Instructions for Perkins III Tech Prep Accountability Reporting of Web-based Enrollment
Revised:  September 05, 2007

Index

Introduction
Definitions
Special Populations
Accountability LEA Process Flow
Accountability Navigation
Accountability Submission and Approval
Form description
Error Messages
Important
Enrollment - Participation in Career Education Programs
Career Clusters

Introduction

The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998 requires all recipients of federal funds to provide enrollment data to the U.S. Department of Education. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is the Missouri state agency responsible for collecting and reporting this data.

The U.S. Department of Education has established 16 broad Career Clusters that reflect a new direction for education. Each cluster consists of all entry-level through professional level occupations in a board industry area. Each cluster includes both the academic and technical skills and knowledge needed for further education and careers. The 16 Career Clusters and their definitions are listed below. There is also an pdf entitled "16 Career Clusters" in which you may click to view and/or print a crosswalk of Career Education courses by CIP Code and Core Data Course Code to the appropriate career cluster.


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Definitions:

The following definitions apply to the Perkins III performance measures:

Career Education Participant: A student enrolled in at least one state approved Career Education course.

Career Education Concentrator: A Career Education participant earning two (2) or more units of occupational Career Education credit.

Career Education Completer: A Career Education concentrator who graduates from high school or earns a G.E.D. during the reporting year.

Reporting Year: The most recent academic year data is available. The current reporting year for Perkins III is July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007 for all performance indicators with the exception of placement, which will be for July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006.

Tech Prep:  A student engaged in the Tech Prep Education Program is formally counted as a Tech Prep student when they initially enroll in the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education approved Career Education course(s) portion of the program and when they make a commitment to pursuing completion of an associate or baccalaureate degree, two year post-secondary certificate, or two or more year apprenticeship program in a specific career field.

The following list was developed to assure consistency on how Tech Prep enrollment is being reported statewide.

Note: Signing an articulation agreement demonstrates a commitment at the secondary level.

Secondary Tech Prep students should be counted if they are:

1) A first-time enrollee in a Department approved Career Education program that signs an articulation agreement.  This would normally be juniors but could include sophomores. 

2) A senior in the second year of the same Department approved Career Education program that signed an articulation agreement during their junior (or sophomore) year.

3) A senior who completed the first year of the same Department approved Career Education program during their junior year but did not sign an agreement until their senior year provided all criteria of first year students was met.

4) A student in a Department approved Career Education program that has signed an articulation agreement even if it articulates with a postsecondary institution outside their consortium, should be counted as a secondary Tech Prep student in the school/consortium in which they have a signed articulation agreement.  The secondary student count is not determined by where the student attends secondary school, but by which Tech Prep articulation agreement is signed.

Examples:

A secondary student enrolled in the Raytown C-2 School District that signs an articulation agreement with the KC Construction Apprenticeship Consortium would be counted in the Raytown C-2 (KC Construction Apprenticeship Consortium) secondary and postsecondary enrollment.

A Raytown C-2 School District student that signs an articulation agreement with the St. Louis- Forest Park Construction Apprenticeship Consortium would not be counted in Raytown C-2 secondary.  They would be counted in the St. Louis- Forest Park secondary and postsecondary enrollment.

Secondary Tech Prep students should not be counted if they are:

1) A high school student enrolled in a Department approved Career Education program that has not signed an articulation agreement.

2) A junior (or sophomore) who signed an articulation agreement during their first year and was not enrolled in the same Department approved Career Education program during their senior (or junior) year.

3) A Health Science student since none of these programs count under the Department definition of a Tech Prep student.

Post-secondary Tech Prep students should be counted if they are:

1) A student who has completed the first two years of a Department approved secondary Career Education program and enrolls in a sequential course of study in the program area at a community college, or in a two-year apprenticeship program. 

2) A post-secondary student who initially enrolls in general education courses may be counted only after they enter their sequential course of study.

Post-secondary Tech Prep students should not be counted if they are:

1) A postsecondary student pursuing a one-year postsecondary certificate.

2) A postsecondary freshman that initially enrolls in an associate degree program that chooses to drop the second year of an associate degree program in favor of a one-year certificate.

3) A Dual enrolled student would not be counted as postsecondary students until they complete the first two years of a Department approved secondary Career Education program and enroll in a sequential course of study in the program area at a community college, or a two-year apprenticeship program.

4) A postsecondary student who initially enrolls in general education courses and has not started their sequential course of study.

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Special Populations:

Disabled: An individual with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual; a record of such an impairment; or being regarded as having such an impairment.

Economically Disadvantaged: Families or individuals who are determined to be low-income according to the latest available data from the Department of Commerce. Other indicators include Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF); Food Stamps; Chapter 1, Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA); free or reduced lunch, National School Lunch Act; Pell Grant; or Workforce Development Act (WIA) eligibility.

