34techprep.pdf

Workplace

Joseph W. Grimsley

Anne

B.

Crabbe

For

generations, America'sbrightest students have followedaCollegePrep courseofstudyduringtheir

highschoolyears.

While

this

group

ofstudentshas

been

guidedthroughtheirhigh schoolexperience, the major-ity ofstudents have

been

left to their

own

devices to selectthecoursesin

which

theywillenroll.Being

human

beings

and prone

to

human

weaknesses, thesestudents have usually chosen the path of least resistance

and

taken the least

demanding

courses possible.

Few

stu-dentstakeAlgebra bychoice! Often, theonlygoalfor

the majority ofstudents has

been

to finish.

Unfortu-nately, asournation'shighdrop-outstatisticsindicate,

finishing school has not always included receiving a diploma.

There

isa certainironyin thisscenario.

Not

trusting

theintellectof our

more

advancedstudentsto

make

the correct choices, we, as educators, have designed their curricula. Conversely,

we

have entrusted our average

and

below-averagestudentswith the decisions regard-ing the selectionoftheirhigh schoolcoursework,

deci-sions thatwillaffecttheirliveseverafter.Inso doing,

we

have failed to provide instruction in theconcepts

and

skills

needed

toguaranteeadecentfutureforthe major-ityofourstudents.

Upon

leaving highschool, today's students enter a world of

work

which

isvastlydifferent

from

that

which

theirparentsfaced.

The

technologyrevolution has

radi-Joseph W. Grimsley has been thepresidentof

Richmond

Community

College since1985.Priortothat,heservedas SecretaryoftheN.C.

Department

ofAdministration

and

Secretary oftheN.C.

Department

of Natural Resources

and

Community

Development.Dr.

Anne

B.Crabbeisthe director_oftheExecutive Leadership

Program

at

Richmond

Community

College. Previously she

was

the executive directoroftheFuture

Problem

SolvingProgram,

an

inter-national educational

program

todevelop

problem

solving

and

creativity.

cally

changed

all aspects of our lives, especially the workplace.

Very

few jobs for unskilled workers exist

anymore,

and

thosethat do,offer

wages

atthe

bottom

of the pay scale. Fast-food restaurants, often

depended

upon

to provide the first jobs for

many

teens,

may

become

so

automated

that these jobs will disappear. Recently, a friendstoppedforasoftdrinkataHardee's RestaurantinRaleigh.

Diane

placed herorder withthe girlbehindthe counter,

who

pushed

afew buttons

on

her cashregister/computer.

Diane

then

saw

a

cup drop

onto aconveyerbelt,

where

it

was

filledwithice

and

thesoft

drinkofher choice. Next, aplasticcover

was

placed

on

thesoftdrink.

No

human

was

involvedinthe prepara-tion ofDiane'ssoft drink.

How

much

longerwillitbe before

Diane punches

in her

own

order

on

the

com-puter, inserts a plastic debit card for payment,

and

receivesher

whole meal

without anyassistance

from

a

human

being?

And

when

this happens,

what

will our

poorlyeducated

young

people (and

some

not-so-young people)bedoingfor

employment?

The same

type of

automation

isoccurringin manufac-turingplants,printing plants

and

health-carefacilities,

to

name

buta few.

The

technologyrevolution has

per-meated

almostevery aspectoflife.Ifour youtharenot

preparedto function successfullyin a worlddrivenby technology, theywillfindthemselveswithoutthe

means

toadvanceintheircareerfields.

They

may,infact,find

themselves without the skills necessary to find any

employment.

Jobsthatrequirelittleor

no

thinking and,

few,ifany, physicalskills needingspecial trainingare, likethe dinosaurs, rapidlyreachingthepointof

extinc-tionin thiscountry.

The number

oflow-skilled jobs has

been

further reduced bythe fact that

many

American

manufacturersarebuilding plantsout ofthecountryto

takeadvantageof thelower

wages

inlesstechnologically advancednations.

firm

academic

and

technologicalfoundation.

