1. Tips for Completing a New Course/Program Application
Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education
Virginia Department of Education
October 5, 2017

2. Overview
Part 1:
An overview of the sections and information required in the New Course/Program Application
Part 2:
How Trailblazers labor market data be used to complete the “Labor Market / Employment Data” section (Part H) of the New CTE Program/Course Application?

3. Resources for Completion
Directions
Application
This part of the presentation will be to review the resources needed for completion of the new course/program application as well as an in depth explanation of each of the parts of the application.
Located on the Program Management and Administration Web Page
Add SCED and Assignment Code to Endorsement Code Mapping (CODEMAPPING) to your SSWS Applications

4. Labor Market/Employment Data table
Column 1:
Labor Market/Employment Data table
We will discuss how to use labor market data downloaded from the Trailblazers web portal to complete Column 1 of the Labor Market/Employment Data table in Part H of the New CTE Course Application.

5. You will be using the Trailblazers web site to get the data you need to complete the new course application. Particularly the Labor Market Data Tab.

6. Downloading Trailblazers data
Download from the Trailblazers web portal two Excel files containing labor market data: one for Virginia and one for your Local Workforce Investment Area (LWIA)
The first step is to download the labor market data files for both the state and your Local Workforce Investment Area (LWIA) from the Trailblazers web portal. If you do not know your LWIA, click on the link entitled Virginia’s Local Workforce Investment Areas. The location noted above with the orange arrow. The next slide will show a breakdown of the LWIA’s by county and city.

7. Breakdown of the LWIA’s by city and county.

8. Using Trailblazers “Duplicated” Employment Projections to Select Occupations for Part H – Column 1 of the New CTE Course Application

9. Understanding Trailblazers Labor Market Data worksheets
When you open the labor market data file for your LWIA, you will see that there are three different worksheets included in the file: 1) SOC Summary, 2) Non-Duplicated, and 3) Duplicated. To complete Part H of the New CTE Course Application, you will only need to refer to the Non-Duplicated and Duplicated worksheets.

10. What is the difference between the “Non-Duplicated” and “Duplicated” worksheets?
What is the difference between the Non-Duplicated and Duplicated worksheets? The Labor Market Data page of the Trailblazers web portal provides a good explanation of the differences between the various worksheets. Specifically, the difference between the Non-Duplicated and Duplicated worksheets is as follows:
Non-Duplicated (use for labor market projections): This worksheet assigns each occupation to only one CTE career pathway and cluster and should be the only data used for official labor market projection figures. Because employment numbers can be summed across pathways and clusters, the “non-duplicated” worksheet provides a more realistic assessment of overall employment levels within each geographic region. It does not provide a fully rounded picture of the occupational composition of each pathway or cluster because many occupations could reasonably be classified in more than one.
Duplicated (use for career planning): This worksheet assigns some occupations to more than one CTE career pathway and/or cluster and was intended to serve as a career planning tool for students and educators who are interested in seeing all of the occupations that might be open to students who complete programs in a cluster. Because the same occupation may appear more than once throughout the worksheet, employment figures for individual occupations should not be summed within or across pathways or clusters.

11. First use the Non-Duplicated worksheet to determine the projected percent change for all occupations in your LWIA
We will now walk through an example of how to use the Trailblazers worksheets to select high-growth occupations related to your proposed course. You will be listing these occupations in Column 1 of the Labor Market/Employment Data table. For this example, the proposed course is “Manufacturing Technology,” and I will be showing you what the Trailblazers worksheets look like for LWIAs 7 (Region 2000/Central Virginia) and 15 (Crater Area). Although you’ll only be looking at the data for your region when you complete the application, I’d like to show you two regional examples in this presentation since every region varies in the range of occupations it supports.
But first, before we begin working with the Duplicated worksheet, you must refer to the NON-Duplicated worksheet for one important piece of information—the projected percent change for all occupations in your region. Here on this slide you can see this information for both the Central VA and Crater Area LWIAs. This information is important because it serves as a basis of comparison when deciding what specific occupations will be experiencing growth. Any occupation with a projected percent change higher than what is expected for all occupations within the region will be experiencing higher-than-regional-average growth. These higher-growth occupations are the ones that you will want to use as examples in Part H of the application.
You can see that the projected percent change from for all occupations in both the Central VA and Crater Area regions is 8%.

