ED.gov

A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Building School-to-work Systems
on a Tech-prep Foundation (1996)
The Status of School-to-Work Features in Tech-Prep Initiatives
Analysis and Highlights

The report, Building School-to-Work Systems on a Tech-Prep Foundation, is one of a series prepared by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (MPR) as part of the national evaluation of Tech-Prep for the Department of Education. This report assesses the implementation status of key school-to-work features in Tech-Prep communities in 1994, using data from annual surveys of Tech-Prep consortia.

Data from the Tech-Prep surveys are particularly relevant for assessing early national school-to-work progress because they illustrate reform activity in a substantial number of communities around the country. High response rates to the Tech-Prep surveys in both 1993 and 1994, and the significant "coverage" of consortia, which provide a credible, national picture of school-to-work implementation within the Tech-Prep framework

Study Findings

Several findings can be drawn from the survey data about the extent to which Tech-Prep communities were developing school-to-work components in 1994, how implementation had expanded since 1993, and the types of approaches consortia used. Study findings should be viewed in a positive but cautious light. A summary of the most salient study findings is presented below:

Tech-Prep programs of study may help facilitate the creation of career major options in school-to-work systems. Tech-Prep programs of study could conceivably be the basis for expanding into systems of well-defined career majors, if they are widely implemented as coherent course sequences focused on broad industry or occupational clusters. These programs of study are common but definitions vary widely.
Industry-recognized skill certificates, as encouraged under the School-to-Work Opportunities Act, have so far not been widely adopted. Certificates Tech-Prep consortia award may be associated with traditional vocational education completion rather than with more comprehensive work-based learning programs, in which employer assessment and input are considered critical.
Access to workplace experiences has increased. A higher proportion of consortia made workplace activities available for Tech-Prep students in 1994 (72 percent) than in 1993 (63 percent).
Only a small fraction of Tech-Prep students are so far involved in any workplace activity. Participation in visits to work sites is the most common. The largest group of Tech-prep students (14 percent) were involved in visits to employer work sites. Fewer than five percent of Tech-Prep students had summer or school-year jobs related to their school-based occupational program.
Few Tech-Prep communities received STWOA grants for school-to-work system development in 1994. A total of 191 consortia--22 percent of all consortia--reported receiving a STWOA grant by January 1995 that covered all or some of their member districts.
Consortia with first year STWOA funds were more likely to be implementing key school-to-work and Tech-Prep components than other consortia. Consortia that received early STWOA grants covering at least some of their member districts were more advanced than other consortia. These 191 consortia were more likely to make available career-focused programs of study, academic curricula emphasizing applied learning, articulation agreements, and particularly skill certificate and workplace experiences.

For more information please write the Planning and Evaluation Service, Office of the Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Room 3127, Washington, DC 20202-8240.

-###-