They

need

to be able to think

and

solve problems. Education is

more

important thanithas ever been,

and more

educa-tion is

more

important than it has ever been.

A

high schooldiploma, even

one

earned bytakingchallenging coursework,is

no

longersufficienttosecure a

good

job.

An

Associate

Degree from

atwo-year

community/tech-nical collegeis

now

a basic requirementfor

many

em-ployers.

The

Richmond

County

Experiment

In1986,

Doug

James, Superintendent of

Richmond

CountySchoolsand JoeGrimsley, President of

Richmond

Community

College,

were

searchingfora better

way

to

prepare the students of

Richmond

County

for the workplace. PresidentGrimsley

was

hearingcomplaints

Anatomycoursesallow studentstogetaheadstartonhealth careprofessions.

from

his faculty about the frequent needfor remedial courseworkforstudentsenteringcollegefrom

Richmond

Senior

High

School. Superintendent

James was

frus-trated that the open-admissions policyof the college allowed

anyone

to enter,therebyreducingthe motiva-tion for students to take challenging courses in high school.

Dropout

rates at the high school

were

high (thoughconsistentwiththestateaverages),

and

many

of thestudents

who

did receivetheirdiplomas

were

poorly prepared for

employment

or going

on

toschool.

Both

men

knew

thesystem

was

not working.

Intheirsearch fora solution,they

came

across

Dale

Parnell'sbook,TheNeglected Majority. Parnellfocused

on

theunchallenging

and

unstructurededucation being providedforthemiddlemajority of students.

He

empha-sized the need for producing a

more

technically ad-vanced

group

ofgraduatesinordertofulfilltheneedsof the job market. Parnell suggested a "2

+

2"

model

in

which

high schoolstudents

would

havea

more

rigorous

course of studyinboth academics

and

vocational courses during their junior

and

senior years,

and

then

move

directlyintoatwo-year Associate

Degree

program

ata two-year community/technical college. Tech Prep

was

the

name

Parnell gave to this approach.

Tech

Prep,

which

standsforTechnicalPreparation,isa structured

and

challenging course of study designed to provide trainingforstudents

who

are interestedincareersofa technicalnature:accounting, nursing,medical technol-ogy, electronics,

and

drafting, for example.

Through

a blending ofhigherlevel

academic

and

vocational/tech-nicalcourses,

Tech

Prep prepares high schoolstudents

fortheadvancedcourses requiredby two-yeartechnical

and

community

colleges.

Grimsley

and

James

agreed withtheconceptsoffered by Parnell, but both believed that the junior year

was

too

lateto startsuchaprogram.

By

theirjunior yearinhighschool,

many

students

had

already

dropped

out mentally, ifnot

physically.

They

believed the intervention, to be effective,

needed

to be started earlier.

They

expandedthe high school course ofstudyby twoyears,so

thatthe

Richmond

Tech

Prep

model

isa "4

+

2"

approach

beginninginthe 9th grade. In

reality, because

Tech

Prep requires each student to be achieving

on

or

above

grade

level in all courses, the con-ceptpermeatesthe entire edu-cational experience,

from

en-trance into

kindergarten

through the awarding of the Associate Degree.

The

progressofallchildrenatallgradelevels

must

beclosely

supervised

and

assessed to insure they are not falling

behind.

Those

children

who

do

not learnasquicklyas their peers

may

need special help

and

more

time to

enable

them

toachieveatgradelevel.

Components

of

Success

In theyears since the inception of

Tech

Prep,

many

changes have

been

made

astheconcept

and

the tangible products have

been

piloted

and

modified.

The

process hasbeen,

and

continuestobeevolutionary.

Currently,there are twelve

components which

have

been

identifiedasbeing critical tothe success of

Tech

Prep.

Those

components

are:

commu-nitycollege,

and

key

community

leadersare

committed

totheconcept of

Tech

Prep.It isalsoessentialthatthey

make

that

commitment known

toallpersonsassociated with theinstitutions.

