![[Table of Contents]](/icons/up.gif){kind=icon}
The Dayton area is in a general economic downswing, but strong demand for some technical skills remains. Several large firms have recently left the area or cut their work forces. NCR, a prominent Dayton employer in the 1980s, has been acquired by AT&T, and has moved its manufacturing operation out of the area, leaving only its headquarters office in Dayton. General Motors has cut employment in the area to a third of its peak payroll. However, the number of job openings is actually growing in two fields that were an early focus for Tech-Prep development: (1) electronic engineering technology; and (2) manufacturing technology. Despite numerous local layoffs in manufacturing, the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services projects annual demand in the Dayton area for 62 new electronics technicians and 77 new tool and die makers. These projections are corroborated by recent SCC placements. SCC has a three-year placement rate of 80 percent for graduates of its electrical engineering technology program and an eight-year record of 100 percent placement for graduates of its manufacturing technology program.
Tech-Prep's emphasis on competencies is consistent with the key principles of recent state-level education reforms. Under a statewide mandate emphasizing educational outcomes in language arts and mathematics, students now take achievement tests in grades 4, 6, and 9, and competency tests in grades 9 and 12. They must also pass the ninth-grade competency test to graduate from high school. The emerging Miami Valley Tech-Prep program's emphasis on identifying, teaching, and measuring occupationally relevant competencies has attracted the attention of area educators eager to realize the principles of these state reforms.
Program development in the Miami Valley consortium is also heavily influenced by the way state staff have defined Tech-Prep and its relation to vocational education. Vocational education will continue to serve secondary students who want to enter a specific occupation, such as welding, immediately after high school. Tech-Prep, in contrast, is viewed as a more broadly defined technology program for high school students interested in postsecondary education, including but potentially extending beyond two-year degree programs. Tech-Prep is thus being defined at the state and local levels as a relatively selective program that, compared with vocational education, will pose greater academic demands, particularly in mathematics and science, and provide a comprehensive technical foundation rather than mastery of particular technical skills.
Full implementation of Tech-Prep as planned will build on articulation agreements already in place between SCC and some of the consortium high schools. Beginning in the late 1980s, some schools reached agreements with the college that allowed college credit to be granted for completion of existing occupational courses at the high school level or attainment of satisfactory scores on college placement or "challenge" exams. These agreements shortened the time required for students to obtain an associate's degree. After considerable debate, the consortium's leadership decided to strive instead to incorporate an "enhanced skills" model of articulation in the Tech-Prep program. They encountered some initial resistance; small manufacturers in the Dayton Tool Machine Association agreed that students needed to be well-grounded in math, science, grammar, teamwork habits, and communications skills, but they doubted their ability to afford the higher wages that graduates of a program stressing advanced technical skills would demand. This skepticism was successfully countered, however, by some executives of local manufacturing research firms who preferred to hire college graduates, even for shop floor positions, because of their superior problem-solving skills.
Implementing the enhanced skills model involves modifying the concept of articulation. Revised articulation agreements will be developed to allow Tech-Prep students to earn credit in high school toward an enhanced skills or honors diploma at SCC. This program will require that they take more advanced college course material than non-Tech-Prep students. Plans are also being made for the enhanced skills program at the college to include 12 credits earned in work-site training. However, the details of these changes in articulation and postsecondary programs must still be defined, as must the pace at which articulation changes will be adopted by the consortium's remaining high schools.
Students who are selected for Tech-Prep after 10th grade attend a two-year, full-day program at one of the joint vocational centers for 11th and 12th grades. In school year 1993-1994, the MCJVC offered programs in both electronic engineering technology and manufacturing technology, while the GCCC offered only the manufacturing technology program. Regular vocational students also attend both academic and vocational classes at the technical centers, but Tech-Prep students take more demanding academic classes. They attend college-prep level academic classes in the morning, and two periods of occupational class in the afternoon. They will be required to take some applied academics classes, but the strategy for incorporating applied curricula into their program is still taking shape.
Local educators and employers have developed the technical courses that Tech-Prep students take in 11th and 12th grades to provide a broad introduction to various technical skills relevant to the students' chosen occupational area. In manufacturing technology, for example, students take drafting their first semester in 11th grade. They then rotate during the next three semesters through segments in welding, electronics, plastics, machines and motor controls, and hydraulics. This program is quite different from a regular vocational program, in which students would, for example, focus on only one more narrowly defined occupation.
The overall program of study that students choose consists of the revised secondary program and the existing SCC associate's degree program. The manufacturing technology program, for example, can lead them at the college level to programs in electromechanical engineering and robotics, computer-integrated manufacturing, advanced tool and die making, metalworking, CAD/CAM, and quality control. Although students are given extensive information about the postsecondary program options to which their high school Tech-Prep program can lead, the choice they make when they enter Tech-Prep in 11th grade focuses primarily on their two-year secondary program.
