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

The Occupational Emphasis of Tech-Prep Programs

A key component of the Tech-Prep model is a coherent sequence of courses designed to give students both the general and specialized skills necessary for entry into an identified career area. Ideally, these sequences include both vocational and academic courses to form a program of study that will prepare a student for a particular occupation. Choosing a program of study differs from choosing a traditional vocational course, because the selection of a program of study affects both academic and vocational courses. Broad career clusters--groupings of programs of study that prepare students for related occupations--can be used to frame students' initial options among general career directions, as a first step towards focusing on a particular occupation.

The content of the Perkins legislation (particularly Title IIIE) affirms the potential benefits of a program of study with an occupational theme. The legislation stipulates that Tech-Prep students should receive technical preparation in at least one of several broad fields (such as engineering technology, agriculture, health, or business), and that they do so as part of a program that promotes competence in both technical and academic areas.

The national survey included several questions to determine the extent of the occupational focus of Tech-Prep programs. Each consortium was asked in how many of its member districts broad occupational/career clusters had been defined and used to guide Tech-Prep students' course choices. The coordinators were then asked to identify the career clusters, and to report enrollments in the different clusters as of fall 1993.

Most Tech-Prep consortia report using career clusters, but understanding of the concept varies widely

Most consortia define career clusters. By fall 1993, clusters had been defined in at least one district in about two-thirds of the consortia (470 of 702). Fewer consortia make the choice of a career cluster part of the Tech-Prep experience, however. Only 229 of the 470 consortia make the choice of a broad career area a standard step in the core Tech-Prep program. Forty-seven consortia that make career clusters available to Tech-Prep students do not require that students select one.1 Where career clusters exist but choosing one is not required, students generally choose a specific vocational program for a particular occupation, rather than first making a choice of a broader group of occupations. In these consortia, career clusters are more likely to serve as convenient categories for forming curriculum committees and for marketing programs, even if they are not prominent in students' decision-making.

It appears from the survey responses that understandings of the concept of a career cluster vary widely across consortia. The survey attempted to determine whether consortia had defined groupings or clusters of related occupations that could help build students' understanding of broad career areas. Counselors might use career clusters as a basis for guidance presentations, even if students only make choices among more specifically defined occupational programs. Alternatively, students might be expected to choose among broad career clusters as a basis for initial academic and vocational course planning, and then choose a more specific occupational program of study at a later point. About 20 percent of the survey respondents, rather than using the broad labels suggested in the questionnaire to describe their career clusters, wrote in quite specific cluster titles--such as building construction, child care, broadcasting, computer-assisted design, and occupational home economics. Such responses suggest that even many of the consortia that say they use broad career clusters are actually referring to specific occupational programs. These narrower occupational titles may in some cases refer to programs of study that specify both academic and vocational courses in an articulated program, or may in other cases refer simply to traditional vocational courses.

Career areas are most commonly defined in business, engineering/technology, and health and human services

Tech-Prep consortia most commonly defined a career cluster relating to business, office skills, and marketing (Figure VII.1). More than 90 percent of the consortia with career clusters have defined a cluster that includes these occupations. This broad cluster also had the largest enrollments, with more than 90,000 Tech-Prep students during fall 1993--or 42 percent of all students reported by career cluster. 

                                FIGURE VII.1      PERCENTAGE OF CONSORTIA WITH SPECIFIED CAREER CLUSTERS AND NUMBER          OF STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN THESE CLUSTERS, FALL 1993                          PERCENTAGE OF CONSORTIA     OCCUPATIONAL AREA           Agriculture ======================>44%     Bus./Office/Mkting ============================================>90%      Engin./Technical ======================================>77%  Health/Hum. Services =======================================>80%      Mech./Industrial ================================>62%       Arts/Humanities ==>7%                      +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+                      0         20        40        60        80        100                                          Percentage                                   NUMBER OF STUDENTS     OCCUPATIONAL AREA           Agriculture =========>18,895     Bus./Office/Mkting ===========================================>90,667      Engin./Technical ===============>31,820  Health/Hum. Services ====================>40,355      Mech./Industrial ===============>30,725       Arts/Humanities =>1,083                      +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+                      0         20        40        60        80        100                                       (Thousands of students)  SOURCE: Inventory of Local Tech-Prep Planning and Implementation, Fall 1993

Defined clusters in engineering/technology and health and human services were also common. Although these clusters were almost as widely available among consortia as the business-related cluster, participation in them was lower. Engineering/technology and health and human services each accounted for less than half as many Tech-Prep students as were reported in the business, office skills, and marketing cluster. Participation in engineering/technology accounted for 15 percent of all student enrollment by cluster, and health and human services accounted for 19 percent.

An arts and humanities cluster has been established in a small number of consortia

Some consortia have gone beyond traditional vocational offerings as a basis for forming career clusters. Thirty-three consortia have defined a cluster that focuses on careers in the fine arts and humanities, deviating from the technology emphasis promoted by the Tech-Prep Education Act (Figure VII.1). These consortia represent only 7 percent of consortia with career clusters, and the cluster has enrolled only about 1,000 students overall.

Evidence from the in-depth studies, Tech-Prep literature, and the national survey suggests that schools that offer a liberal arts cluster such as "fine arts and humanities" provide a comprehensive set of clusters, and require all students to choose a cluster at some point during their secondary school experience. Consortia that have developed a liberal arts cluster offer a greater number of clusters than do other consortia. Whereas other common career clusters encompass many of the vocational courses that already exist in secondary schools, arts and humanities clusters must devise an occupational focus. These clusters tend to lack both a technology emphasis and a vocational component. Instead, they rely on electives in public speaking, art, music, journalism, and performance to develop competencies that may be relevant in students' future careers.

The occupational emphasis of Tech-Prep generally follows patterns of vocational course taking

We compared the reported participation of Tech-Prep students in career clusters to recent data from the National Assessment of Vocational Education on the percentage of students earning credits in various vocational program areas in 1990 (NAVE 1994). The comparison suggests that, in many ways, participation of Tech-Prep students in career clusters reflects the distribution of students in vocational program areas--but with some differences.

Overall patterns of participation are similar. The highest proportion of both Tech-Prep students and of vocational students overall were enrolled in the business area, and relatively few in both groups were enrolled in agriculture programs. Relative to the general student population, however, Tech-Prep students are more concentrated in health and human service-oriented programs (including home economics) and less concentrated in the mechanical, industrial, and practical trades (which are comparable to trade and industry vocational courses).2 However, the NAVE also reports that more recent data suggest that overall student enrollments in health courses have been increasing.

1 The remainder of the 470 consortia (194) that make clusters available did not report core programs. Another 47 reported including career cluster choice as an element of the core program but also reported that none of their districts currently make clusters available. This contradiction probably indicates that some coordinators reported core programs that were "objectives," rather than established Tech-Prep program components.

2 This difference may be partially explained by the fact that the NAVE data represent student enrollments at least two years behind those described by the national Tech-Prep data.
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