2.Collaborationof

Key

Leaders.Inadditiontobeing

committed

to

Tech

Prep,thekeyleadersintheareaneed

tobewillingto

work

collaboratively.This

means

giving

up

turf

and working

as a

team

for the benefit of all

students.

One

of theprimary reasonsthat

Tech

Prephas

been

so successfulin

Richmond

County

isthepersonal

collaborative leadership of the Superintendent

and

President.

They

approach

educationissues

from

a"what

isbestforthe students" perspective

and

leaveegos

and

territorial issues outside the door. Ironically, putting aside individualegoshas resultedinboth systems

receiv-ing multiple awards

and

plaudits

from

the state

and

nationallevels for their

work

on Tech

Prep.

3. Staff Orientation. All faculty

and

staff

members

need

tounderstandthechangesthatare taking placein

theworld(the

movement

from

anindustrialsocietytoa service/information society, the role oftechnology in

the workplace, the impact of the global marketplace, etc.)

and

how

Tech

Prepisa viableeducationalsolution

torespondingtothosechanges.

They

alsoneedto

know

the basic philosophy

and

structure of

Tech

Prep,

and

thatthe leaders are

committed

to

making Tech

Prep a

success.

4. Articulation Agreements.

These

are agreements

between

the

community

college(s)

and

the school

district(s)thatallowstudentstoprogresswithout dupli-cationofefforts

from

secondarytopost-secondary pro-grams.

Such

agreements should also

make

provisions

forstudentstoearncollegecredit forcollege-level

work

mastered whileinhigh school

(Advanced

Placement).

5.

Curriculum

Review. Assessments ofcourses and

programs

(both vocational

and

academic) need to be

done on

aregularbasis,inordertodeterminethe

appro-priateness

and

relevancy of content,toinsure thatthere are

no

gapsininformation,

and

to

remove

duplicationof

instruction.

As

aresultof the review,itislikelythat

some

courseswill

need

tobe eliminated

and

new

onesadded. Input

from

localemployersisparticularlybeneficialin

theseendeavors,forthey are

most

attunedtotheskills

and

knowledge needed

intheworkplace.

6.

Course

of Study.Structuredcourses of study

need

tobe developedin

major

careerfields,suchasBusiness

and

Health Occupations.

Each

course ofstudyshould includerequired

and

recommended

academic and voca-tionalcourses.

Coursework

includedshouldfulfillbasic educationalneeds

and

theneedsof the targeted career fields. Input

from

local employersis very helpfulwith

thisaspectof

Tech

Prep.

The

Richmond

County Tech

Prep

model

has three career clusters: Business; Engineering (industrial,

mechanical,

and

electrical);

and

Health

and

Human

Services. Students interested in nursing, for example,

would

be enrolled in theHealth

and

Human

Services

cluster.Inadditiontotheirvocationalcourses relatedto

nursing, they

would

also take a sequence of science courseworkthat

would

include chemistry, biology,

and

anatomy.All

Tech

Prepstudents arerequiredtoenroll

inasequenceof

math

coursesbeginning withAlgebraI

and

leadingtoAlgebraII.

7.Relevancyof Instruction.

Almost

allstudents learn better if they understand a relationship

between

the information

and

skillsbeingtaught

and

the potentialfor theiruseintherealworld.Teachers shoulddesigntheir

teachingactivities tohelpstudentsunderstand

why

the information and/orskillsareimportant.

Integratingvocational/technicaland academiccourses

makes

instruction

more

relevant.

Academic

courses

should

emphasize

practicaluses ofinformation,while vocational coursesshouldinclude lessons that require students to usetheir

academic

skills, suchas reading,

writing,

and

mathematics.

There

have

been

successful

effortsbyteams ofteacherstointegratethe vocational

and

academic coursework.

For

example, keyboarding teachers

and

Englishteachershave

worked

togetherto

helptheirstudents

produce

reports thatare

grammati-cally correct, well written,

and

accurately

and

attrac-tivelypresented.

Such

collaboration

between

teachers strengthens the concepts

and

skills to be learned

and

makes

learning in both classes

more

relevant forthe

students.

