Common barriers include seat-time regulations, graduation requirements, nonacceptance of applied courses, college admission requirements, union seniority rules, certification processes, and teacher evaluation rules. Strict allocation of resources by a central office can also inhibit integration if it reduces a school's ability to channel funds toward teacher professional development. Integration can take years to implement. Such a long-term endeavor needs committed leadership, relatively stable staffing, and stable and generous funding to induce change and build new capacities. Most important are full support for continuing staff development and collaboration.
Integration complements other current systemic reforms.
All in all, integration reform appears to promote a healthy rethinking of education conventions. Given sufficient support to succeed, the integration reform movement has the potential to create a much more flexible, equitable, and effective American high school. It prepares students for further education at college. By contrast, vocational education offers students training in occupation-specific skills in preparation for employment or further training after high school graduation. RAND policy briefs summarize research that has been more fully documented elsewhere.