Knowing how to identify and follow-up on the progress of students who participate in Tech Prep can be challenging. To improve this process, the state has facilitated numerous discussions with local consortium leaders to determine how best to identify and monitor student progress. Over time, lessons have been learned and improvements have been made in monitoring student participation and assessing student outcomes. Even so, difficulties remain. A lack of a common understanding of Tech Prep's purpose, target population, and essential elements continues to complicate implementation. Limited availability of information and materials makes follow-up and reporting of student progress complex and time consuming. Even more complex is the process of assessing student outcomes because it requires unambiguous definitions and approaches to student identification if accurate statements of impact are to be made.

In the spirit of continuous improvement, this compendium has been prepared for the state of Illinois to serve as a resource for exploring options for defining, identifying, and following up on the progress of students who participate in Tech Prep initiatives at the secondary and postsecondary levels. To accomplish this goal, the compendium is presented in sections that parallel the fundamental processes that local consortia may use to identify, monitor, and report student progress:

Defining a Tech Prep student.
Strategies for identifying and following Tech Prep students.
Examples of State and Local Identification and Reporting
Managing student records across educational levels.
Using student data for evaluation and assessment.

Where possible, copies of actual documents used by local consortia in Illinois and other states are provided. Materials from Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Washington, West Virginia and several others are included, along with information from local consortia in these states.

Our goal in creating this compendium is to draw upon what is known to work in our state and in other states and localities in an effort to support educators engaged in Tech Prep implementation. By gaining access to information and materials, Illinois' consortia can position themselves to incorporate meaningful policies and practices on student identification and reporting. When this is done, local consortia will be better prepared to evaluate accomplishments and produce useful information on effectiveness. They can communicate more convincingly the ways in which Tech Prep is impacting student learning and life experiences. And stakeholders on all levels - local, state, and federal - will be able to see the potential of the Tech Prep model and understand how it benefits students.

If you would rather like to read this Tech Prep compendium as a PDF document, click here.