Implementing Tech Prep for All Students
Policy
Rationale and Goals:
Since the mid-1980s, Wisconsin has been in the process of building a system of
meaningful structural and programmatic connections between secondary schools
and the state's postsecondary education system. In fact, Wisconsin's Tech Prep
initiative has been jointly administered by the Department of Public
Instruction (DPI) and the Wisconsin Technical College System Board (WTCSB) for
the past 12 years. More recently, articulation efforts have expanded to include
the last two years of high school, two years at a technical college, and
further education at a four-year institution (2+2+2). Since its inception, Tech
Prep in Wisconsin has been defined broadly, and all students are included in
the seven essential elements of the system. These elements include [1]
articulation agreements, [2] appropriate 
curriculum design, [3] curriculum development, [4] inservice teacher training, [5] counselor training, [6] equal access for special populations, and [7] preparatory services.
Tech Prep in Wisconsin has also received considerable support through state statute 118.34, which was originally passed in 1991 and continues to guide the efforts of the WTCSB and the DPI in administering the program statewide. In part, the legislation states that
...in cooperation with a technical college district board, each school board shall establish a technical preparation program in each public high school located in the school district. The program shall consist of a sequence of courses, approved by the technical college system board, ...designed to allow high school pupils to gain advanced standing in the technical college district's associate degree program upon graduation from high school.
The legislation further describes the responsibilities of local technical college districts to appoint technical preparation councils, establish consortia with all school boards of school districts that operate in the technical college district, and to provide technical assistance to school boards to develop technical preparation programs in each high school.
Tech Prep is also considered under the state's broad umbrella of workforce development, which includes statewide initiatives and those specific initiatives supported by federal funding from the School-to-Work Opportunities Act (STWOA). In addition to being at the forefront of Tech Prep implementation, Wisconsin was one of the first eight states to receive federal funding under STWOA. The state is widely recognized as a leader in workforce development and the integration of policies and systems at the state level. Over time, the state has been engaged in developing broad support for school-to-work system building and has focused STWOA funds on work-based learning through extensive State Certificated Youth Apprenticeship administered through the Department of Workforce Development and State Certified Cooperative Education administered by the Department of Public Instruction.
Implementation Strategy: Tech Prep in Wisconsin is administered through sixteen consortia formed locally by the technical college district and the secondary schools located within the region. According to an April 1998 report Tech Prep in Wisconsin, "Tech Prep as defined in Wisconsin is cooperation between K-12 schools, technical colleges, universities, and business, labor, and community to develop and utilize integrated and applied academic and technical curricula that provide a coherent sequence of courses and experiences designed to provide high school graduates with a more technically-oriented background leading toward successful transition from school to technical education." (p.1)
Each technical college district appoints a local Tech Prep Council, which is typically co-chaired by a secondary school administrator and a business person or technical college administrator. The local Tech Prep Council is responsible for strategic planning and oversight of the implementation of the consortium's Tech Prep plan.
Within the boundaries of each technical college district, all secondary schools are served by the consortium's Tech Prep plan. Each technical college has a staff person called a Tech Prep Curriculum Specialist who is responsible for "conducting Tech Prep activities for the benefit of secondary school counselors and teachers and working with technical college staff," according to Connie Colussy, the DPI Tech Prep Consultant at the state level. The Tech Prep grant to local consortia may pay for this staff person, who has a leadership role in planning and evaluating Tech Prep activities. Among the many services provided by the technical colleges to secondary schools are such things as developing articulation agreements, counselor workshops, teaching training, career fairs, and teacher extern programs.
Staff development is provided to create integrated curricula that enables "learners to better connect interrelated concepts, content, and processes and seek relationships between past, present, and future experiences and learning." Tech Prep also provides staff development for teachers to implement applied curricula that "reflects teaching strategies that require students to use knowledge and skills in solving real world problems." (Tech Prep in Wisconsin, 1998, p.5)
At the heart of the federal Tech Prep initiative is the development of coherent sequences of secondary and postsecondary courses leading to an associate degree or two-year certificate in one of six fields specified in the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Applied Technology Education Act of 1990. Wisconsin has developed an extensive system of local and state articulation agreements between secondary and postsecondary education institutions. The state has two types of credit arrangements: [1] advanced standing and [2] transcripted credit.
Students receive advanced standing when high school courses or competencies are equivalent to a technical college course and the course is taught by a high school teacher in the local high school. Students receive credit for advanced standing if they enroll in a technical college within 27 months after high school graduation.
Students receive transcripted credit when a high school course is the same as a technical college course and is taught by a high school teacher who also holds Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) articulation certification through a Memorandum of Understanding between the high school and the technical college. Students receive college credit on an official transcript after successful completion of the course. Through an agreement among all the technical college districts, transcripted credit can be transported throughout the state. Advanced standing is also transportable, though in comparable courses only.
There are a total of 3,717 advanced standing and 271 transcripted credit arrangements through local articulation agreements. The first group of completers under a statewide advanced standing agreement for agribusiness/science technology finished in June 1998. Statewide articulation agreements in manufacturing and electronics will be available during the 1998 - 1999 school year.
In addition, Wisconsin has developed educational planning documents called Curriculum Maps which identify sequences of secondary and postsecondary courses that lead to the completion of a postsecondary education or training program: "To date, 86% of high schools use curriculum maps with students in helping them become aware of broad career areas and identify a tentative career interest." (Tech Prep in Wisconsin, 1998, p.10)
Evolution Of Strategy: The WTCSB has further expanded Tech Prep and now includes articulation agreements with the 13 four-year campuses in the University of Wisconsin system which will further expand postsecondary options and deliver a 2+2+2 model of education for students. "This alignment is currently developed through the 3,900 courses articulated between secondary schools and technical colleges and the 400+ program-to-program articulation agreements between technical colleges and University of Wisconsin programs." (p.5) In addition, all 14 youth apprenticeship areas have statewide advanced standing articulation agreements that allow students completing state Youth Apprenticeship programs who enroll in a technical college program to receive a minimum number of advanced standing credits.
In its 1998 Tech Prep evaluation, Wisconsin attributed the increase in integrated and applied curricula (2,576 integrated and applied courses revised or upgraded between 1994 and 1997) as "a major impetus for the University of Wisconsin System to develop its Competency-Based Admission Policy which opened doors for students taking non-traditional integrated and applied curricula." (Tech Prep in Wisconsin, 1998, p.5)
Lessons Learned: According to Gabrielle Banick Wacker, Tech Prep Education consultant for the Wisconsin Technical College System, the changes and systematic development of the Tech Prep system has occurred over time and through many years of developing cooperative and collaborative arrangements at the state and local levels. All schools and all students are included in the system; this high level of inclusion creates wide ranging support for the system. A statewide client reporting system will allow secondary, postsecondary, and workforce development agencies to have data regarding the number of students with transcripted credit as well as to better track students as they enter the workforce or return to school for additional training. In an effort to address the years that are sometimes spent "drifting" after high school, the WTCSB recently adopted a goal to increase the percentage of students entering the system immediately following high school to 25% of all high school graduates. Although this is an ambitious goal, the WTCS Client Reporting System shows that almost one-third of the 1994 and 1995 high school graduating classes enrolled in a Wisconsin Technical College within three years of graduation. Through collaboration, sustained staffing and support, and the development of a data system to track results, Wisconsin has demonstrated the extent to which it takes time, effort, and commitment to build a system of secondary and postsecondary transitions which is truly meaningful to students.
Tech Prep in Wisconsin. (1998, April). Madison: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and Wisconsin Technical College System.
