CUED

Program and Policy Issues in Implementing Tech Prep in Illinois

The German vocational educational system differs significantly from the U.S. with respect to nine factors. These include public attitudes, business confidence, private sector targeting of training funds, private sector support, union involvement, consistency in quality, percentage of students enrolled, types of student assessment and school organization. These factors add up to form a supportive "tech prep culture" in Germany that does not exist here. If tech prep in the U.S. is to be of comparable quality to the German system, considerable organizational and attitudinal changes will have to occur.

Neither parental attitudes toward vocational education nor business attitudes toward students can be examined outside of the society that shapes them. Our society is both race and class biased. Our schools reflect these race and class biases. The schools in fact play a contradictory role. On one hand we promote education as the ticket to individual success and achievement. On the other hand, the schools are part of a system that perpetuates the race, class and gender order of our society. The support systems for tech prep were examined with respect to these issues.

For each external partner--business, labor, community and parents--model programs throughout the country are presented. These examples are followed by presentation of the findings from the Illinois sites. Many regional delivery systems in Illinois are well on their way to establishing high quality tech prep programs. Others are facing considerable obstacles. While some of the barriers are internal, such as lack of staff support or not being proactive, many programs face structural barriers that cannot be overcome with better planning. Key findings from the study include:

Business is the dominant external partner in most tech prep programs. For many there is no labor, community or parental involvement as mandated by the Carl D. Perkins legislation.

The degree of business involvement varies considerably among Illinois tech prep planning sites. Those communities with diverse and expanding economies have more business participation over a wider range of activities. High schools need to take a more proactive role in recruiting business partners. The most successful strategies dedicate a staff person to recruitment.

Labor has not been invited to participate in tech prep planning. Labor can make a significant contribution to fulfilling the "all aspects of the industry" component of the Carl D. Perkins legislation, and in exposing students to workers in technical occupations.

Tech prep programs need to be linked to broader community and economic development efforts. This approach provides students with applied experience in areas related to their programs. Further, it can increase parental and community support for programs.

Parents have many qualms about tech prep as an option for their children. Parent education on the programs and changes in the labor force needs to be a critical part of the tech prep planning and implementation process.

The quality of tech prep programs is primarily a function of funding. There must be sufficient funds for teachers to upgrade their skills and to invest their time in curriculum development and marketing. Good programs also require the latest in equipment. Schools with considerable resources can leverage their tech prep and Carl Perkins dollars with other funds to ensure that all these activities are done, and done well. Poorer school districts cannot.

The German apprenticeship system works in part because schools throughout the country are roughly equal in quality. Businesses are eager to partner with schools because they can be assured of a certain level of quality. The inequality in U.S. school funding and quality creates a double edged sword for poor schools trying to implement tech prep. They do not have the resources wealthier schools have to supplement state funds to ensure program quality. Further, the negative reputation of the schools prevents them from gaining the type of business support needed to develop links to the business community and internship and employment opportunities.

African American and Latino students are most likely to be in poor school districts. If tech prep is not simply to perpetuate the racial disparity already evident in the state's school system more resources have to be invested in developing programs in schools in low-income districts.

A system of credentials for all tech prep program occupations needs to be established at the state level. The German apprenticeship system relies on performance-based assessment measures that emphasize a student's ability to demonstrate their knowledge as applied to real situations. The academic and technical credentials for these assessments are standardized, and thus consistent throughout the country. In the U.S., there can be significant differences in program content in any given occupational area at the state level and even among districts within a state. One problem facing the tech prep programs being developed is that there are no consistent standards as to what skills employees in particular occupations need to possess. As a result, there is no consistent way for employers to assess the skills of the graduates of the myriad programs. Without a widely recognized set of occupation-specific performance standards, certificates or diplomas offer little insurance of competency to program graduates or employers.

Four-year colleges and universities should be encouraged to accept applied academic courses toward admission. Historically, vocational students took watered down academic classes. We now realize that the academic courses of vocational students need to be as rigorous as the college-prep courses, but that they need to be taught at a more applied level. Some teachers and administrators even are suggesting that all students can benefit from applied academics. Yet many colleges still will not accept credits from applied courses. If tech prep truly is to create more options for students, some tech prep classes have to apply toward college entrance requirements.

Supply side efforts to increase the number of skilled workers have to be accompanied by demand side programs to increase the number of firms making the high-skill, high-wage choice. Public policy needs to provide incentives for firms to make this choice. Community colleges increasingly are positioning themselves to assist firms both in adopting, new technology and upgrading the skills of employees. There are many programs existing or proposed that work toward this end. More research needs to be conducted on their effectiveness, and on ways to link them to tech prep initiatives.

Every community college district in Illinois, for example, operates a business development center or economic development office. All offer training and retraining, and many provide assistance in small business start-up and government contract procurement. These programs can be better linked to tech prep programs at the colleges so that they can serve several audiences as in the MAP model.

The City of Chicago has just revealed a proposal for a Manufacturing Technology Extension Center. Five new centers will be funded by the federal government in late 1993. The Center would provide assistance to small and medium manufacturers in adopting new technology through linkages with several university industrial research centers. The program also will include workforce training and would provide a unique opportunity to link the city's economic development efforts with its secondary and community college system through tech prep.

This website is maintained by Cedric Williams, Manager System Services,
UIC-Center for Urban Economic Development