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

Employment

Helping students to obtain career-oriented, self-sustaining jobs is the ultimate objective of Tech-Prep. However, paths to employment are varied. Some students enter the workforce only after completing an associate degree, whereas some work and pursue postsecondary education concurrently. Others complete their education after high school and enter employment directly after graduation.

The national survey collected information on several aspects of employment reporting, focusing specifically on jobs in occupational fields related to students' Tech-Prep program of study. First, we asked in the survey whether consortium coordinators were able to report on post-high school employment--that is, the number of districts in which information was available about the 1993 Tech-Prep high school graduates who were currently employed. Second, we asked how many of the 1993 graduates were known to be employed, with employment defined as either full-time or part-time.7 Third, we asked about methods of obtaining employment information. Fourth, we asked coordinators how many Tech-Prep students who had completed articulated postsecondary degree or certificate programs in spring 1993 were known to be employed.

Capacity to track employment of Tech-Prep students is, so far, limited

Many consortia lack information about the number of Tech-Prep high school graduates who are employed. Only half of the 94 consortia that reported spring 1993 graduates were able to obtain information on jobs that students take. Furthermore, the 47 consortia that claimed to be able to track this information could do so in only 60 percent of their member districts overall, and in about 87 percent of the districts in which they could report Tech-Prep high school graduates. Only 33 of the 47 consortia actually reported the number of high school graduates who were employed.8

Consortia generally obtain information about student jobs in an ad hoc manner. Of the 33 consortia that reported data on student employment, 70 percent reported having obtained it through ongoing contact with individual students. Fewer than half of the 33 consortia reported conducting some type of survey after students' graduation, and about one-third reported surveying students about their plans just before graduation. These surveys may have been conducted specifically to collect information about Tech-Prep participants, or more generally, to obtain information about broader groups of graduating students.

Students in rural consortia are least likely to take related jobs after high school

Thirty three of the 94 consortia with graduates in spring 1993 reported that some students obtained full-time or part-time employment after high school. They reported a total of 892 students in these jobs, or about 22 percent of the reported Tech-Prep high school graduates in the 33 consortia (Figure IX.4). A lower proportion of Tech-Prep high school graduates in rural consortia were reported as employed relative to graduates in urban or suburban consortia. Fewer than 13 percent of high school graduates in rural consortia were employed, compared with about 25 percent in consortia in the other geographic areas. 

                               FIGURE IX.4      PERCENTAGE OF TECH-PREP HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES IN JOBS AFTER HIGH                     SCHOOL, BY METROPOLITAN STATUS   METROPOLITAN        STATUS         Urban =============>25%      Suburban ==============>27%         Rural =====>13%           All ===========>22%              +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+              0         20        40        60        80       100                            PERCENTAGE OF GRADUATES  SOURCE: Inventory of Local Tech-Prep Planning and Implementation, Fall 1993

Employment after completion of postsecondary programs is not widely reported

Few consortia can report on employment after completion of a postsecondary program. Only a small number of consortia have been implementing Tech-Prep long enough for identifiable participants to have completed a secondary and postsecondary sequence. In addition, consortium staff are likely to have even greater difficulty collecting data on and tracking employment after students' completion of postsecondary education than collecting and tracking employment data after high school graduation.

Eight consortia had Tech-Prep students who completed articulated postsecondary programs in spring 1993. Five of the eight were able to report on the number of students employed after postsecondary degree attainment. The five consortia reported a total of 121 Tech-Prep program graduates in program-related employment.

7 Employment could be combined with postsecondary studies.

8 Another three consortia reported that no Tech-Prep high school graduates were employed.
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