This article describes a curriculum integration project designed to help students better contextualize their learning: The High M.A.R.C.S. Project linked mathematics, art, research, collaboration, and storytelling. The article explains the project in detail, discusses sample student work from the project, and describes how the project work was…

Reflects on 1980s educational reforms, the emergence of technology education and the essentialist perspective, the curriculum challenge posed by tech prep, and the reemergence of progressivism. Suggests that technology education has not articulated an appealing purpose or design. (SK)

Review of 15 tech prep programs in Illinois identified crucial elements influencing the teacher's role in school-to-work: (1) level of support and resources; (2) resolution of barriers to integration of academic and vocational education; (3) meaningful staff development; and (4) administrator support. (SK)

The new visions for the American high school have profound implications for vocational education research. Almost all basic premises underlying what high school vocational education should be and do are in question. The new criteria for the American high school make clear that vocational programs focused on broad career preparation are essential…

Tech Prep is currently in practice in over 1,000 consortia and 5,700 schools nationwide. The skills required for employment in the future require schools to forgo traditional classroom and learning methods to implement courses where content is allied with real world living and working. However, concerns that community colleges have failed to…

Prompted by requirements of the 1990 Perkins Act and a growing dissatisfaction among employers with college graduates' skill levels, many schools have undertaken curricular reform through tech prep and school-to-work, with most of the efforts working toward the integration of academic content into vocational programs. In general, however, tech…

Tech prep and school-to-work (STW) programs, partly based on the Southern Regional Education Board's High Schools that Work, are being used to restructure secondary education in Kentucky. Tech prep aims for a better understanding and application of technology, career awareness and planning, skills for a highly educated work force, a more focused…

High Schools That Work (HSTW) sites have used a variety of specific approaches to implement a challenging curriculum, provide a systematic program of sustained guidance, and enable academic and career and technical education (CTE) teachers to work together in planning and delivering integrated instruction. The HSTW-recommended curriculum calls for…

This document was designed to help educators develop curriculum for secondary staff to implement the Tech Prep Initiative in Wisconsin. Resources listed were measured against guidelines that specified that the curriculum content and delivery must be integrated and applied, focusing on authentic tasks. The applied courses listed had to have high…

Presenting summarized transcripts of sessions at the Michigan Department of Education's second Curriculum Integration Workshop held in Traverse City, Michigan from July 15-18, 1996, this proceedings describes the state's project to integrate academic curricula into vocational programs at the community college level. Following an overview of the…

As American society has changed from the industrial age to the information age to the knowledge/imagination age, the notion of a comprehensive high school in its originally envisioned form has again become a high priority. If all students are required to obtain a rigorous academic education and an applied education related to a life or work…

This report is the summary of key aspects of Tech Prep in Illinois over the five year period of 2001-2005 during which all Tech Prep consortia provided annual data based on federal legislative requirements and state-determined essential elements of successful programs. These annual Tech Prep reports enable local educators to monitor student…

This program guide for educators outlines how the tech prep program has evolved in Rhode Island, the type of students most likely to benefit from the program, and how the program works. It begins with tech prep success stories, tech prep associate degree activity timeline, and director of Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) Tech Prep…

This student handbook begins with an introduction to and rationale for the Rhode Island Tech Prep Associate Degree Program. Tech prep student success stories are followed by two sections that discuss why the student needs a tech prep program and what the Rhode Island Tech Prep Associate Degree Program is. Benefits that tech prep students enjoy are…

The Rhode Island Tech Prep Associate Degree Program is a statewide partnership between the Community College of Rhode Island, 70 percent of the high schools in the state, and the business community. It targets students enrolled in unfocused general education programs in high schools and involves them in an applied course of study in mathematics,…