For more information about other CTE students who have found inspiration and exciting careers, go to Student Profiles: Military.
Active Military Personnel
Joseph Thrapp
Field Artillery Officer
United States Army
Mount Vernon High School
Fairfax County Public Schools
News & Announcements
Experience Works – Trailblazing Together for High-Quality Work-Based Learning
The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) is pleased to offer a LIVE Zoom professional development opportunity for High-Quality Work-Based Learning (HQWBL) stakeholders, “Experience Works—Trailblazing Together for High-Quality Work-Based Learning,” to be held June 22-23, 2022, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each day. The targeted audience includes Work-Based Learning (WBL) coordinators, Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers, administrators, school counselors and administrators, career coaches, and business and industry leaders. Online pre-registration is open through June 1, 2022. After pre-registration is received, additional individual workshop sessions information will be forthcoming. Refer to Superintendent’s Memo 097-22-This is a PDF document. (PDF) for more detail.
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Career and Technical Education Creating Excellence Awards
The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) and the Virginia Community College system (VCCS) honored 10 exemplary career and technical education (CTE) programs and partnership during the agencies 2021 Creating Excellence Awards program.
Data to Support Student Academic and Career Planning
Pursuant to Superintendent’s Memo #258-20-This is a Word document. (Word), which identified 2020 General Assembly revisions to the Standards of Quality (SOQ), § 22.1-253.13:1 requires the Department of Education to annually compile a list of (i) the top 100 professions in the Commonwealth by median pay and the education, training, and skills required for each such profession and (ii) the top 10 degree programs at institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth by median pay of program graduates. Such lists shall be provided to each local school board. The University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service in collaboration with the department has researched and compiled this data for the 2020-2021 school year. The information is based on occupational employment statistics and educational attainment data produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as well as longitudinal wage data produced by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Refer to Superintendent’s Memo 281-20-This is a Word document. (Word) for more detail.
Virginia’s Workplace Readiness Skills: Framework for the Future
In collaboration with the Demographics Research Group of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia, the research report Virginia's Workplace Readiness Skills: Framework for the Future-This is a PDF document. (PDF) is being shared with school divisions. The purpose of this research was to evaluate Virginia's current 21 Workplace Readiness Skills and to make certain they are up-to-date and aligned with the needs of employers. For more than 30 years, in each decade since the 1980s, hundreds of employers throughout the Commonwealth have been interviewed or surveyed to determine the most essential workplace skills for entry-level workers.
Professional Development
2020-21 Training Sessions for Administrators
For information about the 2020-21 Video Training Sessions for Administrators, visit the Professional Development.
You can also find the link in the menu to the right under Program Administration & Management.
Career and technical education (CTE) programs in Virginia public schools serve more than 640,000 students in one or more CTE courses in grades 6-12. These programs are designed to prepare young people for productive futures while meeting the commonwealth's need for well-trained and industry-certified technical workers.
Virginia acknowledges the importance of career and technical education to students and the commonwealth through diploma seals awarded by the Board of Education, by recognizing industry credentialing in its diploma requirements, and through the use of Career Pathways as an integral part of the newly required Academic and Career Plan.
Sample Academic and Career Plans of Study
Career Clusters Sample Plans of Study – a resource to assist CTE administrators and school counselors in developing student academic and career plans of study for successful transitions between secondary and postsecondary education for each pathway within a career cluster. The sample plans of study template meets all the state and federal requirements.
CTE Performance Trends
Career and Technical Education (CTE) actively partners with business and industry to design and provide high quality, dynamic programs to meet current, emerging and projected labor market needs. Virginia’s 16 career clusters help students investigate careers and design a rigorous and relevant plan of study to advance their career goals. Each career cluster contains multiple pathways that represent a common set of academic, technical and employability skills. Career pathways lead to credentials that qualify students for a range of career opportunities from entry to professional level.
For assistance with the CTE Performance Trends files, contact cte@doe.virginia.gov.
Virginia’s Credentialing Initiative(PDF) – provides a snapshot of the number of industry credentials earned by students in career and technical education over the past several years.
Virginia’s Credentialing Performance Trends(PDF) – connects the value of earning industry credentials and degrees with fulfilling employer needs in high-wage high-skill, and high-demand jobs.