Technology Career Paths

Technology Career Paths Education

Tech-Prep Initiative Programs

Tech-Prep | K-8 Programs | High School Programs | 2-Year College Programs | 4-Year College Programs

What is Tech Prep doing in our schools?
Tech Prep offers a variety of activities that bridge school to college and work

Hands-On Laboratory Experiences give high school students and teachers (parents, too) a college classroom experience. These sessions may be a few hours or a day long and are facilitated by Tech Prep Role Models - college students who have been trained to teach technologies modules.

Mentoring
Tech Prep Role Models are available to serve as on-line mentors to high school students interested in a career in technologies.

Field trips to industry and job shadowing opportunities are also arranged by Tech Prep. 
In addition, Tech Prep funds a wide variety of activities in our schools to develop and enhance technological education and to promote awareness of opportunities in technology.

Tech-Prep/Associate Degree Program
 

The United States is engaged in a major education reform movement aimed at providing continuity of learning and quality educational opportunities for all students. The Tech Prep/Associate Degree program, a significant element of this movement, focuses on providing meaningful educational and career preparation for the majority of high school students who do not complete baccalaureate degrees.

Tech Prep programs challenges students and effectively prepares them to live and work in a highly technological society. These programs will provide the type of workforce our nation needs to compete once again in a global economy.

Combining secondary and postsecondary education programs through a formal articulation agreement, Tech Prep provides students with a nonduplicative sequence of progressive achievement leading to associate degrees in any of a number of technical and services careers. After completion of the strong academic and technical program in high school, Tech Prep students should be well prepared to continue their technical education at a two-year college to acquire an associate degree, enter full-time employment in their chosen field, or pursue a baccalaureate degree at a four-year college.

Why is Tech Prep needed?
At a time when employers are demanding high performance in the American workforce, "more than half our young people leave school without the knowledge or foundation required to find and hold a job," according to a published report from the U.S. Department of Labor. Today's workplace requires advanced technical skills and an ability to understand complex theories and processes in rapidly changing and emerging technologies. Most jobs that offer growth, challenge, and earning potential require an applicable knowledge of math, science, technical principles, and information/communication skills. Student’s well educated in rigorous applied academics as mandated by the Regents plan as well as technical skills provided by elective studies in high school can transfer their knowledge of principles, concepts, and technologies to practical applications in a variety of technical jobs.

What is Tech Prep?
Tech Prep is a sequence of study beginning in high school and continuing through at least two years of postsecondary technical education. The newly mandated New York State Regents plan embodies the concept of Tech Prep. The required sequences now emphasize contextual relevance to the world of work. These sequences taken in conjunction with technical course offerings form the basis for continued technical education in the area community colleges. The program parallels the college prep course of study and presents an alternative to a four-year educational program. It prepares students for high-skill technical occupations and allows direct entry into the continuation of study that leads to an associate degree in a two- year college.

The Tech Prep program integrates academic and technical subjects, placing heavy emphasis on academics agreements from secondary to postsecondary education. Articulation agreements between high schools and two-year colleges enable students to achieve academic credits toward an Applied Associate Degree program. The advanced skills required to complete an Applied Associate Degree at the postsecondary level in a chosen career are built on the strong academic and technical foundation at the secondary level. The curricula currently being designed for Tech Prep/Associate Degree programs will prepare better educated workers with advanced skills and the ability to transfer skills as technology changes.
 

Dutchess Community College ¤ 53 Pendell Road ¤ Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 ¤ 845-431-8000