With good

planning

and

alittleluck,the age-oldquestion

from

students

(WHY

do

we

havetolearn

this?)

may

be eliminatedorat leastdiminished.

8.StaffDevelopment.

Many

teachers

need

toupgrade

theirsubject areaskills

and

knowledge,particularlyin

the vocational/technicalareas,

where

information

and

procedures are changing so rapidly.

A

partnership of

local businesses

and

the school district in Cleveland County,

North

Carolinahas resulted inselected voca-tional/technical teachers attending staff

development

workshops

sponsored bylocalplants for their

employ-ees.

The

teachershave

come

away

witha greater appre-ciationofconcepts

and

skills

needed

tobe taught

and

have

begun

tomodifytheircourseoutlines

and

teaching

stylesaccordingly.

As

courses are updated or eliminated, teacherswill

needtoadapt.

At

Richmond

Senior

High

School,

Tech

Prepresultedinthe offeringof

more

sectionsofAlgebra

and

feweronesin

General

Math.

That meant

that

some

mathematicsteachersneededarefreshercourseinAlgebra, sotheycould

make

thetransition.

Teachersalso

need

to

move

from

lecturesto

methods

of instruction in

which

the students

assume

a

more

activerole

and

theteacherspends

more

timeina

facili-tatorrole.Business

and

industryareaskingfor employ-ees

who

can think

on

their feet, solve problems,

and

deliver thattypeofperson, the

manner

in

which

instruc-tiontakesplace hastochange.

9.

Career

Guidance. Helping students assess their

abilities,aptitudes,

and

interests isessentialtoguiding

them

intotheappropriate

Tech

Prepcluster. It isalso importantisproviding

them

withinformationaboutthe

arrayofcareeroptionsavailableintheirareasof

inter-est.

A

guidance

program

toprovidetheseservicesneeds tobeinplace.

10. Marketing. It is not

enough

tohavea successful

program

orproduct.

That

program

orproduct

must

be

"sold" totheintended audience.

Tech

Prep

means

change,

and

change usually is

accompanied

byresistance.

Suc-cessfulmarketingiscrucial to

overcoming

resistance.In thecaseof

Tech

Prep, theaudiencesare internal (teach-ers,administrators, students,

and

parents)

and

external (employers

and

the community-at-large). Local

em-ployersin

Richmond

County

have

been

extremely help-ful in marketing. Prior to registration periods,

many

employers have placedbrochures explaining

and

pro-moting

Tech

Prep in the paycheck envelopes oftheir

employees.

11.Collecting Results.Inorderto assesstheeffectsof

Tech

Prep, a system for collecting

and

analyzing data

must

bein place.

12.Reviewing

and

Revising.

Tech

Prepisnotastatic entity. It is,

and

should be, a constantly evolving

and

changing process.

A

system needs to be provided for

regularreview

and

interpretationof thedata.

From

that

information, theschool leaders

need

todecidewhat,if

any,changesare necessaryto

improve

the

program

and

TechPrep emphasizestheimportance of computerskills,preparing students for communitycolleg theresults.

Tech

Prep,however, is

much more

thana courseof study or asetof

components.

It isprimarilyanattitude.

Thatattitude,

which

isabsolutelyessential, saystothe students,

"You

arecapable,

you

canachieve,

and you

are expectedtoachieve." Administrators, teachers,

and

stu-dentsneedtobelieve thatthisisthe case

and

allowthat belief togoverntheiractions.

Tech Prep Achievements

Changing

attitudesisdefinitelythe greatest challenge

for

Tech

Prep orforanyactivity in

which

human

beings are involved.

But

for

Tech

Preptosucceed,itisessential

that the administrators

and

teachers believe that every studentcanlearn

and

achieve.

That

premisehas

become

a reality in

Richmond

County,

where

students are demonstratingthat theirteachers'faith intheir abilities

iswellfounded.

Since theimplementationof

Tech

Prepin

Richmond

County

in 1986, theresultshavebeen

most

impressive.

