Tech Prep Implementation in the United States: Promising Trends and Lingering Challenges (MDS-714)

D. Bragg, J. Layton, F. Hammons

Promising Trends and Lingering Challenges

• As many as 50% of the nation's high schools are identified by respondents as participants in Tech Prep implementation in a local consortium, indicating dramatic growth in Tech Prep activity at the secondary education level from 1991 (pre-Perkins II) to 1993 (post-Perkins II).
• Although it is nearly impossible to identify any organizational configuration of a local Tech Prep consortium as typical, these findings indicate that on average the majority of local consortia consist of twelve high schools, two postsecondary schools, and ten private-sector business and industry firms. The organizational structure of the consortium, including secondary schools, postsecondary schools, business and industry, and sometimes other organizations, may enhance Tech Prep implementation efforts.
• Coordinator ratings of student outcomes showed a high level of consensus. Fifteen of the seventeen student outcomes were given a "high" or "very high" mean rating. These fifteen highly rated outcomes presented a broad array of expectations for Tech Prep participants and graduates, incorporating the areas of academic skill attainment, employability skill attainment, and matriculation from high school to college.
• Several stakeholder groups showed a high level of support for Tech Prep. The level of support for seven different groups was rated, on average, to be "good" to "excellent." These groups were state agency personnel, vocational faculty, local two-year postsecondary administrators, business/industry representatives, local secondary administrators, students, and secondary school board members. Only one group was given an average rating of "fair." This group was four-year college/university personnel.
• Professional development of secondary and postsecondary personnel has been carried out by nearly all local consortia. Nearly 90% reported joint inservice training for teachers from an entire consortium to be a formally stated focus on their Tech Prep initiative. Professional development of secondary personnel regarding Tech Prep was more prevalent than of postsecondary personnel. Although, on average, one-half of vocational faculty, counselors, and administrators at both levels were reported to have participated in Tech Prep inservice in local consortia.

The data from this research also revealed the following lingering challenges:

• Most of the Tech Prep coordinators worked on Tech Prep part-time or as part of their regular job. Other resource constraints were evident in the findings, including the widespread perception of a lack of joint planning time and a lack of staff, time, and money as barriers to local implementation.
• The Tech Prep initiative has broad and conflicting goals and, as such, Tech Prep access may not be available to all students, even though equal access for all students was reported as a priority for most consortia. The findings show the vast majority of local consortia directing curriculum goals to serve the middle two quartiles of students in academic ability, bringing into question the role Tech Prep can and should play in educational restructuring endeavors.
• Little postsecondary curriculum reform and development for Tech Prep was reported except for formal articulation of vocational and academic courses. Over one-half of the respondents also reported implementing occupational/career clusters at the secondary and postsecondary levels. In addition, the findings associated with curriculum reform show that at the secondary or postsecondary levels few local consortia were engaged in what might be considered more advanced and complex curriculum reform such as providing advanced-skills courses, career academies, or interdisciplinary courses.
• School-to-work components such as work-based learning and apprenticeship have not been widely implemented. However, work-based learning was identified as a formally stated focus of two-thirds of the local consortia participating in the study and the level of implementation of work-based learning was perceived to be higher for consortia funded in 1991 than in 1992.
• The most serious barriers to the implementation of Tech Prep are deeply rooted and have not been surmounted. The obstacles of not enough time designated for joint planning by vocational and academic or secondary and postsecondary faculty; the failure of four-year colleges and universities to award college credit for applied academic or other Tech Prep courses; a lack of general awareness about Tech Prep; and the lack of staff, time, and money were perceived by respondents as having the most impact on their activities, and their impact has remained serious with the passage of time.

Recommendations

• Due to the growing involvement in Tech Prep activities across the nation and the reality that change within public schools requires time, funding for the Tech Prep initiative should be continued at the federal level and expanded to include local and state funds. Financial support must be continued to bolster the existing efforts to induce systemic change within the nation's public school and two-year college system.
• The scope and focus for students involved with Tech Prep should be expanded beyond the 2+2 concept to include the participation of change agents at other educational levels, especially elementary and middle schools, and colleges and universities.
• With global economic competition a reality and with the development of human resources recognized as a key factor in the economic development of the nation, Tech Prep should be promoted and marketed on a national level as a viable avenue for U.S. citizens to attain lifelong learning and global workforce skills; the need for marketing of Tech Prep concepts is also critical at the local and state levels where workforce development and economic needs are most acute.
• Accountability, high standards, and evaluation of Tech Prep programs are all imperative to ensure that the goals of this federally supported initiative are being met. This research has revealed that only a small percentage of Tech Prep consortia are actively addressing the issues of evaluation and accountability. Therefore, the funding agencies for Tech Prep should develop viable on-site accountability and evaluation mechanisms that can ensure that high standards and expectations are being identified and met.
• The nation's public schools are caught in a quagmire of different national reform initiatives such as Goals 2000, School-to-Work Opportunities (STWO), and Tech Prep, with many more reform initiatives dictated to public schools at the local and state level. This uncoordinated educational reform effort creates confusion and fragmentation of activities within schools as evidenced by the "fad" perception that many of these efforts hold among teachers, parents, and school administrators. A concerted effort at all administrative levels is needed to link reform initiatives together that can build on existing efforts, improve upon the reform processes, and move forward with school reform initiatives.
• The barriers to implementation of Tech Prep should receive special notice. Research should be developed to search for and discover why barriers exist in various educational environments, especially among teachers and educational institutions, which are perceived to be the "great equalizer and designed to empower our nation's people" and not the contrary as this research indicates.

In conclusion, with local consortia having made commitments to the Tech Prep concept, promising trends are emerging with evidence of enthusiasm reported among educators, parents, students, and employers. These groups appear to be utilizing the Tech Prep concept to improve existing educational systems, expanding students' opportunities to be productive in the workplace and successful in life's pursuits. A continuing challenge for our nation is to support the many local Tech Prep consortia that show commitment to Tech Prep in ways that can ensure reform will be significant and lasting.