Displaced Homemaker: An individual who has worked primarily without remuneration to care for a home and family and for that reason has diminished marketable skills; or has been dependent on the income of another family member but is no longer supported by that income, or is a parent whose youngest dependent child will become ineligible to receive assistance under social security; and is unemployed or underemployed and is experiencing difficulty in obtaining or upgrading employment.

Limited English Proficiency: An individual who has limited ability in speaking, reading, writing, or understanding the English language, and whose native language is a language other than English; or who lives in a family or community environment in which a language other than English is the dominant language.

Nontraditional: enrolled and attending a Career Education course/program that appears on the U.S. Department of Education list of Nontraditional programs is considered nontraditional. The list is available here.

Single Parents: An individual who is unmarried or separated from their spouse and is pregnant or has sole or joint custody of a minor child or children.

Students With Other Barriers:  May include individuals who under previous Career Education legislation were considered educationally disadvantaged.  Educationally disadvantaged means an individual who scores at or below the 25th percentile on a standardized achievement or aptitude test, whose secondary grades are below 2.0 on a 4.0 scale (where the grade "A" equals 4.0), or who fails to attain minimum academic competencies.  A student may also be considered educationally (academically) disadvantaged if they have scored the "Below Basic" level on any section of the Missouri Assessment Program.  This definition does not include individuals with learning disabilities.

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Perkins III Accountability LEA Process Flow (in steps):

  1. Choose Post-Secondary or Secondary or Tech-Prep from Application Menu
  2. Choose desired cycle from the Accountability section of the Cycle Select Page
  3. Choose Perkins III Accountability section from menu
  4. Enter Data and District Information
  5. Submit report once all data errors have been resolved
  6. Notification of submission


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Accountability Navigation

Each subindicator is located on a separate worksheet. To move from one worksheet to another, click on the pulldown at the top right corner of the page. Select the subindicator you wish to work on. Cycle Select, Approval/Submit and District Information are all accessed using this dropdown.

To reach the Budget Cycles for your district, you must return to the Cycle Select Page using the dropdown.

To reach the accountability report for a Tech Prep Grant, you must return to the Application Menu.

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Accountability Submission and Approval

To submit your data, select "Approval" from the pulldown at the top right corner of the page. This should be the last page you access. You cannot submit if you have not filled out all of the forms, including the District Information Form.

  • The first time each year you go to the Approval, you see an Assurance Page. This assurance certifies you agree to abide by the rules and regulations of the Perkins III Grant. Read and click Institution Agrees.
  • Once you agree, or on any subsequent amendments, you will come to the submit page.
  • Do not submit unless all information as been entered. Once you click on the submit button, you will not be able to make changes in the data.
  • When you push the submit button, a series of cross page data quality edits will be run. If these checks find errors in your data, the data will not be submitted to DESE.
    A list of errors will appear on the submission page.
    You will then need to correct those errors and attempt to submit again.
    If no errors are found, DESE will be notified and the status of your cycle will change. DESE will look over the data and ultimately approve or disapprove.
  • If approved, the district will receive an e-mail with that information.
  • If not approved, the district will receive an e-mail with that information. If data is not approved, you must correct and resubmit the data. Payments for a district will be held until all data for that district is collected.

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    Errors:

    The following errors are checked by the computer:

    Within each worksheet.

    1. Total Race does not equal Total Gender
      All students should be reported as exactly one race and one sex.
    2. Number Entered Greater than Total in Column
      All students reported in any field should be part of the Total Students for that column. The computer won't accept more students in a Special Population than are reported for that column.
    3. Total Special Populations is greater than Total Gender [WARNING ONLY]
      The Total Special Population might be greater than the Total Students. Students in multiple special populations are reported in all categories. This is an informational warning.
    4. Total Special Populations is greater than Four Times the Total Gender [ERROR]
      The Total Special Population might be greater than the Total Students. It shouldn't be greater than four times the total. If you believe this is actually the case, please contact DESE immediately.

    Important:

    Some errors block saving of the data. If there is a box with errors at the top of the form, the data was not saved. You must correct all errors before it can save the data. Errors are highlighted in yellow. Mismatched totals will highlight the total rows.

    To verify that data was saved correctly. Leave the Web Application and return.

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    Enrollment - Participation in Career Education Programs

     There is a dropdown on the upper left to select between Secondary and Postsecondary Tech Prep enrollments. Fill out all levels for which you have a Tech Prep grant. No form will show if a level is not selected.

    Report unduplicated enrollment of all students taking at least one Career Education Course during the reporting year. Disaggregate the students by Career Cluster (see below). If a student is enrolled in courses within more than one cluster, report them only in their primary field of study.

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    Career Clusters

    A crosswalk of CoreDate Courses to Career Clusters is available here. Back to index.