The coming years will bring a broader array of technical career areas into the Tech-Prep program in the Miami Valley consortium. Programs in health occupations and automotive technology are being developed and are expected to begin enrolling students in school year 1994-1995.
Although the concept is only partially realized, consortium leaders are planning an interdisciplinary academic curriculum. GCCC has taken a step toward this goal by forming a team consisting of four teachers--in math, science, English, and employability skills--to work with the manufacturing technology students each morning.
Some changes are being planned, or are in the early stages of implementation, to make material more relevant to students' technical direction and to provide greater opportunities for hands-on learning. In fall 1993, plans had been made to acquire applied academics curricula, such as Principles of Technology, Applied Math, and Applied Communications. Efforts were also under way to revise math and science classes to show relationships between academic concepts and vocational applications; these efforts included selection of textbooks with occupationally relevant applications. One GCCC student, for example, pointed out that the mathematics textbook he was using included exercises involving machining diagrams.
The consortium has also created greater opportunities for cooperation between academic and occupational instructors. Students stay in the same classroom area all morning, and their academic instructors rotate through the classroom. The occupational instructors sometimes join the math teacher. Between the teaming of academic teachers and the additional attention from the occupational instructor, students often find themselves with two or even three instructors in their math class at a time. Students report that this situation allows them to receive valuable individual attention.
Development of the new technical course curricula has been a major joint effort involving both educators and industry representatives. The manufacturing technology curriculum is being designed in cooperation with the Ohio Tooling and Machining Association (OTMA), which will be working to replicate it in other Ohio cities after the Miami Valley consortium demonstrates its utility. Consortium staff first asked industry practitioners from OTMA and the Tech-Prep advisory council to develop a list of academic, occupational, and employability competencies that would be expected of entry-level employees who had completed high school or community college programs. Secondary and postsecondary representatives on the curriculum development committee then determined which of these competencies should be mastered at the secondary and postsecondary levels. On the basis of these competency lists, high school and college staff are defining course objectives together, making decisions to purchase some commercially available applied curricula, and building lesson plans for the academic and occupational classes to be taught in 11th and 12th grades, emphasizing contextual material and instructional approaches. A similar process was used to develop the academic and occupational curricula for students in electronic engineering technology.
The program for Tech-Prep students at the secondary level is expected to incorporate hands-on projects and workplace experience. In school year 1993-1994, all Tech-Prep students were expected to take part in a project at their school involving cooperation among several occupational disciplines (some that are considered part of Tech-Prep and others that are part of the vocational education program). Plans were also being made for students to take part in a project based at an industry site in 1994-1995. However, the details of these activities had not yet been defined as of fall 1993.
Although postsecondary administrators and instructors have had substantial involvement in developing the Tech-Prep curricula for the secondary level, there was no evidence yet in fall 1993 of changes in postsecondary curriculum. Community college instructors in several specialty areas that might attract Tech-Prep students pointed out that existing college curricula have been developed to meet industrial standards. Changing these curricula, they believed, would decrease students' chances of achieving industry certification. Other instructors, however, favored the idea of revising programs to teach more advanced skills to college students, if they receive strong preparation in high school, and were planning for implementation in 1994 of some new advanced skill courses.
Consortium staff laid a foundation for student recruiting by assessing parent attitudes. In 1993, they employed a market research firm to conduct two focus groups with parents to determine their attitudes about school, vocational education, and work preparation. The major finding of this study was that parents would support technical education for their high-school-age children only if it did not reduce their chances of attending college. This finding had an important influence on the decision to concentrate on making Tech-Prep a rigorous, high-skill program with a clear focus on preparation for postsecondary study.
To realize this vision of a high-skill program, staff then developed a description of likely student candidates for Tech-Prep. Staff distributed this description to counselors and teachers in the GCCC feeder schools and discussed it with them. This profile specified that potential Tech-Prep students should be interested in postsecondary education, have at least average ability in mathematics, have completed algebra I, prefer a hands-on approach to instruction, be interested in science, and have some mechanical aptitude. The profile also specified that students must have passed the Ohio ninth-grade math competency test to enter Tech-Prep, in order to minimize the need for remediation of basic skills. However, it omitted any requirements pertaining to grade point average in order to avoid excluding students with appropriate aptitude, motivation, and ability to master technical competencies, who may have performed poorly in standard academic classes.
Teachers and counselors at the 34 schools served by the two technical centers then nominated students they thought would be well suited to the Tech-Prep program. Counselors also reviewed the career plans of potential nominees. They interviewed likely candidates to tell them about the program design--explaining that the program involved two years of college after high school, emphasized hands-on instruction, and involved job shadowing, part-time jobs, and a technical curriculum combining skills from several occupations. On the basis of a review of students' records and these interviews, each school was asked to nominate five students in the early spring of 1993.
