for this program varies depending upon the method of
implementation. According to the Virginia Community College Systems website, “if
you are in Virginia, you are just 30 miles from a community college” (VCCS
Website). The
map to the right
(VCCS College
Locator) shows
the locations of
the 23 community
college within
Virginia. It is important to note that while there are 23 community colleges there are
40 different campuses that are associated with those colleges.

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These community colleges already have a large number of classes on Career
and Technical Education that will lead to licensure. Thus the infrastructure and
professors are already in place to be expanded by this program. As stated in the
Superintendent’s memo above there are three options for the implementation for a
dual enrollment class. The
first is at the community college,
if this approach was taken for this
policy alternative the costs to this
program per student would
simply be the cost of
transportation of students plus
the cost of the class at the community college, minus the costs that the high school
would have spent on that student at the high school. Currently for Virginia residents
community college costs are $136 per credit hour (John Tyler Community College).
Thus most classes, it the partnership required full cost, would cost $408 per student.
If the second option were to be implemented the cost would differ greatly
from the first. The second option requires the professor to travel to the high school to
teach a certain class. Which only will incur the cost of the salary for that professor.
Finally, the third option incurs basically the same costs as the first, with the
exception that the classes offered at the community college are not accessible by
students strictly enrolled in the community college, forcing that community college
to offer more sections of the class.
Option #1: High school students travel to their
local community college
Option #2: Community College professors
travel to the high school
Option #3: High school students travel to their
local community college and are in a class
exclusively for high school students

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Equity: Across the three options there are different levels of equity that this
program will take. For the first option, the equity will be the greatest across the
state. While the community college system is not immune to the income of the area,
the effects of those funding discrepancies is not as high because of federal financial
aid. It allows students to access a greater number of programs no matter what high
school they attend, as many high schools would be able to utilize the resources of
the same community college.
The second option is far less equitable across the state. Just as was found for
policy alternative #2, the funding discrepancies between regions such as northern
Virginia and south-west Virginia will not allow for high schools to pay equally to
have professors come to their schools. Additionally there is the issue that students
wanting to pursue a rarely offered certification would be unable to obtain that
certification as there is no way for it to be offered within the high school.
Finally, the third option provides the same equity as the first option.
Political Feasibility: The political feasibility for this issue is moderately high,
and highly dependent upon what option is implemented. With option #1 the
political feasibility is very high as this program is already in place with the existing
dual enrollment system, while with option #2 and #3 the political feasibility drops
because of the changes required to the current system.
As there are the three existing options for dual enrollment, policy alternative
#3 must be consolidated into one overall plan. In order to minimize costs as well as
maximize equity, both option number one and two must be utilized. For CTE classes

S m i t h | 25
that are always in demand it is most efficient to utilize option two and have a
professor from the areas community college come to the physical high school and
teach that class. However for the more unique classes that do not have enough
demand to fill a class schools should utilize option one and send the student to the
community college.

S m i t h | 26
Analysis Conclusions
After the implementation of the criteria to the policy alternatives a few notes
must be made that apply to all three alternatives. The first is of equity, both policies
that recommend change (2 and 3) struggle with their lack of vertical and inter-
generational equity. As discussed previously, vertical equity is potentially lacking as
individuals who can afford a college education usually choose that route. Thus this
program would mostly benefit those of a lower socio-economic level. This may lead
to the compliant that taxes would increase for the wealthy and would be benefiting
those with lower incomes. While in the short run this concern may be true, in
the long run this issue is not expected as a successful program will allow for more
jobs to be held in a more stable manner, thus increasing the tax base and revenue
collected.
Intergenerational equity, in much of the same way as vertical equity, suffers
from the fact that these programs focus on high school students, and do not provide
benefits to those outside this age range. Again this concern is effectively countered
with a successful program in the long run, as the tax base expands and dependence
on entitlement programs decreases.
Secondly, political feasibility for both programs two and three suffers from
these potential concerns about equity. Additionally, this issue does not enjoy high
saliency. Thus, the increased costs required for both policies may not be worth it as
those who would benefit from this program (lower income citizens), do not seem to

S m i t h | 27
be able to create the level of lobbying power that may be required to pass
either of these programs. According to Adriane Williams, who wrote Class, Race,
and Power: Interest Group Politics and Education, “School policy is of major concern
to those who have children in schools. There are, of course, citizens who understand
the importance of public education and are active in preserving it, but the majority
of adults who interact with schools in any given community on a non-professional
basis are parents. What this suggests is that low-income parents of color need to
position themselves as a permanent force in school policy the way that middle-class
white parents are positioned” (Williams). While Williams was examining this idea
through
a racial lens his point stands, the parents of those students must use their
influence in order for this to become politically feasible.

