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Micah Smith

JMU PPA 492

4/13/15

Career and Technical

Education Policy in Virginia

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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

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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)

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

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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

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Virginia§ HB 887

Virginia§ HB 1054

Virginia§ HB 758

Virginia§ HB 886