Career and technical education programs play a vital role in rural communities. They create pathways to high-paying local jobs, and they provide employers with a pipeline of skilled workers for positions they might otherwise have difficulty filling. By enabling rural communities to cultivate their workforce locally, CTE programs support greater community stability and self-sufficiency (iCEV, 2024).
While CTE programs can be transformative both for students and for the region, these programs also face unique challenges. They are often under-resourced compared to suburban and urban CTE programs. Limited budgets, geographic isolation, and staffing challenges can widen the gap between rural CTE students and their suburban or urban peers.
This gap can be especially stark when it comes to equipment and technology. CTE programs often need specialized equipment that can be difficult to find or fund in rural areas. And this may prevent schools from offering the programs at all (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2025).
At Escambia County Schools in southern Alabama, we’re working hard to change this narrative. Rather than viewing advanced technology as out of reach, our district has made it a focus. Our strategic investment in technology, including simulators, robots and virtual reality headsets, has enabled us to deliver high-quality training that expands opportunities for students.
CTE in Escambia County, Alabama
Escambia County Schools is a rural district serving 4,150 students across more than 950 square miles. Our Career Readiness Center and 12 schools offer 17 CTE programs in high-demand fields including health sciences, IT, welding, industrial maintenance, law and public safety, automotive technology, and agriculture.
CTE is a big focus, for both our district and our state. More than 70% of Alabama’s high school students take at least one CTE class (Gilreath, 2025). Further, 92% of Alabama secondary CTE students reported positive outcomes a year after graduation, including employment, technical training and postsecondary enrollment (ACTE, 2025).
CTE became even more of a focus here in 2024 when Alabama passed new college and career readiness requirements for graduation. Starting with the Class of 2026, the Alabama Department of Education now requires students to meet at least one “college and career readiness indicator” in order to graduate (Denham, 2025). Indicators include achieving a qualifying ACT score, earning dual enrollment credit, obtaining a career technical industry credential, or attaining “CTE completer” status. Alabama passed another law that same year allowing high school students to earn a Workforce Path Diploma, which focuses on CTE. It allows students to earn credits through CTE courses and take fewer math and science courses (Gilreath, 2025).
Technology use in rural schools
As the profile of CTE has risen in Alabama — and nationally — so has the use of innovative technologies. Artificial intelligence, virtual reality, high-tech robotics and medical simulators are growing in popularity for CTE programs. Many rural districts struggle to equip their CTE programs with in-demand technologies; but in Escambia County Schools, we’re innovating ahead of the curve.
Michelle W. Collier, Ed.D., our district superintendent, came to Escambia County from a larger district and with a technology background. She was instrumental in helping us step into the technology era. We have searched out and applied for multiple strategic grants to purchase technology. For instance, we had received supplemental operational and maintenance funding and were able to use that to purchase simulators for our health sciences program, ClassVR headsets for our welding program, and simulators for our law and public safety class.
Our CTE students now learn with tools more commonly found in larger districts.
- Law, public safety, welding and construction students use immersive technology that provides risk-free training. This includes using laser pistol simulators for gun-range simulations and ClassVR’s Xcelerate headsets for practicing welding techniques and framing simulations.
- Health sciences students experience a SMART STAT patient simulation to practice cardiac and lung assessments, ECG monitoring, venipuncture, and blood draws.
- Media students pilot drones for aerial photography. They are also using technology for video production, story mapping, and post-production storytelling, as well as podcasting.
- Advanced manufacturing students learn robotics operation and programming with a FANUC robot. We eventually plan to offer students opportunities to earn an industry certification on the robot.
- Information technology students gain access to online courses, including realistic online simulation labs. Students also have access to Cat5 cables and material to build and test internet cables.
- Engineering students create digital designs and then they construct physical objects with 3D printers.
“At the Escambia County Career Readiness Center (ECRC), we always try to empower the students to excel while utilizing the time they have here with us,” said Willie Fantroy, IT instructor. “ECRC ensures the students have the most up-to-date equipment to match what employers actually use. So, students are prepared if they go into the workforce after graduation. We try to use a lot of hands-on tools with each student to better prepare them for the future.”
Fantroy, who teaches five information technology classes, said students appreciate the technology-enabled, hands-on learning opportunities, as well as the online course options. The VR headsets are the newest addition. “My students had the opportunity to preview the ClassVR headset during the setup,” he said. “They were excited because it allows them to have a visualization of being somewhere else and seeing things that they will not get the chance to see locally.”
Tips for expanding technology use
Here is my advice for rural CTE school districts that seek to expand access to technology — to deliver exceptional learning experiences.
- Technology selection: Let the instructors lead the conversation about what technology to use. And then listen to their recommendations. They are the ones who are in the classroom, so they have great insight to drive the decisions. When selecting technology, make sure it is aligned to your state standards, has a good track record for success and offers reliable customer support.
- Funding: Rural school districts need to maximize limited resources. Take time to seek out and identify grants and other pots of money that can be used to fund technology. This takes time, but it is worth the effort. Resources may include local or national philanthropic organizations, the city or county government, local businesses, and local colleges and universities (Rhodes, 2025).
- Partnerships: Developing strong partnerships is important in all areas of education, not just in CTE. It’s important to nurture those relationships. At Escambia County Schools we invite local business owners and industry representatives to serve on our advisory board, so they know what we’re doing in our CTE programs. This builds trust and opens opportunities for students. For instance, our local auto dealerships now call us when they have job openings; they frequently hire our students. In addition, we partner with our local community college for dual enrollment programs and lean on them to help us with teacher recruitment.
CTE can be a game changer for students and employers — perhaps even more so in rural areas. Rural districts can expand access to innovative technologies that deliver exceptional learning experiences and strengthen student outcomes.
Lotoya West, Ed.D., is the director of career and technical education at Escambia County Schools in Alabama.
