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

The Emergence of Tech-Prep at the State and Local Levels - 1995

Geographic Location and Size Of Tech-Prep Consortia

Both the urbanicity and size of consortia are likely to have an impact on some aspects of Tech-Prep development. Urban consortia may serve Tech-Prep students with different needs and interests than those of students in suburban or rural areas. Relative to larger consortia that involve many districts and postsecondary institutions, smaller consortia may find it easier to develop close working relationships among members.

Urban districts are most likely to be involved in Tech-Prep

Compared with suburban or rural districts, a substantially higher percentage of urban districts are included in Tech-Prep consortia.3 Of all secondary districts classified as urban, 69 percent belong to Tech-Prep consortia, based on survey responses. Approximately 47 percent of suburban school districts and 40 percent of rural districts are members of a Tech-Prep consortium.4

Relatively few consortia are located primarily within urban areas

About half of the FY 1993 consortia (46 percent) were located primarily in suburban locales. Another 42 percent of consortia were found in rural areas. Consortia located primarily in urban communities represented only 12 percent of all FY 1993 funded consortia (Figure III.2).5 

                                 FIGURE III-2                   Metropolitan Status of Tech-Prep Consortia  MSA, Noncentral City =========================================> 46%           (Suburban)     MSA, Central City ===========> 12%              (Urban)               Non-MSA ======================================> 42%              (Rural)                      +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+                      0        10       20       30       40       50                                          Percent  SOURCE: Inventory of Local Tech-Prep Planning and Implementation,         Fall 1993

These figures might appear to conflict with the finding that urban districts are more likely than suburban or rural districts to participate in Tech-Prep. However, the two statistics address different questions. The first answers the question, "What percentage of urban districts are involved in Tech-Prep?" The second answers, "Of the FY 1993 funded Tech-Prep consortia, what percentage are urban?" Because urban areas have many fewer districts relative to suburban or rural areas, they will still be underrepresented in comparisons involving all consortia, even if urban districts are more likely to become involved in Tech-Prep.

The most common consortium configuration is one district and one postsecondary institution

The size of FY 1993 consortia--defined in this chapter as the number of secondary districts and postsecondary institutions--varied considerably (Table III.2). In the most common pattern--observed in about 15 percent of all cases--the consortium includes one secondary school district and one postsecondary institution, almost always a community, junior, or technical college.6 Approximately 13 percent of consortia included between 5 and 10 secondary districts and 1 postsecondary institution.

TABLE III.
Consortium Sizes And Configurations
Number of Postsecondary Institutionsa
Number of Secondary Districts 1 2 3 4 5-10 >10 Total
1 103 41 23 19 12 1 201
2 30 11 3 1 5 2 52
3 23 6 7 3 7 0 46
4 25 8 4 2 1 1 41
5-10 88 39 29 9 24 3 193
11-20 39 24 15 10 10 5 104
21+ 14 13 6 6 21 4 65
Total 322 142 87 50 80 16 702
SOURCE: Inventory of Local Tech-Prep Planning and Implementation, fall 1993.

aIncludes community and technical colleges, four-year colleges and universities, proprietary schools, and registered apprenticeship programs.

Most consortia include one or two postsecondary partners

More than 300 of the 702 FY 1993 consortia (46 percent) included only one postsecondary institution Table III.2). Another 20 percent included two postsecondary institutions. Only 96 consortia, or 12 percent, had five or more postsecondary institutions as members.

Many consortia include a large number of secondary districts

At the time of the fall 1993 surveys, about half of the consortia included five or more secondary school districts as consortium members (Table III.2). Although the most common size grouping of secondary and postsecondary partners is that of one school district and one community college, consortia with one secondary school district represented only 28 percent of all FY 1993 consortia.

It is important to note that, although many consortia reported having a large number of districts as members, these districts are likely to be at varying stages of Tech-Prep program development. The survey data reported in later chapters indicate that many consortia are still in a pilot phase, in which some components have been implemented in a limited number of member districts or schools.

The size of consortia varies by census regions, state, and urbanicity

Consortia in the Midwest are likely to be quite large; in fall 1993, almost 30 percent had more than 25 high schools, vocational centers, and postsecondary institutions, compared with only 7 to 12 percent for consortia in other regions. The South has the highest proportion of small consortia (those with fewer than five secondary and postsecondary institutions).

Large consortia are concentrated in a few states. California, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and, particularly, Texas, have consortia with large numbers of both secondary districts and postsecondary institutions. A significant proportion of consortia in Maine and Missouri are also relatively large; 4 of 6 consortia in Maine and 6 of 12 in Missouri reported having more than 20 school districts as consortium members. The concentration of large consortia in some states probably reflects state decisions about how to organize Tech-Prep initiatives statewide.

Suburban consortia are larger than either urban or rural consortia. Twenty-one percent of suburban consortia have more than 25 secondary and postsecondary institutions, compared with only 9 percent of consortia in urban areas, and 7 percent in rural areas. Rural consortia are the smallest (Figure III.3). 

                               FIGURE III.3            SIZE OF TECH-PREP CONSORTIA, BY METROPOLITAN AREA                                   URBAN        No. of Institutions          2-5 ------------>27%         6-10 ------------->29%        11-25 --------------->34%                                26-50 --->7%                     51+ ->2%             +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+             0        20       40       60       80       100                           PERCENTAGE OF CONSORTIA   -------------------------------------------------------------------------                                  SUBURBAN        No. of Institutions          2-5 ------->14%         6-10 --------->20%        11-25 --------------------->45%                                26-50 ------>16%                     51+ -->5%             +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+             0        20       40       60       80       100                           PERCENTAGE OF CONSORTIA    -------------------------------------------------------------------------                                    RURAL        No. of Institutions          2-5 ------------>29%         6-10 ------------->31%        11-25 -------------->33%                                26-50 --->7%                     51+ 0%             +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+             0        20       40       60       80       100                           PERCENTAGE OF CONSORTIA

3 Urbanicity eas determined on the basis of the standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) code classification available in the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data obtained from ED-INFO. Each secondary district in the ED-INFO database had a designated metropolitan status code based on the MSA codes. In this report, we refer to central city MSA districts as urban districts, to non-central city MSA districts as suburban districts, and to non-MSA districts as rural districts.

4 These numbers confirm recent estimates of distict participation in Tech-Prep, as reported by the National Assessment of Vocational Education (NAVE) (1994)

5 Estimates of consortium urbanicity may contain some imprecision, because many consortia include secondary school districts that span urban, suburban, and rural areas. As noted in footnote 3, consortia were designated as urban, suburban, or rural on the basis of the NCES metropolitan status code reported in the ED-INFO data. In consortia with multiple districts, we derived a "mean urbanicity code" by weighting each district's metropolitan status code by its total secondary enrollment.

6 In this context, postsecondary institutions include community, junior, and technical colleges: four-year colleges and universities; proprietary schools; and registered apprenticeship programs.
-###-

[Regional And State Distribution Of Tech-Prep Consortia] [Table of Contents] [Potential Student Involvement in Tech-Prep]