Tech Prep

Articulation links multiple levels of education to provide students with a non-duplicative sequence of progressive academic achievement. Articulation Tech Prep programs takes the form of agreements among school districts and colleges and universities or through the process of statewide articulation.

Tech Prep program-level articulation aligns academic and technical program content for a smooth transition from one level to another. The core of a Tech Prep program is the 6-year Tech Prep Plan, which provides a roadmap for students to follow during high school, ensuring that they take college-preparatory academic curricula and coherent sequences of career and technology courses for articulated credit at community and technical colleges. Students may also choose to attend a four-year college or university to complete their postsecondary studies. Other ways Tech Prep student scan earn college credit in high school is through concurrent college enrollment, dual credit and College Board Advanced Placement classes.

Statewide articulation is a state-level process that identifies commonly articulated technical courses at the secondary level and aligns them with content-equivalent courses at the postsecondary level. The process allows students who successfully complete these career/technology courses, graduate from any secondary school in the state, and meet conditions of the statewide standard articulation agreement, to receive articulated credit from any public postsecondary two-year degree-granting institution in the state that offers the corresponding college courses and participates in the program. The statewide standard articulation agreement outlines criteria for award of credit, and streamlines and standardizes the articulation process for students, schools and colleges. It does not replace local articulation efforts for courses not included in statewide articulation.

Students benefit from statewide articulation because they are able to apply for credit in two-year colleges across the state, and they save valuable time and resources by starting their college major while in high school. Schools and colleges benefit because they do not need to duplicate articulation efforts, and taxpayers benefit because students are receiving a streamlined education that avoids costly repetition of courses.