Tech Prep is serving Florida as one of the catalysts for change and restructuring within each of our public school districts and community college service regions. The enhanced collaboration and communication among the involved educational institutions, business, industry, communities, school administration, faculty, and staff has served to strengthen and enhance program and career choices for students. Florida’s Tech Prep program is a comprehensive system that includes high schools, technical centers, community colleges, and colleges/universities.

Florida has 28 Tech Prep consortia that provide information to students, and coordinates Tech-Prep program development and related services among school districts and two-year colleges. Federal funds flow to the consortia’s fiscal agent from the Florida Department of Education.

The Tech Prep program has gained the support of educators, and community and business leaders throughout the state because it directly addresses crucial educational problems and offers solutions. Tech Prep looks to the future needs of today’s students and tomorrow’s employers. It offers ways to strengthen our curricula, increase our expectations of students, and gives our students a brighter, more promising future. Tech Prep provides a mechanism to support Florida’s workforce training efforts.

 Growth of Tech Prep in Florida

• In 1991, the first year of Tech Prep implementation in Florida, there were 11 Tech Prep consortia. Today, Florida has 28 consortia in place encompassing all 67 school districts, all 28 community colleges, all Vocational-Technical Centers, and 50 public and private 4-year colleges/universities.
• The number of students enrolled in Tech Prep programs has increased from 11,000 in 1993 to 441,516 in 2005.
• The number of Tech Prep articulated Programs of Study in place in Florida has increased from 25 in 1993 to 6,996 in June 2005.