| Summary: | Over the past two decades, the role of career and technical education has shifted from one preparing students directly for employment, to one that offers vocational training as well as college preparatory academics. To support this effort, the federal government enacted the "Tech Prep Act" Title II under the larger 1990 Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. This law authorized federal funds to support articulating programs between career and technical education
secondary programs and postsecondary programs of study. The intent of the policy was to increase college enrollment and retention in technical and career areas. Each state in the nation enacted some level of Tech Prep programming between 1990 and 2008. During this time, research conducted on the programs consisted primarily of qualitative studies describing what Tech Prep programs consisted of, how states or consortiums were delivering the programs and who tech prep students were.
Extremely little analysis was conducted regarding actual student outcomes. If in fact, the program had an impact on college enrollment, retention and completion.
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