12. Next use the Duplicated worksheet to
identify high-growth occupations in
clusters and pathways related to your course
In order to see the broadest range of occupations in the clusters and pathways that are related to your proposed course, now switch over to using the Duplicated worksheet. In this case, since our proposed course is a variant of Manufacturing Technology, we will first look at the Manufacturing cluster. This slide shows the Manufacturing cluster for the Central VA LWIA. I have highlighted all the occupations in this cluster that are projected to have greater-than-regional average growth—that is percent change greater than 8%. I have decided that, for the particular course that I am proposing, the occupations highlighted in green are the ones that are most relevant for my particular course, so I will use them to complete Part H of the application. At the right of the slide, you can see how I have filled in Column 1 with the appropriate information.

13. Crater Area LWIA example
Now I’ll show you the same process but for the Crater Area LWIA, which has a smaller range of potential occupations in the Manufacturing cluster than the Central VA region. Again, I have highlighted all the occupations in the Manufacturing cluster that have higher-than-regional-average projected growth (greater than 8%). The occupation highlighted in green—Industrial Machinery Mechanics—is the occupation that most relates to my proposed course, and it is projected to have a very high percentage of growth over the decade—19%--so it is a good choice for inclusion on the application. On the right is an example of how this information would be filled into Column 1 of the Labor Market/Employment Data table.

14. Additional factors to consider as you are selecting occupations
Besides looking for occupations that have greater-than-regional-average projected growth, you must also consider the projected “Numeric Change” and projected “Annual Job Openings” for each occupation that you are considering as well, because the application also asks for this information in Column 3 of the Labor Market/Employment Data table. Some occupations that employ fewer people may have a very high projected percentage of growth over the decade, but if they will only be providing 1 or 2 job openings in the region each year, it might be difficult to argue based on that occupation that this course will be needed in the region.
Also, as you are selecting occupations, you will need to keep in mind how the projected percentage of growth for each occupation compares to what is expected at both the state and national levels, as the application will also be asking you to supply that information. For that reason, you might want to look that information up prior to selecting occupations from the Duplicated worksheet.
One last suggestion…especially if you are having trouble finding high-growth occupations in clusters and pathways that are directly related to your proposed course offering. Be creative! Look at other related clusters and pathways for occupations related to your course. For example, using our “Manufacturing Technology” course example, if the Manufacturing cluster didn’t contain any high-growth occupations, we could also have used the Duplicated worksheet to locate related occupations in the Information Technology or STEM clusters, for example.

15. Defining “High-Skill” Occupations
Predominant level of education & training
Denotes the highest education level of either:
Typical entry-level education
Most prevalent level of educational attainment among all workers in the occupation age 25 years or older
Training/Certification
Indicates that one or more of the following is typical in order to attain competency in the occupation:
Postsecondary non-degree award
Internship/residency
Apprenticeship
On-the-job training
Work Experience
Indicates whether related work experience is typically required for entry into the occupation
The charts you will be working with also show the predominant level of education and training or the training and certification or work experience needed for each occupation. Although you will not use this information on the application, it is important information to know as you counsel with students.

16. Defining “High-Demand” Occupations
It is important to look at both the numeric and percent change figures. A higher percent of job growth does not necessarily mean there will be greater job growth numerically for the occupation over the decade. Likewise, greater numeric job growth does not necessarily translate into a higher percent change.
This slide shows that although Physical Therapist Assistants show a percent change of 48% that translates to an increase of 37 jobs for and 6 annual job openings. Whereas, for Registered Nurses, a 13% percent change will result in 476 jobs for the 10 year period and 135 each year.

