n January 1998 under the auspices of the National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE), Debra Bragg (UIUC) and Carolyn Dornsife (UCB) began a national research study on Tech Prep implementation and student outcomes. A panel of national experts identified six consortia as mature implementers of Tech Prep and these consortia became the initial sites for the national evaluation. The study examined a range of Tech Prep models and approaches in urban, suburban, and rural locations in the United States. Two additional consortia were selected for the study near the end of 1998.

The purpose of the evaluation was to describe local Tech Prep systems, compare the post-high school education and economic outcomes of Tech Prep students and non-Tech Prep students, and provide in-depth understanding of how students transition from high school to college and/or work. In order to describe the nature of students' Tech Prep experiences and to identify their outcomes, the NCRVE research team employed a mixed method approach, including a follow-up survey of Tech Prep and non-Tech Prep students and an analysis of secondary and postsecondary transcripts for students in both groups. Approximately 4,700 students were selected across all eight consortia, with roughly equivalent numbers of Tech Prep and non-Tech Prep students in each. The sample was comprised of students who graduated from high school between 1995 and 1998, with most sites providing data on 1996 and 1997 cohorts, fewer on the 1995 cohort, and only one site (the last site added to the study) on a 1998 cohort. The response rate for the survey was approximately 50% overall, and over 90% of the high school transcripts were acquired. In addition, 1,868 community college transcripts were obtained for students who matriculated to the main community college(s) in each consortium.

Background on Tech Prep Though

Tech Prep was launched well over a decade ago, it was not until passage of the Tech Prep Education Act, as part of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act of 1990, that Tech Prep received national attention. Beginning in 1991 or 1992, federal grants for Tech Prep planning and implementation encouraged the establishment of core secondary and postsecondary curricula, both academic and vocational. Though relatively small in scale, these grants signaled the importance of restructuring academic and vocational curricula, at both the secondary and postsecondary levels around something called Tech Prep.

Despite concerns about how Tech Prep fits with other school reforms and about the goals of the initiative, Tech Prep has proliferated. By the fall of 1995, Tech Prep was offered in well over half of the comprehensive high schools and the vast majority of community colleges in the United States. As Tech Prep implementation progressed, a wider net has been cast for local partners; more high schools, two-year colleges, businesses, and community-based organizations are now engaged. A more diversified approach to financing Tech Prep is also evident, including more state and local funds, although federal funds continue to be the mainstay of local Tech Prep programs. Support for Tech Prep is strong among stakeholders who are integral to its long-term sustainability: state agency personnel, local secondary and two-year college administrators, business/industry representatives, vocational faculty, and students. Finally, local leaders depict Tech Prep as a foundation for newer School-To-Work (STW) partnerships, and there are positive signs of collaboration between Tech Prep and STW. Increasing numbers of business/education partnerships and growth in the use of work-based learning are important signs of how Tech Prep is evolving.

Results of the NCRVE Evaluation

Four of the eight Tech Prep consortia included in the study and their respective approaches to Tech Prep are presented here. In December 1999, a technical report will be published by NCRVE, which will include case studies of all eight sites, along with preliminary student results for each site. In all of our writing, pseudonyms are used to present results for each consortium.

Sunland Tech Prep Consortium covers a large county in a southern state and consists of urban, suburban, and rural high schools and a large community college with four campuses. The primary goals of the Sunland Tech Prep initiative are to create educational opportunities for the neglected majority, provide students with multiple options beyond high school, enhance workforce preparation, and increase relationships with business partners without overtaxing relations. The STW initiative has its own stated goals that compliment Tech Prep of raising academic standards, reducing the dropout rate, improving career opportunities for all students, and achieving a more highly skilled workforce.

This consortium defines a Tech Prep student as any student at grade level by eleventh grade who has completed at least one technical course in an articulated program of study and two courses each of English, science, mathematics at specified levels identified by the state. A Tech Prep course of study consists of an articulated sequence of technical courses taken during the final two years of high school and the two years of postsecondary education (2+2) leading to an Associate of Science degree. However, because Tech Prep students are identified at the ninth grade level and are required to complete certain levels of courses in order to enroll in Tech Prep programs of study at the eleventh grade level, the Tech Prep approach for Sunland is considered to be a 4+2 (6-year) articulated program (with some 4+2+2 programs available). The sequences within these programs include dual enrollment, time-shortened courses and articulation of technical courses. The Tech Prep initiative can be considered a vocational Tech Prep initiative, but a college prep option is also associated with Tech Prep, with a foreign language requirement and no courses with the prefix "consumer" or "business" being accepted as part of the sequence. The academy model has been used as one means of supporting Tech Prep programs of study since the early years of Tech Prep implementation in this region.

In the Sunland consortium, equal percentages of Tech Prep and non-Tech Prep groups (36% each) attended two-year colleges. Fewer Tech Prep (18%) than non-Tech Prep students (35%) transitioned to a four-year university. In addition, small percentages of both groups (2% Tech Prep and 10% non-Tech Prep) had attended both two- and four-year institutions. In this region, nearly 30% of the Tech Prep group had not enrolled in any postsecondary education, compared to only 15% of the non-Tech Prep group.

Workforce Development Consortium is comprised of one community college and a recently combined school district that includes 14 high schools and a state-of-the art area vocational school. The stated goal of this Tech Prep consortium is to prepare students to live and work in a highly technological society. Serving both a large city in the Southeast and many surrounding rural areas, the Tech Prep consortium has focused on moving students beyond high school to postsecondary education and replacing the general track as a means of supporting regional economic development efforts and increasing academic rigor for all students.

