Stages of Concern of Public School Superintendents for Tech Prep Implementation

Conceptualized by Dale Parnell in 1985, and funded through the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act of 1990, Tech Prep has become an integral part of the academic and career preparation of high school students. However, little research exists regarding Tech Prep as a significant and innovative educational reform initiative within Georgia. The purpose of this study was to determine if the Stages of Concern of Georgia public school superintendents for Tech Prep, as measured by the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ), was related to the extent of Tech Prep implementation within their systems. The extent to which high school enrollment was a factor in Tech Prep implementation, in the concern of superintendents for Tech Prep, or in the relationship between Tech Prep implementation and the Stages of Concern of superintendents for Tech Prep was also examined The accessible population included the 173 Georgia public school superintendents having at least one high school in their systems during the 1998-99 school year. Following the pilot study using 6 of the 173 superintendents, questionnaire packets containing Stages of Concern Questionnaires (SoCQ), were mailed to the remaining 167 superintendents. The Stages of Concern Questionnaire is a 35-item survey instrument using a Likert scale to rate the concern felt for a specific innovation, and to determine a peak stage score. The identified innovation for this study was Tech Prep. Additional data were collected from the 1998 Tech Prep Annual Performance Reports and the Full Time Equivalent Data Report from the Georgia Department of Education. Ninety (90) superintendents returned questionnaires which met all criteria for inclusion in the study, representing a usable return rate of 53.89%. This causal-comparative study utilized the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for all statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics and frequency distributions were presented for Tech Prep implementation, for Stages of Concern, and for enrollments. A two factor ANOVA was performed with Tech Prep implementation as the dependent variable and peak stage scores and enrollment as independent variables. Study results found Tech Prep implementation in Georgia to be at a low to moderate rate with a mean score of 38.96 out of a possible score of 145. Although no statistically significant relationship was found, a slight pattern was observed with higher Tech Prep implementation scores paired with higher peak stage scores. Additionally, a slight pattern was seen with higher implementation scores paired with decreasing enrollment size Follow up studies should be done with attempts to secure higher participation rates in order to determine the extent and origin of the observed patterns found by this study