State Profile For Virginia

Data sources used in this profile (MSWord,54Kb)

State Director

Ms. Elizabeth Russell, Director,
Career Technical Education, Virginia Department of Education
P.O. Box 2120
Richmond, VA 23218-2120

CTE Web Site(s) as Applicable

Secondary: http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Instruction/CTE/

Mission

The purpose of Career and Technical Education (CTE) is to meet the needs of Virginia’s existing and future workforce for marketable skills and to improve productivity and promote economic growth. Virginia’s present and future model for CTE continues to evolve from employment trends; sound academic practices; adjustments to changes at work and school; ties that bind to the total community; and to the ever-present need for accountability and improvement.

CTE Statistics

Number of Public High Schools:	296
Number of Public High Schools Offering Solely (or primarily) CTE courses:	49
Number of Students in Public High Schools:	365,052
Number of Secondary Students Enrolled in CTE:	208,852
Number of Public Community Colleges:	23
Number of Students at Public Community Colleges:	152,317
Number of Postsecondary Students Enrolled in CTE:	63,973
Perkins Funds Received:	$28,860,603

CTE Governance Structure

Perkins Eligible Agency:	Virginia Department of Education
Agency Administering Secondary CTE:	Virginia Department of Education
Agency Administering Postsecondary CTE:	Virginia Community College System
Programmatic Control For Secondary CTE:	Commonwealth of Virginia Board of Education
Programmatic Control For Postsecondary CTE:	Virginia Community College System State Board for Community Colleges

CTE Funding

State Secondary Funding:
State Postsecondary Funding:
Local Secondary Funding:
Local Postsecondary Funding:

State Director Roles and Responsibilities

The State Director has the title of State Director for the Office of Career and Technical Education Services. The Director’s position is a career position that reports to the Assistant Superintendent for Instruction. The Director’s primary areas of responsibility are Agricultural Education, Business & Information Technology, Marketing Education, Technology Education, Trade & Industrial Education, Family & Consumer Sciences, Health & Medical Sciences, and Career Connections.

CTE Connections to Secondary Education and High School Reform

Career technical education plays a significant role in high school reform efforts. Virginia has been an active member of the High Schools That Work reform for almost fifteen years. Local school divisions have utilized the concepts for reform, not only within their CTE programs, but also across the board at the high school level. The State Board of Education has allowed students who have an industry certification/state licensure and who are CTE program completers to count this for up to two verified credits for graduation. Initially, this benefit was to revert to only one verified credit for the ninth grade class of 2004. However, the State Board of Education is currently recommending in the new Standards of Accreditation that students be allowed to continue receiving up to two verified credits through the CTE program completer/industry certification or state licensure route. CTE is also included within the National Governors’ Association grant for high school reform that Virginia was just awarded.

Implementation of Career Clusters

Career technical education plays a significant role in high school reform efforts. Virginia has been an active member of the High Schools That Work reform for almost fifteen years. Local school divisions have utilized the concepts for reform, not only within their CTE programs, but also across the board at the high school level. The State Board of Education has allowed students who have an industry certification/state licensure and who are CTE program completers to count this for up to two verified credits for graduation. Initially, this benefit was to revert to only one verified credit for the ninth grade class of 2004. However, the State Board of Education is currently recommending in the new Standards of Accreditation that students be allowed to continue receiving up to two verified credits through the CTE program completer/industry certification or state licensure route. CTE is also included within the National Governors’ Association grant for high school reform that Virginia was just awarded.

Indicators

The data for 2003-2004 in the above chart was taken directly from the Consolidated Annual Reports (CAR Report 2003-04). The CAR is a mandatory fiscal and accountability report submitted by each state to the U.S. Department of Education. It provides performance information on 14 Perkins indicators. A red X means a state did not meet its adjusted level of performance and a green checkmark means that the state did meet its goal.A blue bar in the Secondary Indicators table means that the state does not offer students the opportunity to earn both a high school diploma and other credential (e.g., a skill certificate) or that the data was not otherwise provided by the state. A blue bar in the Postsecondary Indicators table indicates that the state did not provide data.

The data for 2004-2005 was taken from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education, Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998, Report to Congress on State Performance, Program Year 2004-05, Washington, D.C., 2007.

Last updated on 02/25/2008