| What is Tech Prep?
Georgia Tech Prep Mission Statement
Why is Tech Prep Needed?
What is a Tech Prep Program of Study?
How are Tech Prep Students Identified?
Area High School Tech Prep Site Team Leaders
Valdosta Area Articulated High School Courses
How Do Students Qualify for Advanced Articulated
College Credit?
Other Early Technical College Credit Options
What Are Career Days at Valdosta Technical
College?
What is the Summer Educator Academy?
What is Tech Prep?
Tech Prep is a nationwide career development system that provides
a student with an individual career plan that focuses on a Tech
Prep Career Major (program of study). Tech Prep incorporates academic
and career/technology courses articulated (jointly agreed upon)
between the secondary and postsecondary levels of education. The
articulated course agreements allow for the transfer of high school
course credit to the postsecondary level leading to a completion
of a college certificate, diploma, degree, or apprenticeship.
Originally approved in 1990, Tech Prep is federally funded through
Carl D. Perkins legislation. In the state of Georgia, strategic
planning resulted in the formation of thirty-seven local Tech Prep
consortia.
The Valdosta Area Tech Prep Consortium (since changed to the Valdosta
Area Tech Prep/School-to-Work Partnership) serves Berrien, Brooks,
Cook, Echols, Lanier, Lowndes counties and Valdosta city school
systems. The Valdosta Area Tech Prep grant fiscal agent is Valdosta
Technical College. The Valdosta Area Tech Prep grant activity coordinator
is…
Bill Tillman
Off (229)219-1379
Fax (229)333-2153
The Valdosta area Tech Prep grant strategies are centered around
leadership and commitment, curriculum integration and contextual
teaching, professional development in career guidance, curriculum
alignment, evaluation and accountability, and other career and technical
education related subjects.
Georgia Tech Prep
Mission Statement
The mission of Tech Prep is “to provide every student an opportunity
to participate in a seamless educational system that includes high-level
academic and technical preparation for workforce readiness and lifelong
learning”.
Why is Tech Prep Needed?
90% of the fastest growing occupations within the next decade
will require career and technical education. (U.S. Bureau of Labor
and Statistics)
65% of the top jobs in the U.S. require more than a high
school diploma, but less than a 4-year college degree. (U.S. Bureau
of Labor and Statistics)
44% of all jobs today will include some type of information management
such as collecting, analyzing, synthesizing, storing, and retrieving
data. (U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics)
New jobs will continue to shift to the service industries with
more than half found in the health, business, and retail sectors
of our economy.
Today’s employees will need to perform a variety of tasks
on the job requiring broader skills areas and need to transfer these
skills from one career to the next, several times throughout their
lives.
What is a Tech Prep
Program of Study?
Tech Prep programs of study include rigorous courses in Math, English,
Social Studies and Science. Additionally, the student must complete
a concentration of study in one of the following areas: Business/Marketing
Information Technology, Family & Consumer Science, ROTC or any
technical program such as auto tech, drafting, graphic arts, etc.
How Are Tech Prep
Students Identified?
Secondary Tech Prep Student:
A secondary student who participates in a Tech Prep program of
study and which involves courses derived from a signed Tech Prep
articulation agreement between the secondary school/system and
a postsecondary institution or identified on the state Dual Enrollment
Matrix.
Secondary Tech Prep Graduate:
A student who has successfully completed the secondary academic
and career-related courses specified in his/her Tech Prep program
of study. The student is not a Tech Prep completer until
he/she has successfully completed two years of postsecondary education.
Postsecondary Tech Prep Student:
A student who has transitioned from a secondary school/system
to postsecondary education having completed secondary courses
from a Tech Prep program of study that have been identified on
the state database (Articulated Course Listing or Dual Enrollment
Matrix) as aligning with a postsecondary program leading to a
postsecondary credential.
Tech Prep Completer: A student
who has successfully completed the secondary and postsecondary
requirements of an articulated Tech Prep program of study, resulting
in a two-year postsecondary associate degree, 90-quarter hour
diploma, or a two-year apprenticeship certificate. This credential
may provide the foundation for a four-year degree.
Area High School
Tech Prep Site Team Leaders
Each area public high school in the technical college service area
has a designated Tech Prep Site Team Leader who works closely with
the Valdosta Area Tech Prep Coordinator and high school dministrators,
teachers, and students to help facilitate all local Tech Prep grant
strategies.
2005-2006 Area High School Tech Prep Site
Team Leaders
Valdosta Area Articulated
High School Courses
Click the link below to see all the area high school courses which
have locally signed articulation agreements with Valdosta Technical
College. These articulated course agreements are reviewed annually
by the high school instructors and VTC faculty to insure validity
of course content in relation to college curriculums.
“Quick Reference Guide”
How Do Students
Qualify for Advanced Articulated College Credit?
Through locally signed articulated course agreements, students may
receive advanced technical college credit by completing the following
requirements:
- Students must earn a numeric grade of 85 or higher in an articulated
high school course within a tech prep program of study.
- A student must enroll at Valdosta Technical College or another
technical college in Georgia within 18 months after high school
graduation.
- Complete all the admissions requirements of the technical college
including submission of an official high school transcript and
the passing of any program entrance tests that may be required.
- In addition to the above requirements, a proficiency or demonstration
of skills test may be required by the technical college instructor
for some technical college programs (i.e. welding, drafting, etc).
Other Early Technical
College Credit Options
There are other early technical college credit options besides articulated
classes for high school students to participate that will classify
them as Tech Prep.
Dual Enrolled students are
Tech Prep students as they are earning both secondary and postsecondary
credit for career and technical courses identified in the state
database.
Joint Enrolled students
can be Tech Prep students if they are enrolled in a single
career and technical course identified in the state database.
Accel program allows qualified high school students with the opportunity to earn postsecondary and secondary credit while jointly enrolled in a Georgia public high school. Accel students are only allowed to take academic core classes in associate degree level programs.
What Are Career
Days at Valdosta Technical College?
In support of the Tech Prep Career Programs of Study, Career Days
are offered at Valdosta Technical College each year to provide area
high school students an opportunity to explore all technical certificate,
diploma, and degree program offerings and related area job opportunities.
These Career Day opportunities are developed by the Valdosta Area
Tech Prep Coordinator and announced to the high school students
through the Tech Prep High School Site Team Leaders. Typically,
there is a Health Occupation Career Day in the fall, followed by
a Business & Technology and Industry & Trade Career Days
in the winter and spring
What is the Summer
Educator Academy?
Each year, local Tech Prep grant funds are used to offer a Summer Educator Academy for the professional development of our area educators. Typically, this is a week long event in early June hosted by Valdosta Technical College. Participating educators will experience campus tours, technical college classroom shadowing, local industry tours, guest speakers, and other related technical and career activities. 2007 Summer Education Academy will be June 4th – 8th, 2007.
SEA 2007 Registration Form –
available February 2007
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