Note: This is part of Advance CTE’s blog series, “Getting to Know…” We are using this series to help our readers learn more about specific states, State CTE Directors, partners and more.
State Name: West Virginia
State CTE Director: Dr. Sarah Tucker, Chancellor, West Virginia Community and Technical College
Before becoming the Chancellor of West Virginia’s Community and Technical College System (WVCTCS), Dr. Tucker was a self-proclaimed “data geek” who worked in policy and planning. Dr. Tucker analyzed data that examined who was attending college, who wasn’t and what happened to students once they arrived at college. From that work, Dr. Tucker soon realized that West Virginia’s state workforce needs would not be met if low graduation rates persisted. Dr. Tucker applied for and received a grant that allowed her to play a role in revamping the state’s approach to development education, which resulted in a full scale corequisite redesign of remedial education. As Chancellor of the of the WVCTCS, and now Interim Chancellor of the state’s four-year system of higher education, Dr. Tucker has played a key role in promoting high-quality Career Technical Education (CTE) programs.
About West Virginia: CTE in West Virginia is delivered through secondary institutions, nine community and technical colleges, 24 CTE centers and seven multicounty centers. Historically, CTE in West Virginia functioned separately at the secondary and postsecondary levels. One of the priorities for Dr. Tucker when she became Chancellor was to address this lack of alignment, which she did through working with the State Superintendent of Schools at the West Virginia Department of Education.
In addition to secondary and postsecondary alignment, the quality of CTE programs in the state are bolstered by strong industry partnerships. West Virginia has longstanding, strong relationships with partners, particularly at community colleges. The community colleges in West Virginia work with more than 700 companies across the state. Colleges take a sector based approach to workforce development, meeting with industry sectors throughout the year to get buy-in from companies and to ensure programs align with employer needs.
The state recognized that core to quality programs is ensuring access and equity. West Virginia has a high poverty rate, with 17.8 percent of the population experiencing poverty. To address socioeconomic gaps, in 2019, the State Legislature passed legislation to create West Virginia Invests, which is a last-dollar-in grant program that covers the cost of tuition and associated fees for a certificate or associate degree programs aligned with high-demand fields at public two-year or four-year institutions. Notably, enrollment of first-time freshmen in the state’s nine community and technical colleges increased 9.9 percent from fall 2018 to fall 2019 after the creation of West Virginia Invests.
Brianna McCain, Policy Associate