The two-year pathway, mapped.
The apprenticeship route is not simply “work 4,000 hours.” The apprentice completes 2,000 paid OJT hours in each of two years while approved technical instruction, documented skill growth, progress reviews, and wage progression run alongside the job.
Two clocks run at the same time.
Apprentices do not finish the job hours and then begin school. Paid workplace development and approved related technical instruction move together.
+ 2,000 hours in Year 2
Supervised on-the-job learning builds from foundational dispensing skills toward advanced verification, fabrication, fitting, and problem-solving.
Virginia’s optician apprenticeship rules require approved RTI to provide at least 144 hours of instruction in each year of the two-year apprenticeship. Reynolds offers a 20-credit certificate that may be completed in one to two years.
What develops over those two years
FRAME’s proposed milestone map turns elapsed hours into visible skill, education, and employer checkpoints.
Confirm the licensed supervisor, registered standards, work process, wage schedule, and approved instruction route.
Build patient service, safety, optical terminology, frame and lens knowledge, measurements, and basic adjustments.
Develop prescription interpretation, product selection, fitting, adjustment, and first-year instruction competencies.
Progress into multifocals, fabrication and finishing, verification, troubleshooting, and more complex patient needs.
Close remaining competencies, strengthen quality control and professional judgment, and prepare for examination.
Document apprenticeship completion, apply for eligibility, and pass Virginia’s required written and practical examinations.
This sequence is an employer-facing FRAME model, not a substitute for registered standards. The final Work Process Schedule and approved curriculum control what is taught and when.
Weekly hours change the calendar.
The registered baseline is 2,000 OJT hours per year. Lower weekly schedules do not reduce the 4,000-hour requirement and may extend completion.
Illustrative clock math only. Actual completion depends on the registered program, employer scheduling, time away from work, and the standards approved by Virginia Works.
Three systems must work together.
The occupation crosses workforce registration, technical education, and professional licensure. FRAME is being built to coordinate the handoffs without taking over the authority of any one system.
Registered Apprenticeship ↗
Paid, structured learning anchored in the employer relationship.
Technical education ↗
Established instructional options already support the profession, including the Opticians Apprentice Career Studies Certificate at Reynolds Community College.
Professional licensure ↗
Virginia provides a defined licensing endpoint for dispensing opticians through the Board for Hearing Aid Specialists and Opticians.
Where FRAME fits
FRAME’s proposed role is operational: coordinate the shared apprenticeship pathway while each participant keeps its own authority and responsibilities.
Virginia Works remains the apprenticeship authority. Employers hire, pay, train, and supervise. Education providers deliver approved instruction. Virginia’s licensing system controls examination and licensure. FRAME is being designed to coordinate the shared pathway connecting them.
Official Virginia sources
These links control over FRAME’s explanatory model.
Current status: FRAME Virginia Inc. is an independent Virginia nonstock corporation developing an opticianry Registered Apprenticeship intermediary model in coordination with Virginia Works. Final sponsorship and program structure are in development; the Work Process Schedule, RTI plan, and wage progression require approval.