The Continuing Development
of Local Tech-Prep Initiatives (1996)
Analysis and Highlights
The report, The Continuing Development of Local Tech-Prep Initiatives , 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 describes the status of Tech-Prep implementation in 1994 and documents changes in implementation since 1993, based on the first two waves of longitudinal data collected from local Tech-Prep consortia. It builds upon an earlier, more comprehensive report on the status of Tech-Prep development in 1993.
This report draws on two major data sources. Information on local Tech-Prep implementation came from survey questionnaires administered to consortium coordinators in fall 1993 and again in fall 1994--The Inventory of Local Tech-Prep Planning and Implementation. Some background information--specifically, data on secondary district enrollments--was obtained from data files compiled by the Department's National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES).
Study Findings
The analyses presented in this report yield many findings about the development of Tech-Prep nationwide. These findings document the considerable progress Tech-Prep consortia have made in planning and implementing their initiatives and some of the continuing challenges they face. A summary of the most salient study findings is presented below:
- Tech-Prep expansion has been substantial. Almost 140 new consortia were formed and awarded their first Title IIIE grants in FY 1994, bringing the total number of Tech-Prep consortia to 953 nationwide. The new consortia represent a nearly 20 percent increase over the 812 consortia identified in FY 1993. Tech-Prep consortia include a large and growing proportion of all U.S. school districts. The 6,594 districts that were members of consortia responding to the survey in 1994 represented 58 percent of the approximately 11,000 secondary districts in the United States.
- More consortium have adopted a defined core program for Tech-Prep in at least some of their member schools. In 1994, nearly 70 percent of consortia had defined a core program such as articulation, integration of academic and vocational education, course sequencing, career development and guidance, and staff development, in at least one member district, compared to 63 percent of consortia in 1993.
- Tech-Prep consortia made progress towards implementing a school-to-work model. Between 1993 and 1994, Tech-Prep consortia incorporated key school-to-work elements, perhaps as a result of the stimulus provided by the passage of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act (STWOA) in May 1994. Consortia are moving towards organizing Tech-Prep courses and activities around occupational clusters to help guide students' choice of academic and vocational courses. Students participating in Tech-Prep are able to choose from a range of occupational programs including business, marketing, engineering/technology, and health and human services. In addition, consortium interest in offering workplace experiences to Tech-Prep students has been growing.
- Reporting on students increased significantly, but still remains a challenge. Consortia are increasingly able to document the numbers of students participating and achieving key outcomes. In 1994, 83 percent of survey respondents were able to report a definition of Tech-Prep participation, and 53 percent reported actual counts of Tech-Prep students. In contrast, only 7 percent of respondents reported definitions, and 36 percent reported counts of students in 1993.
Also in 1994, higher proportions of consortia were able to document numbers of Tech-Prep students who graduated from high school, entered a postsecondary program, or took jobs after graduation. However, in 1994, almost half of Tech-Prep consortia--and more than 30 percent of those in their third year of funding--could not document how many students were participating in Tech-Prep.
Moreover, the ability to track outcomes lags even further behind reports of participation. For example, of the nearly 450 consortia that reported 12th grade Tech-Prep enrollments, nearly half could not report on how many of these students had graduated from high school.
- Tech-Prep students represent a small but growing share of students in their consortium districts. More than 432,000 students were reported to have participated in Tech-Prep programs during the 1993-1994 school year. This total represent a 150 percent increase in the reported level of participation over the previous school year. It is noted that some consortia count students enrolled in a planned sequence of academic and vocational courses as Tech-Prep participants while other consortia count any student enrolled in a single articulated or applied course as a Tech-Prep student.
While Tech-Prep consortia appear to have enrolled a greater proportion of the total secondary student population in 1994 than in 1993, Tech-Prep students still represent only a fraction of all high school students. Across consortia that reported participation nationwide in 1994, Tech-Prep students represented about seven percent of all secondary students in their member districts.
- Tech-Prep consortia are beginning to see some results. In 1994, Tech-Prep consortia reported substantially higher numbers of Tech-Prep students graduating from high school than in the previous year. More than 43,000 Tech-Prep students in 238 consortia reportedly graduated from high school in spring 1994, compared to close to 12,000 students reported by 94 consortia the previous year.
Reported levels of postsecondary enrollments also grew. About 150 consortia reported more than 14,000 students enrolled in postsecondary education or training in fall 1994; only 62 consortia were able to report on postsecondary entry in fall 1993 and they reported about 3,600 Tech-Prep students in these activities.
These reported increases in graduates and postsecondary enrollments reflect several factors. Larger numbers of student were undoubtedly moving through Tech-Prep programs as consortia became more organized and expanded their operational capacity. Also, some consortia had been operating prior to implementation of Title III-E, and consequently, were more established. However, some portion of the reported increase is due solely to consortia's improved ability to track student progress. Thus, computed growth rates are likely to overestimate the true increase in these outcomes.
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Last modified -- September 15, 1998 (lyp)