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The diversity of consortium "size" suggests variety in the meaning of consortium "membership." The Tech-Prep Education Act promotes the formation of teams of one or more secondary districts and one or more postsecondary institutions, and one might expect these consortia to be cohesive and distinct groupings working closely together to create locally accessible programs linking high school and postsecondary study. However, data from the fall 1993 survey and informal discussions with state Tech-Prep coordinators suggest that some consortia are relatively loose groupings of institutions. Some consortia are so large that close working relationships are most likely to develop only in sub-sets of the entire consortium, in pairings of colleges and individual districts or even schools. Nor do districts or colleges always form exclusive connections to just one consortium. About 10 percent of all secondary districts involved in Tech-Prep are members of more than one consortium; this is most common in small states and in states that have a large community college system--i.e., states where high schools or school districts are likely to be in relatively close proximity to several postsecondary institutions.
Consortia also share postsecondary institutions; about 20 percent of consortium coordinators reported articulation agreements involving more postsecondary institutions than they named as consortium members. This pattern appears to arise because some school districts seek out articulation with colleges that are formally outside their Tech-Prep consortium group, in order to expand program offerings.
Overlapping consortium membership could at some point complicate efforts to document student participation and outcomes. If consortia are the reporting unit for student outcomes, this overlap can lead to inaccurate estimates of Tech-Prep participation, due to double counting of students. Such distortions in the 1993 survey are probably small, however, since fewer than a third of the 10 percent of all consortia that include districts participating in multiple consortia reported that they were able to count Tech-Prep enrollments at all.
As expected, local education agencies and community colleges are the mainstay of Tech-Prep consortia. Virtually every consortium includes a secondary school district, and 96 percent include a two-year college. About three-quarters of all local coordinators reported that corporations were consortium members. Four-year colleges were cited as members by 39 percent of all consortia, labor groups by 18 percent, and proprietary schools by 10 percent.
Most consortia receive some kind of support from the private sector or labor groups. More than three-fourths of the consortia reported some type of support from individual businesses or corporations, business/industry or trade associations, or labor organizations in FY 1993. About 25 percent, or 170 local coordinators, reported receiving no assistance from these groups, yet about half of even these 170 consortia reported that businesses, associations, and/or labor organizations were included as consortium members. This pattern may indicate that in some consortia the involvement of these organizations may be limited to a formal role on governing boards.
Most often (in 57 percent of all consortia) business, industry, and labor groups work with Tech-Prep staff on program development--helping to develop curricula, identify required competencies, and create laboratory or other contextual learning activities. About half of all consortium coordinators reported that these groups helped to define program outcomes or to promote and market Tech-Prep. In 16 percent of all consortia, representatives from these groups taught some classes in consortium schools.
Employers are less involved in direct activities with students at the workplace. About a third of all consortia reported that business and industry provided work-based learning opportunities for students in FY 1993, but these include a variety of activities and do not necessarily resemble the "planned program of job training and work experience" envisioned in the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. It is more common for employers to offer Tech-Prep students less intensive workplace exposure activities; slightly fewer than half of the consortia reported that businesses and corporations provided career awareness opportunities for students or arranged for student tours of their facilities.
Tech-Prep resources have resulted in the creation of quite modest consortium staffs. Almost a third of all consortia reported having no professional staff dedicated either part-time or full-time to consortium-wide Tech-Prep activities, relying instead, it appears, on the efforts of existing administrators and teachers in the participating school districts and postsecondary institutions. Only 18 percent of all consortia reported staffs of two or more full-time equivalent professionals.
Consortia spend about three-fourths of their resources on administration, staff development, and equipment. Almost a quarter of consortium expenditures is for administration; grant funds are largely devoted to supporting the small staffs needed to oversee and coordinate consortium-wide activities. The bulk of remaining expenditures is for staff development (workshop leaders, staff travel and conference fees) and the purchase of curriculum materials and laboratory equipment and materials for applied academics classes.
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[Defining Tech-Prep]