The Heart of Ohio Tech Prep Consortium

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CONSORTIUM

The Central Ohio Tech Prep Consortium was created in February 1992 with 6 partner school districts, Columbus State Community College, and several business partners. The fiscal agent, Columbus State, housed and employed the consortium staff.   Initial programs included Information Engineering Technologies (now IT), Business Technologies, and Engineering Technologies.

In 1996, the consortium changed its name to "Heart of Ohio Tech Prep Consortium" to accommodate addition of the Ohio University Lancaster Campus and school districts in Fairfield County. The Campus staffed and housed a Tech Prep Regional Office to expand Tech Prep in Fairfield County. The office at Ohio University Lancaster Campus now serves the entire consortium. Also in 1996, the consortium added new programs in Environmental Technologies, Health Technologies, Construction Technologies, and Automotive Diagnostic Technologies. In 1998, the Ohio University Chillicothe Campus joined the consortium.

In 2000, the consortium added the itWorks.Ohio curriculum (Information Technologies) and Agriculture Technologies programs. Columbus City Schools also became an active partner with start-up of two IT Career Academies, using the Tech Prep itWorks curriculum.

In FY 2001, the consortium initiated a website (www.cscc.edu/techprep) to provide information to College Tech Prep stakeholders and to connect employers with programs and students. In FY 2002, the consortium converted from ASSET testing to testing secondary juniors with the COMPASS Diagnostic and seniors with the formal COMPASS placement exam. Through a reciprocal agreement, all 3 partner colleges accepted seniors’ COMPASS scores as the students’ official placement scores.
In September 2003, the Consortium added a part-time Executive Director to oversee the expanding services of the consortium. The Executive Director is housed at Fairfield Career Center. The consortium continued to support its offices on the Columbus State and Ohio University Lancaster campuses. In 2004, The Electrical Trades Center (ETC) became the consortium's fourth postsecondary partner by developing an articulation agreement between a secondary Tech Prep program and ETC's B.A.T.-approved electrical trades apprenticeship programs.
On July 1, 2005 the consortium officially merged with the East Central Ohio Tech Prep Consortium of Licking County, giving the consortium a seven-county service area. New partners include Central Ohio Technical College (COTC), the Career and Technical Centers of Licking County (C-TEC, formerly Licking County JVS), the Newark City Schools, and other school districts in the county. A consortium office is sustained at the COTC campus to help serve stakeholders of the expanded consortium.

As of July 1, 2006, the consortium includes 5 postsecondary partners and 50 Tech Prep high school programs offered at 25 school and work sites across 7 counties.