Tech Prep Guide

How To Set Up a Tech-Prep Program in Your School

1. Contact the Tech-Prep Consortium at (409) 880-8455.
2. Using local Texas Workforce Commission statistics and the knowledge of the business community, identify a program that is needed.
3. Develop a coherent sequence of courses. Typically, any preparation courses are taken before the 10th grade, and actual Tech-Prep articulating courses are usually taken during 11th and 12th grades.
4. Ask the teachers who will be involved in teaching the courses to talk with the department heads of the colleges with which you will articulate. They will discuss: competencies, suggestions and teaching aids, the articulation process and other issues regarding the technical implementation of Tech-Prep.
5. At this point there are usually questions regarding requirements and articulating credit that may be answered by the Tech-Prep Consortium staff.
   Note: One of the most asked questions concerns teacher certification. Teachers need only a master's degree and 18 hours in their subjects if they want to make special arrangements for academic credit. Otherwise vocational credit is awarded. We always recommend that students take the opportunity to take college credit exams at the post- secondary level in order to receive academic credit.
6. Once everyone is satisfied with the program content and procedure, an articulation agreement is drafted by the Tech-Prep staff. It is signed by all parties.
7. The post-secondary institution completes the necessary paperwork and sends the information to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for formal approval.
8. The course is installed in the high school curriculum. Students sign up and are registered as Tech-Prep students.
9. Throughout the school year the teacher maintains a record of accomplishment for each student. If the student achieves understanding of 80 percent of the required competencies within the course (an A or B), the course is coded on the student's transcript with an "A" for articulated credit.
10. Either upon graduation or at the end of the school year, successful students are given certificates of achievement that are signed by the Tech-Prep director.