Earlycriticsof the

program warned

thatifthe

course-work

was

made more

challenging,

more

students

would

drop out. Contrary to that belief, the opposite has occurred.

The

averageannualhighschooldropoutrate forgrades9-12hasdecreased

from

7.2percentper grade

(28.4 percent for the four grades) in 1985-86 to 2.95 percentpergrade(11.8percent forthefour grades)in

1991-92.

Of

the153children

who

dropped

out of school

in 1990-91 in

Richmond

County, only 23 (15 percent)

were Tech

Prep students.

The

majority of dropouts

(114-74.5 percent)

were

students

who

were

notenrolled inCollegeorTech Prep programs, but

were

in a General Education program.

Another

findingwas

that

more

studentswere beginning to see

col-legeasa real

possibil-ity.

Each

spring, the State of

North

Caro-linaadministers a

sur-veytohighschool

sen-iors about their post-secondary plans. In

1984, 48 percent of

Richmond

County

seniors indicated that theyintendedtogo

on

to a two-year or four-year college or

univer-sityaftergraduation.

By

1992, that

number

had

risen to 81 percent. Thesestatisticsindicate

thatstudents arebeginningtounderstand

and

respond

tothe

need

forpost-secondary educationtopreparefor

theworkplace.

They

alsoimplythatstudents are chang-ingtheirattitudesabout theirabilitiestopursuea

col-legedegree

and

are seeingthemselvesas

more

capable persons.

Not

only are

more

students indicating their inten-tions toattendcollege,but

most

are actuallyfollowing through

on

thoseintentions. Surveysof1989

and

1990 high school graduates

showed

that 67 percent ofthe 1989 graduates

and

68 percent ofthe 1990 graduates

were

attendingcollege.Additional information revealed thatthe 1989

and

1990 graduatesof

Tech

Prep,

who

were

enrolledat

Richmond

Community

College,had

a

combined

gradepointaveragethat

was

higherthan

thatofthe

non-Tech

Prepstudents.

One

oftherequirements ofthe

Tech

Prep courseof studyisenrollmentinAlgebraI,thefirststeptoward completion ofasequenceof

math

coursestoinclude

Geometry

and

Algebra I

and

II. In 1986, those

who

resisted

Tech

Prep

warned

that adding less capable studentstoAlgebra

would

result inalowering ofthe averagescores

on

the

North

CarolinaAlgebraI

end-of-coursetests.Despitethe increaseinthe

number

of

Richmond

High

Schoolstudents taking

and

complet-ing Algebra I (from 47.1 percent in 1984 to 72.2 percentin1992), theaveragescores didnotfall.Infact, thecorescoresof

Richmond

High

Schoolstudents rose

from

53.6percentin 1986to62.2percentin1992.

While

still

below

thestateaverageof 67.4 percent, the scoresof

Richmond

County

students aredefinitelyhigherthan they

were

sixyears ago,

and

thegap isnarrowing.

Because

of the success of

Tech

Prep in

Richmond

County, in 1989, the

North

Carolina State

Board

of Education

and

the

North

Carolina State

Board

of

Community

Colleges passeda Joint Policy Statement supportingthe expansion of

Tech

Prep into all public schooldistricts

and

community

college serviceareasin

North

Carolina.Insupport ofthisaction,theyprovided

funding to establish the

North

Carolina

Tech

Prep Leadership

Development

Centerin

Richmond

County.

The

purpose oftheCenteristohelpother

North

Caro-lina school districts

and

community

colleges develop

and

refine

Tech

Prep in their

own

areas.

Two

basic

methods

ofassistancehave

been

made

available:

(1) once-a-month,site visitsin

which

gueststravel to

Richmond

County and spend

adaylistening to presen-tationsby

Richmond's

keyplayers(presidentof

commu-nitycollege, superintendentof schools, junior

and

sen-ior highschool principals,vocationaldirector, college admissionsdirector,etc.)

and

touring

Richmond

Senior

High

Schooltoobserve

many

oftheclasses;

and

(2) technical assistancebythe directoroftheCenter,

who

travelstoschooldistricts

upon

receiving requests

for assistance.