All students are targeted for this Tech Prep initiative, because the local perception is that all students need both the strong academic foundation and the technical skills to be successful in today's world. Thus, all students are encouraged to design their course of study based on the recommended courses for a career path that would lead to a chosen career. The core academic degree requirements are similar to College Prep, except that a Tech Prep course of study requires students to complete four sequenced technical courses as electives. Ten different career pathways are available that connect to a wide spectrum of postsecondary career opportunities.

The site uses advanced standing credit and concurrent enrollment as the primary approaches to articulation. The site also supports a strong youth apprenticeship program that has been replicated by other sites across the country. Currently, there are 11 youth apprenticeship programs incorporated into the College Tech Prep curriculum. Each apprenticeship is based on the same core components of two years of technical coursework in high school followed by a two-year AAS program at a community college (often with a scholarship), combined with paid work experience with a sponsoring business. Each apprenticeship is registered with the state Department of Labor with specific standards and minimum qualifications outlined for a 2+2 program.

An emphasis on college preparation could be a factor in supporting transition to postsecondary education for students in this consortium. Approximately half of the students in both the Tech Prep and non-Tech Prep groups (48% and 55%, respectively) attended a four-year college or university one or two years after high school graduation, with 5% more having attended both a two-year and a four-year institution. Youth apprentices transitioned to four-year institutions at a slightly lower rate (44%) than the other two groups. However, youth apprentices (39%) and Tech Prep participants (31%) were much more likely to attend the local community college then non-Tech Prep students (17%). Slightly higher percentages of non-Tech Prep students (17%) indicated they had not enrolled in any postsecondary education of any kind than youth apprentices and Tech Prep students (13% each).

Southern Tech Prep Partnership includes 17 public school districts with a total of 18 high schools, along with a community college and a regional career center. An upper-division campus of a state university also shares the campus of the community college that is the lead agency for the partnership. Fifteen AAS degree programs are approved as Tech Prep and a number of these are supplemented by bachelors' degrees offered at state universities, including the one on the local community college campus.

The Southern Tech Prep Partnership has as its goal to prepare all youth for rewarding careers in a quality workforce. A Tech Prep student in this consortium (and state) is defined as a student in grades 9-12 who follows an approved Tech Prep high school plan of study leading to postsecondary education and training and is enrolled in courses appropriate to that plan. A postsecondary Tech Prep student is one who declares a major leading to an AAS degree that is state-approved as Tech Prep.

The primary articulation approach for Tech Prep programs is based on the 4+2 model, consisting of a high school core curriculum of grade-level or above academic courses, combined with a coherent sequence of career and technology courses of at least three and one-half credits, in addition to the AAS degree curriculum at the postsecondary level. Tech Prep occupations have been targeted by a regional quality workforce committee for the region, indicating they meet a higher standard of skill level and higher wages.

Some 4+2+2 programs have also been developed for this consortium. Dual credit, with enhanced or advanced skills curriculum, is applied for students in articulated courses, and most agreements are course-to-course articulation of technical courses. It is possible for students to earn up to 15 articulated credit hours within 24 months of study.

In this consortium, more Tech Prep students (43%) than non-Tech Prep students (37%) enrolled in two-year colleges within one to three years after high school graduation. Almost equal percentages of both groups had enrolled in both two- and four-year colleges and universities (16% Tech Prep and 18% non-Tech Prep) or in only four-year universities (17%). Slightly less than 20% of both groups had gone directly to work and not enrolled in any postsecondary education at all.

Pacific Tech Prep Consortium covers a region that is predominantly suburban, with pockets of urban populations scattered across the northern and southern parts of the county. Nineteen high schools feed into three different community colleges, all of which are part of a single community college district. The primary goal of Tech Prep at this consortium is to move students toward high-skill, high-wage careers using articulated vocational courses associated with 2+2 articulated career pathways identified as part of the state's School to Careers initiative. Dual credit and advanced placement are featured. Career academies are used in several high schools in the consortium; but, for the most part, the initiative emphasizes a vocational Tech Prep approach within a region whose high schools continue to emphasize transition to four-year universities.

Tech Prep students are identified by this site when they have completed an articulated vocational course in high school that is part of a Tech Prep program of study. Thus, the articulation component is the driving feature of this consortium. A Tech Prep course of study includes a sequence of related courses within a specific technical area such as Business and Accounting, Fashion Merchandising, Hospitality, Automotive Technology, CAD, Electronics, Computer Technology, Early Childhood Education, and Travel.

Students from the Pacific Consortium show a very high rate of enrollment in postsecondary education, as indicated by the fact that only 6% of both the Tech Prep and non-Tech Prep students did not transition to some form of postsecondary education within one to three years of high school graduation. Approximately one-half of the students in both groups went to two-year colleges. Interestingly, the Tech Prep students entered two-year colleges and four-year universities at a slightly higher rate than their non-Tech Prep counterparts.

Future of the Study

Research is currently underway at UIUC to analyze more findings from the national evaluation of Tech Prep implementation and student outcome, which will pave the way for preparation and distribution of a policy brief to be available soon. Through this analysis, we hope to better understand the role Tech Prep plays in the school-to-college and STW transition process, and to use these results to improve future policy and practice in the United States.