| Students in Idaho high schools have the opportunity to earn postsecondary technical credit through the tech prep program. This study examines the college outcomes of retention, completion, time-to-degree, and technical skills attainment for tech prep participants, who matriculated to the partner stand-alone technical college within three-and-a-half years of high school graduation. In addition, this study investigates the applicability of the articulated credit to students’ completed programs, and as a vehicle for career exploration.
Results indicate that tech prep students retained better, completed more often, and had a shorter time-to-degree than their non-tech prep peers. These differences were statistically significant. Tech prep students enrolled in second semester classes at a rate of 82% vs. 67% for non-tech prep students. Tech prep students completed programs at a rate of 57% vs. 35% for non-tech prep students. Time-to-degree for tech prep students was 114% of normal vs. 131% of normal for non-tech prep students. All students performed well on technical skills assessments regardless of their tech prep status, and no statistically significant differences were found.
Analysis of the actual effect of the articulated credits revealed that approximately 56% of the credits earned through the tech prep program applied to the students’ earned degrees, and 60% were in the same career cluster.
Key Words: articulation; career curriculum; career discernment; career exploration; college completion; college retention; CTE; early college; history of career and technical education; Perkins; skills gap; tech prep; technical education; time-to-degree; vocational education |