Recently,

Richmond

County was

named

as

one

ofthe seven national

Tech

Prep

demons

tration sitesfor the federal

Department

of Education. In this capacity,

Richmond

County

Schools

and

Richmond Community

College will be providing assistance in

Tech

Prep to

school districts

and

community

colleges all over the country.

The

means

ofassistancewillbesimilartothat alreadybeingprovidedthroughthe Center. In addition, the federal projectwillenabletheCenterstafftoextend

Tech

Preptrainingtoan even broaderaudience.

The

Richmond

County

Tech

Prep

model

has

been

the recipient of other awards. In the spring of 1992, the

Graduation Rate for

Richmond

High School

Figure1.

Richmond

Community

College/RichmondCountySchool

District

team was one

ofthree teams

from

across the nationtoreceivetheParnell

Tech

Prep-AssociateDegree

Award

presented by the

American

Association of

Community

and

Junior Colleges

(AACJC).

In

Septem-ber1992, thetwoinstitutions

were

again recognizedfor their accomplishments

when

they

were

presented the

R.J.Reynolds'

Tech

Prep

Founders Award.

It is importantto lookat

Tech

Prep in relation to

other educational

movements

and

directivescurrently

underway

in the nation.

The

most dominant

is the

America

2000

movement,

initiated in1991 byPresident

Bush and

the nation's50governors.

America 2000

set

forth sixeducational goals for the nation for the year 2000.

Tech

Prepdirectlyrespondsto fiveofthesixgoals:

1. Thehigh schoolgraduationrate willincreasetoat least90percent.

Tech

Prephas resultedin thedropout ratefor

Richmond

High

Schoolfalling

from

7.2percent perclass(28.8percentforthe four years)in1986,to2.95 percent(11.8 percentforthefour years) in 1992.

With

thisdegree ofprogress,itisfullyexpectedthat

Richmond

County

willachieve the90 percent graduation goalby

theyear 2000.(SeeFigure1)

2.

American

studentswillleavegradesfour, eight,

and

twelve having demonstrated competency in challenging subjectmatter, includingEnglish, mathematics, science,

ensure thatallstudentslearn tousetheir

minds

well,sothey

may

bepreparedfor responsiblecitizenship,further

learn-ing,

and

productive

employment

inour

modem

economy. This goalis consistent with severalsub-goals of

Tech

Prep,

one

of

which

is thatstudentswillbeat orabove grade level in all courses at all grade levels.

Another

objectiveof

Tech

Prepisthatstudents arechallengedto

usetheirminds;learningdoes notfocus

on

the

memori-zationofinformation,butrather,

on

the utilizationof information.

The

primary purpose of

Tech

Prep is to

"prepare students for productive

employment

in our

modern

economy."

3. U.S.studentswillbethefirst intheworldinscience

and

mathematicsachievement.

Tech

Prepstudents are required totake asequence of

math

coursesbeginning withAlgebraI

and

leadingtoAlgebraII.

They

are also required to take a sequence of higher-level science courses that are related to theirchosencareer cluster.

For

example,astudentintheEngineeringcluster wish-ing to go into electronics

would

take physics or

Prin-ciplesofTechnology.

These

courses are along

way from

thegeneral

math

and

general scienceclassesthat they might haveselected

had

they

been

General Education students.

Very

few oftheseunchallengingcoursesstill

existat

Richmond

High

School,for there are veryfew students

who

are not ina College Prep or

Tech

Prep program.

By

taking

more

challenging coursework in

math and

science,

Richmond

County

students aredoing

theirparttowardbringing thenationbackintoa

posi-tionof

prominence

inthe areasof

math and

science.

4.Everyadult

American

willbeliterate

and

willpossess

theknowledge

and

skillsnecessarytocompeteinaglobal

economy and

exercisetherights

and

responsibilitiesof

citi-zenship.

Communication

skillsarean importantpartof

Tech

Prep; each studentisexpected tobeable toread,

write,

and

communicate

atgradelevel.