S m i t h | 28
Recommendations
The recommendation section weighs the different alternatives against each
other and will determine the best alternative available for implementation. The
below table utilizes the information given in the analysis section to create a matrix.
Policy #3 is preliminarily recommended. While it is close in all areas to Policy
#2 it best addresses the issue of equity across the state, which is already an issue
that Virginia struggles with as a state.
Political
Feasibility:
High
Cost:
Low Cost
Equity:
Low
Effectiveness:
Low
Policy #1
Political
Feasibility:
Moderate
Cost:
Moderate Cost
Equity:
Low
Effectiveness:
High
Policy #2
Political
Feasibility:
Moderate-High
Cost:
Moderate Cost
Equity:
Moderate
Effectiveness:
High
Policy #3

S m i t h | 29
This recommendation can only be made tentatively as I also highly
recommend that a full cost effectiveness analysis be undertaken in order to
determine all costs associated with these alternatives. As political feasibility for this
issue highly depends on the costs associated with the program, the cost
effectiveness analysis has potential to make one policy less likely to be politically
feasible than another.
Implementation Plan
To implement the findings of this report it is suggested that the Virginia
General Assembly pass a joint resolution directing JLARC to perform a full cost
effectiveness analysis during the 2016 session. This report may then be used to
determine the most effective policy to address Career and Technical Education.
Conclusions
This report concludes by making the call for more extensive research into the
field of Career and Technical Education. There is ample support that the field of CTE
is helpful to those students searching for jobs, however the research on best
implementation practices is lacking. By implementing research through a
government agency such a JLARC the access to information within school systems
will be greater than if a private entity attempted to gain this information.

S m i t h | 30
References:
Association for Career and Technical Training. (2015). State Policies Impacting CTE.
Collins, Randall. Credential Inflation and the Future of Universities. Italian Journal of Sociology
of Education.
Cost Calculator. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2015, from http://www.vccs.edu/
Tuition and Fees. (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2015, from https://jtcc.edu/pay-for-tyler/tuition-and-
fees/
Demary, J. L. (2005). Memo No. 073. Virginia.
Driscoll, L. G., & Salmon, R. G. (2008). How Increased State Equalization Aid Resulted in
Greater Disparities: An Unexpected Consequence for the Commonwealth of
Virginia. Journal Of Education Finance, 33(3), 238-261.
Early College Scholars Program. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2015, from
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/graduation/early_college_scholars/
Earnings and unemployment rates by educational attainment. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11,
2015, from http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm
Find a Virginia Community College. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2015, from
http://www.vccs.edu/about/where-we-are/college-locator/
Hussar, W., Sonnenberg, W., & National Center for Education Statistics (ED), W. D. (2000).
Trends in Disparities in School District Level Expenditures per Pupil. Statistical Analysis
Report.
Institute of Education Science. (2013). Trends in Employment Rates by Educational Attainment.
Living Wage Calculation for Harrisonburg city, Virginia. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2015,
from http://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/51660
Minnesota § 120B.024
"Summary." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Web. 10 Apr.
2015. <http://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/career-and-technical-
education-teachers.htm#tab-5>.
TASA HB 5, Texas Assembly. HB 5

S m i t h | 31
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2012). Education and Training Outlook for Occupations, 2012-
22.
U.S. Department of Education. (2011). Public High School Teachers of Career and Technical
Education in 2007-2008. WEB Tables.
Virginia Community College. (2013). Perkins Core Performance Measures Results and Targets
2012-2013.
Virginia529 College Savings Plan. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2015, from
http://www.virginia529.com/prepaid/
Virginia§ HB 887
Virginia§ HB 1054
Virginia§ HB 758
Virginia§ HB 886

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