Consortium staff then held "Tech-Prep awareness days" for students and parents to promote interest among the nominated students. In April and May, separate full-day programs running from 8:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. were held for students nominated for the electronic engineering program or the manufacturing technology program. Prospective teachers welcomed students at the joint vocational centers and gave tours of the Tech-Prep labs. Students then toured local worksites in the target industries and visited SCC to meet instructors, tour the college labs, and take part in a general question-and-answer period. About 150 Tech-Prep nominees participated in these promotional sessions and could then apply for Tech-Prep and sign up for a four-day summer orientation.
A total of 51 of these students participated in the intensive summer orientation program, which was designed to maintain their interest in and excitement about Tech-Prep and to build a spirit of identification with the program. The orientation included a variety of activities. Employer representatives spoke to students, and students visited worksites. One company produced a video of students and school staff touring its plant with plant supervisors and union members. Students spent a day and a half at the community college, doing small lab projects and taking a college admissions test to identify areas in which their skills required reinforcement and to qualify as a community college student during their high school years. They spent a half day at the University of Dayton, a day in job shadowing at one of 11 participating companies, and a day in the MCJVC labs. A dinner was held for students and parents, followed by bowling and other recreation. All of the 51 students who attended this orientation enrolled in Tech-Prep in the fall--12 at GCCC and 17 at JVC in manufacturing technology, and 22 in the MCJVC electronics engineering program. This intensive and thorough approach to recruiting students and building program identification appears to have had some of the desired effects. Students who took part in fall 1993 focus groups seemed pleased with their status as Tech-Prep students, spoke with conviction of the benefits they expect from the program, and voiced their appreciation of the program's high expectations and the attention they were receiving.
Some effort has reportedly been made to promote participation in Tech-Prep among females, minority students, and economically disadvantaged students, but the success of these efforts is not yet clear. A college faculty member working under a separate grant to attract women into engineering met with some 10th-grade female students at the two joint vocational centers. In the first year, however, there were only three or four women in the Tech-Prep electronics program and one in manufacturing technology. The population served in the consortium schools is primarily white, and the same is true of the students participating in Tech-Prep.
Once students enter the Tech-Prep program, staff emphasize the development of general employability skills as a key part of career development. The employability teacher grades each student every day on attendance, performance, participation, cooperation, dependability, appropriate dress, and preparation of tools, discussing problems with students daily. One day a week, students are expected to dress as if they were working as engineers or other professional or skilled workers; for male students this means wearing a tie, for example. Although students at first felt uncomfortable dressing up, focus groups revealed that at least some now feel that this practice distinguishes them in a positive way as Tech-Prep students, and helps them get accustomed to thinking of themselves as future professionals.
The consortium's executive committee monitors overall progress of Tech-Prep implementation and expenditures. The committee includes the presidents of SCC and Miami Jacobs College, as well as the superintendents of the seven actively participating school districts. The SCC president has a particularly appropriate background for this leadership role: as a former district superintendent and chairman elect of the board of the Center for Occupational Research and Development, he is well aware of the implementation challenges facing secondary schools, as well as the latest approaches to integrating academic and vocational education.
The advisory council, which meets three times each year, was formed to help with consortiumwide program planning. Its 30 members include the college deans, as well as representatives from each of the seven vocational education planning districts, the University of Dayton, business, industry, labor groups, and the community at large. The council deals primarily with marketing strategies, staff training, program evaluation, and the consortium budget.
A program steering committee has been formed for each of the two technical areas included in Tech-Prep in 1993-1994: (1) electronics engineering; and (2) manufacturing technology. Each committee includes the relevant departmental chair from SCC, a vocational education supervisor from each joint vocational center, academic and vocational instructors, and industry representatives. These committees are responsible for overall program implementation--developing curricula, recruiting, assessing students, and integrating academic skills instruction in vocational education.
Functional or standing committees address consortiumwide implementation concerns. Committees have been formed to deal with staff development, marketing, evaluation and maintenance of student tracking data, evaluation of equipment requests, and development of pre-Tech-Prep curricula. Committee members are drawn from members of the advisory council and other appointed representatives from the consortium.
The Miami Valley consortium is combining funding from several sources to maintain progress on its overall plan. For the three years beginning with school year 1991-1992, it received a total of $525,000 in Title IIIE funding, including $132,000 for 1993-1994. A school-to-work transition grant from the state of Ohio has been received to support implementation of the automotive technology cluster. Additional Tech-Prep funding from the state of Ohio is expected to support implementation of the health occupations cluster. Further development of Tech-Prep thus seems likely, even after Title IIIE funding ends.
-###-
[III. Dothan, Alabama]