The

primarygoal of

Tech

Prepistopreparethestudentsto

compete

ina global

economy

byinsuring thattheyhavethenecessary

knowledge and

skills.

5.Every school in

America

will befree ofdrugs

and

violence

and

willoffera disciplinedenvironment

condu-cive to learning. Guests taking partinthe on-site visita-tionto

Richmond

Senior

High

Schoolarefirststruckby the orderliness

and

cleanlinessofthe school.

Though

thebuildingistwentyyearsold,itlooksas

though

itis new.

The

grounds are clean

and

well-kept.

The

next impression

one

gets isthe feelingofproductivity. Stu-dents

and

teachers

move

about withapurpose;thereis

no

loitering. Inthe classrooms,it isoften thestudents

who

proudlypresent theinformationaboutthe courses.

While

hardly professional presenters, they

do

afinejob

of explaining the information

and

respondingto

ques-tions.

The

pride theyhavefortheir

program

isapparent.

These

youngstershavelittletimefordrugsorviolence.

They

are toobusy

working on

challengingcourses

and

too

proud

of

what

they aredoingto ruin theirfutures

withdrugs.

6.Allchildrenin

America

willstartschoolreadytolearn

Thisgoal focuses

on

preparingchildrenforschool,soit is not directly affectedby

Tech

Prep.

However,

since

Tech

Prepstudents areexpectedtobe

on

or

above

grade

level astheyprogressthrough school, itisvery

impor-tant this goal be realized.

Tech

Prep

may

indirectly

provide motivation for the achievement of this sixth goal.

The

first

wave

of

Tech

Prep students to progress throughfour yearsatthesecondary schoollevel

and

two yearsat the collegelevel havejust recentlygraduated.

There

isagreatdealofinterest in

what happens

tothese

young

people

and

how

theywill fare intheworkplace.

Common

sensetellsustheywillsucceed,butsofarthere

is littledatatosupport thatassumption.

The

academic

and

technical skills they have acquired should serve

them

well.Still anotherfactorneedstobeconsidered:

Tech

Prep students havehad highexpectations placed

upon

them,and,having

met

thoseexpectations,they are

exiting theirformal schooling withasenseofconfidence

and

importance.

During one

ofthe tours of

Richmond

Senior

High

School, a visiting principal

from

Nebraska,

who

was

debating

whether

ornotto

implement

Tech

Prepinhis

school, askeda student

what

he thought

was

the best thingabout

Tech

Prep.

The

student thoughtfora few seconds

and

thenresponded,

"Tech

Prep

makes

me

feel asimportantasCollegePrep kids."

The

gentleman

re-turnedtoNebraska,

where

he immediately

began

work

on implementing Tech

Prep.cp

References

"America2000: AnOverview." Washington,DC: U.S.Department of Education, 1991.

James, M. Doug. "Opening Doors to a BrighterFuturein North

Carolina,"inTechPrep Associate Degree.Parnell,DaleandHull,

Dan(Editors). Waco,TX: TheCenterforOccupational

Re-searchand Development,1991.

"Tech PrepAssociateDegree."Raleigh,NC:JointPolicyStatement

forN.C. State Boardof Educationand N.C. State Board of CommunityColleges,November1989.

NorthCarolina PublicSchoolsStatisticalProfiles. Raleigh,NC: The

NorthCarolinaDepartmentof PublicInstruction,1985, 1992.

Parnell,Dale.TheNeglected Majority.Washington,DC: The Ameri-canAssociation ofCommunityandJunior Colleges, 1985.

"ReportCard,Fall1992" Hamlet, NorthCarolina: Richmond

CountySchools,Fall1992.

"ReportofStudentPerformance." Raleigh,NC: NorthCarolina De-partmentofPublicInstruction,1991.

"StateDropoutPreventionandStudentsAt Risk Program."Raleigh, NC: NorthCarolinaDepartmentofPublicInstruction,1991.

"TechPrep: OpeningtheDoorsto aBrighterFuture."