The purpose of this study was to describe the needs and concerns regarding the Virginia Credentialing Initiative (VCI) of career and technical education (CTE) stakeholders in rural southwestern Virginia. These stakeholders included central office CTE administrators, high school principals, guidance counselors, and high school CTE teachers. The Stages of Concern Questionnaire (George, Hall, & Stiegelbauer, 2008) was sent to 355 participants with 260 responding for a return rate of 73%. All of the respondents were employed in Superintendents' Region Seven.

There are seven Stages of Concern: 0 Unconcerned, 1 Informational, 2 Personal, 3 Management, 4 Consequence, 5 Collaboration, and 6 Refocusing. Results revealed that when categorized by occupational areas, central office CTE administrators and teachers had primary concerns that ranged from Unconcerned to Personal. Guidance counselors had primary concerns that ranged from Unconcerned to Informational. High school principals had primary concerns that ranged from Unconcerned to Personal. All groups had lowest concern levels at the Consequence and Refocusing stages. Results for each group varied slightly when the number of years of experience was used as a reporting category. The primary level of concern was at the Unconcerned stage for each group when the respondents had 5 or fewer years of experience.

CTE teacher groups were also categorized by subject area as those with long-standing licensing history (cosmetology, nursing, welding) and those newer to credentialing (agriculture, business, family and consumer sciences, marketing). The fields of nursing and welding had primary concerns at the Unconcerned level, while those in the agriculture, business, cosmetology, family and consumer sciences, and marketing subject areas peaked at the Personal level.

Further research is recommended in relation to CTE stakeholder concerns and the implementation and use of the VCI. The implementation of new state legislation will affect CTE stakeholders as they adapt to the new graduation requirements for students pursuing a standard diploma. It is also recommended that qualitative research be conducted to ascertain specific avenues for addressing stakeholder needs and concerns, such as professional development.