West Virginia has pushed for more vocational education within the state, as students at technical high schools are now participating in simulated workplaces. Teachers have been trained in state industries such as health, coal, fracking, and energy, and in the midst of America’s opioid crisis, students will also have to participate in random drug testing. Lawmakers are hoping that this will aid with the state’s economic revival in the future, given the current state of the economy and the extent of its opioid crisis. The US has far less students in vocational training than the rest of the developed world, with just 6% of students enrolled in vocational education, compared to 25% in Japan, 59% in Germany, and 42% in the UK.
See "Seeing Hope for Flagging Economy, West Virginia Revamps Vocational Track", Dana Goldstein, The New York Times, August 11, 2017