17. Defining “High-Demand” Occupations
Key questions to consider when determining whether an occupation is “high-demand”
Is the occupation expected to experience more or less growth over the decade than what is expected for all occupations in a given region? (‘Percent Change’ column)
How many more jobs will there be in the occupation in a given region in the future? (‘Numeric Change’ column)
How many job openings will there be in the occupation in a given region each year? (‘Annual Job Openings’ column)
So what defines a high demand occupation?
Is the occupation expected to experience more or less growth over the decade than what is expected for all occupations in a given region? (‘Percent Change’ column)
How many more jobs will there be in the occupation in a given region in the future? (‘Numeric Change’ column)
How many job openings will there be in the occupation in a given region each year? (‘Annual Job Openings’ column)

18. “High-Demand” Career Clusters
Six career clusters with projected employment growth greater than the state average of 9%
Health Science (21%)
Information Technology (17%)
Human Services (16%)
Education & Training (13%)
Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security (11%)
Hospitality & Tourism (10%)
This slide indicates the six clusters with projected employment growth greater than the state average of 9%.

19. Filling out the Labor Market Chart Using Non-Duplicated Data for LWIA Columns 2, 3, & 6

20. Columns 2, 3, & 6 Use LWIA (Non-Duplicated) Tab
Local Workforce Investment Areas
LWIA I: Southwest Virginia
LWIA II: New River/Mt Rogers
LWIA III: Western Virginia
Filling out columns 2, 3, and 6 indicates data related to the non-duplicated specific to your LWIA. In this example, for Industrial Machinery Mechanics for the next 10 years there will be a 17% growth which will result in 71 new jobs. Column 6 shows the overall growth expected in your LWIA which is 8% in this example. This means that this occupations is outpacing the LWIA growth of 8% by checking in with a 17% growth.

21. Filling out the Labor Market Chart Using Non-Duplicated Data for Virginia
Columns 4 & 7

22. Columns 4 & 7 Use Virginia (Non-Duplicated) Tab
State Projections
State of Virginia Employment Projections
Filling in columns 4 and 7 indicate the data in Virginia. To get to this data, you will need to go back to the Labor Market page in the beginning (slide #6) and click on State Projections. You will scroll to the cluster and then the correct pathway to find the occupation you are seeking.

23. Columns 4 &7 Use Virginia (Non-Duplicated) Tab
The overall Commonwealth employment growth rate of 9% is shown in column 7. The employment rate for this occupation over the next ten years is 18%, which exceeds the rate for the entire Commonwealth.

24. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Column 5

25. Column 5 Use Bureau of Labor Statistics Web Site https://data. bls
Use Employment Change Percent Column
The Bureau of Labor Statistics also shows an 18% for this occupation over the next ten years, which again exceeds the Commonwealth and LWIA rate of growth.

26. Question a

27. Question ‘a’
Now we will compare each of the occupations with the overall growth rate for the LWIA. The LWIA growth rate is 17% and the LWIA growth across all occupations is 8%. You will then calculate the difference between column 2 and 6. This number should show positive growth. In this case, this occupation shows strong growth for the LWIA compared to the overall LWIA growth for all occupations.

28. Question b

29. Question ‘b’
Next, we will compare each of the occupations with the overall growth rate for the Commonwealth. The LWIA growth rate is 17% and the Commonwealth growth across all occupations is 9%. Now, calculate the difference between column 2 and 7. This number should be a positive. In this case, this occupation shows strong growth for the LWIA compared to the overall Commonwealth growth for all occupations.

30. Question c

31. Question ‘c’
Look at the number in Column 3. Determine if this number shows growth in the occupation for the LWIA.

32. Question d

33. Question ‘d’
Next, compare the state and national level growth rates. In this case, they are the same but both numbers in these columns should be positive.

34. Question e

35. Question ‘e’
Provide evidence that new industry openings in your area will hire for skills taught in the proposed course.
You need to do a bit of research to see if the LWIA is hiring for the jobs for the course you have proposed. The next slide gives you a list of other resources you can use to accomplish this.

36. Question ‘e’ Additional Resources for Regional Data
VirginiaLMI.com
Regional demographic, labor force, occupation, and industry data
Community and industry profiles by region
Location Quotient Calculator
YesVirginia.org
Regional labor market profiles
REsolution.VAAllies.org
Regional industry and occupational employment data

37. Contacts Lolita B. Hall George R. Willcox
Director Associate Director
Sharon Acuff Virginia Department of Education
Marketing and Related Clusters Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education
P. O. Box 2120
Richmond, VA
Trailblazers Website:
Bureau of Labor Statistics:
CTE Website:
Also included on this slide are the web addresses for the data sources you will need to use for the completion of the new course/program application.