| The federal Tech Prep program is a workforce preparation initiative in which NYS participates to address the issue of building an improved future workforce. Based on the assumption that business involvement is a component for program success, the NYS Education Department emphasizes and provides consortia funding for creating business-education partnerships. However, to date no formal analysis exists as to whether the Tech Prep consortia are impacted by business involvement nor is there much documentation about the process of involving business and outcomes derived from these strategies. The research question: How and how much are the configurations of the models established in the literature pertinent to business-education partnerships reflected in NY's Tech Prep Consortia?, investigates this.;Business-education partnership and Tech Prep literature denotes ideal business-education partnership types and suggests that as partnerships evolve they should move closer to the ideal. Four research methods---the literature review, a mail survey, phone interviews and documentary records---provide insight into this question of increased level and quality of business involvement after Tech Prep implementation. Unique consortium profiles composed from this data are compared to the ideal partnership models found within the literature. The consortia business-education partnerships have established the initial stages of ideal partnerships, but for the most part they have not progressed beyond the initial stages. As encouraged via financial incentives by NYSED, most of the consortia adopt linkages with School-to-Work partnerships as a means of increasing business involvement, while funding for further development of business involvement received minimal use. The consortia involved an increased number of businesses; however, they remain in the lower levels of involvement. When compared to the ideal types and stage models, the NYS consortia fall primarily into the least sophisticated types and stages; few consortia progress into the advanced stages. Consortia frequently make connections with intermediary organizations that coordinate business activity.;This study determines the need for ongoing evaluation to move partnerships into the more sophisticated types and stages, and presents tools for assessing them. If Tech Prep is to continue and become integral to the State's workforce development system the current low level business involvement must increase. |
