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

3. How Can Consortia Make Programs of Study a Meaningful Feature of Tech-Prep?

• Encouraging students to think about their future and how their education is going to prepare them for it

• Discouraging students from "grazing" among available high school vocational courses or academic electives and taking a series of unrelated, introductory courses that do not help them progress to higher skills

• Increasing students' chances of moving rapidly into advanced level classes at the postsecondary level and developing a strong grounding for their chosen career

To fulfill these objectives, however, programs of study should represent meaningful, informed choices. Before choosing among programs of study, students should be exposed to the career options they represent, likely salaries and working conditions in these occupations, and the type and amount of education the careers require. A program of study is meaningful only if it is actually used to guide course selection, at the time a student first selects it as well as in later semesters. Programs of study must also represent real alternatives; if students with diverse career interests all have the same program of study in high school--the same English, math, science, and social studies classes--the process of choosing a program of study will seem an empty exercise. Given the importance that Tech-Prep proponents place on integrating academic and occupational learning, programs of study should ideally include both academic and vocational courses, tailoring academic course choices, to the extent possible, to students' career interests. Finally, if students are to see their program of study as a plan that extends to postsecondary education, the program must clarify what specific course sequence the student would pursue in college.

Our preliminary observation of the 10 consortia in the in-depth study shows that programs of study often depart from this ideal. In some consortia, a conscious decision has been made to avoid even defining programs of study that determine students' course sequences. Sites that have defined programs of study vary along several dimensions:

• Coverage of College Level. In some sites, students choose a program of study that extends through a community college occupational program. In other sites, the programs of study encompass only high school courses.

• Degree of Emphasis on Adherence to Program. Some programs of study are treated as individualized plans that are meant to be carried out. In other sites, they are only suggestions of courses relevant to a career direction, and students' actual courses commonly deviate from the suggested sequence. Guidance counselors use programs of study in different ways. In some sites, they offer students preprinted charts showing available programs, and students consciously choose one. In other sites, counselors use defined programs of study as guides for themselves but do not review them with students.

• Comprehensiveness. Some consortia specify all academic and vocational courses for programs of study, while others include only a vocational course sequence and applied academics classes. In some sites that include applied academics courses in all defined programs of study, the only distinction may be which vocational course a student takes.

Variations in programs of study reflect consortium leaders' views of their purpose. When staff view programs as a way to encourage students to prepare for the general demands of higher education and the workplace, staff may use the programs simply to get students to take higher-level academic courses, rather than emphasizing specialized course sequences for particular occupations. When consortium and school staff are most concerned about improving student interest and achievement in academic classes, they may include applied academics courses in all students' programs and direct students into these classes. If career planning is viewed as most important, programs of study are more likely to include both secondary and postsecondary courses, to give students a clear picture of the overall sequence they will follow to a target occupation.

Two constraints have made it necessary for consortia to choose among these possible priorities:

• Sensitivity About Tracking. Defining a sequence of courses related to a target occupation can evoke concerns about tracking among school personnel and parents. In some consortia, counselors have feared that Tech-Prep might be an inferior track that forecloses educational or career options, and they therefore put little priority on resolving scheduling problems so students can adhere to a program of study.

• Lack of Resources. Small or financially strapped districts have difficulty offering variety in vocational or academic courses, and are thus unable to create clearly differentiated programs of study. Even if programs of study are distinct, districts may be able to offer so few sections of some key classes that scheduling difficulties prevent many students from following their program. These scheduling problems are likely to be particularly difficult for consortia that see Tech-Prep as affecting all or most high school students, rather than a small group taking programs centered on occupational courses.

The in-depth study sites offer examples of several approaches or concepts for overcoming these constraints:

• Compensating for lack of in-school variations in course offerings by emphasizing workplace experiences related to students' career interests

• Busing students from small or rural districts to a consortium college for intensive summer programs relating to their career interests

• Developing some programs of study only in certain schools, and busing interested students to these "magnet" programs

• Combating negative impressions of Tech-Prep by providing students, parents, and counselors with explicit charts depicting both secondary and postsecondary components of programs of study, underscoring that Tech-Prep is designed to lead to higher education

[2. How Central Is Articulation to Tech-Prep Development?]

[4. What Are the Implications of Alternative Strategies for Introducing Applied Academics?]