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Broad career clusters are widely defined but are used in diverse ways. By fall 1993, about two-thirds of all reporting consortia said that at least some of their school districts had defined broad career clusters. However, these groupings of more specific occupations do not necessarily represent broadly defined options for students. In only about half of the consortia where clusters are defined do students first choose a broad career area (e.g., health occupations) and then later in high school choose a more specific articulated program that they would complete at the postsecondary level (e.g., radiation technician). Where broad career clusters exist but choosing one is not required, high school students generally choose a specific vocational program for a particular occupation. 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.
Career areas are most commonly defined in business, engineering/technology, and health and human services. More than 90 percent of the consortia with career clusters have defined a cluster for business, office skills, and marketing, and this broad cluster had the largest reported enrollment in the fall of 1993--42 percent of all Tech-Prep students reported by career cluster. Clusters in engineering/technology and health and human services were defined by almost as many consortia, but participation in them was lower--about 15-20 percent of all cluster enrollment in each area. The participation of Tech-Prep students in specific career clusters roughly parallels the distribution of students in vocational program areas as determined by the National Assessment of Vocational Education.
Introduction of new applied academic curricula is a major emphasis of Tech-Prep program development. Between 1991 and 1993, 94 percent of all consortia introduced new applied academic curricula. The heaviest focus was on mathematics; almost 75 percent of Tech-Prep consortia introduced applied mathematics curricula in at least some of their schools. More than half of the consortia established physics and/or English courses that emphasized contextual or applied learning. Applied curricula for other science subjects, such as biology and chemistry, were developed and implemented in more than 43 and 34 percent of all consortia, respectively. Consortia were slightly more likely to have purchased commercially available curricula (89 percent of consortia) than to use curricula developed locally or by their state (80 percent). Many, however, did both.
Applied academic curricula are adopted gradually within consortia. Applied mathematics, for example, has been implemented in 74 percent of consortia, but in only 37 percent of the schools in those consortia. Consortia that implemented applied curricula in other subject areas have done so in even fewer schools. However, fuller implementation of applied academic curricula may be a matter of time. FY 1992 grantees were more likely than more recent grantees to be implementing new applied academic curricula, and were implementing these curricula in a higher proportion of their schools. Consortia have so far focused most of their curriculum development efforts on the secondary level.
Recent Tech-Prep activity reflects a continued emphasis on articulation. Articulation promotes coordination between secondary and postsecondary institutions to eliminate redundancies in course work and, where possible, to facilitate collaboration on curriculum development and ongoing working relationships. Articulation existed in many communities before the Tech-Prep consortium was created; in 17 states, at least 80 percent of the consortia reported having articulation agreements before Tech-Prep. In 38 states, more than half of the consortia had pre-existing agreements.
During the first several years of federal Tech-Prep funding, consortia made substantial efforts to develop or update articulation agreements. Many consortia in states in which articulation agreements had not been developed before Tech-Prep, (for example, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, and New York), did so between 1991 and 1993. Consortia that had pre-existing agreements (for example, those in California and Maryland), continued to sign agreements, either to develop articulation in new occupational specialties, or to expand to include new consortium members, or both. In all, 74 percent of consortia signed new articulation agreements in the two years preceding the fall 1993 survey. These agreements were most often signed for occupations related to business/office skills and marketing (434 consortia) and in occupations classified as mechanical/industrial/trade (341 consortia).
Articulation often focuses on courses, rather than on programs. Current articulation agreements often link individual courses rather than comprehensive programs of study. Although 527 consortia reported articulation, their lists of articulated "occupational specialties" suggest that articulation is perhaps most often a definition of the specific courses at the secondary level for which postsecondary credit will be granted. The titles of many reported occupational specialties were too narrow to reflect a program theme at either the secondary or postsecondary level; examples include Suspension and Steering, AC Circuits, Keyboarding, Machine Shop, and Turf Grass Operations. Other responses, however, may well identify programs which culminate in a degree or certificate at the postsecondary level--such as Marketing, Welding, Drafting, Electronics, Horticulture, Accounting, Office Systems, Child Care/Early Childhood Education, Machine Tool Technology, Automotive Technology, Nursing, and Office Systems.
Career development activities are common, but are defined largely by individual districts and schools rather than by a consortium-wide strategy. About 90 percent of the 702 consortia conduct individual career-counseling sessions in some or all of their member high schools, and about 50 percent conducted this activity in all participating high schools. However, career development activities are often unevenly implemented, and consortium coordinators often have trouble determining the exact nature of these activities in member districts and schools. For example, only 35 percent of the consortia that reported career-development classes were part of the core Tech-Prep experience had implemented them in all member schools.
In general, job placement is not yet a major focus of career development activity. Fewer than 30 percent of consortia reported providing any kind of job-placement assistance at the secondary level.
Workplace experiences are relatively widely available, mostly as low-intensity, optional activities. Almost two-thirds of the consortia make some type of workplace opportunity available in at least one member district. Most workplace experiences are low-intensity activities; more consortia (54 percent) provide occasional worksite visits than any other type of workplace experience, probably because these require the least commitment on the part of employers. More intensive experiences--paid or unpaid summer or school-year jobs or internships related to students' school program--are less commonly available. Internships are available to some extent in about 26 percent of consortia. Paid summer or school-year jobs are reported as available in 30 and 45 percent of all consortia, but these figures probably include cooperative education programs which have long been available in many schools, and may vary in the extent to which they involve a structured training agenda and coordination with students' school program. Only 164 of the 440 consortia that make workplace experiences available defined them as a required part of a core Tech-Prep program.
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[Approaches to Staff Development and Promotion of Tech-Prep]