Jeannette L. Fraser, director of the Outreach for K-12 Office at Pennsylvania College of Technology, has been named director of the Legislative and Public Policy Committee for the National Association for Tech Prep Leadership.
NATPL's membership includes regional Tech Prep coordinators and state Tech Prep directors from around the country. Established in 1997, the organization also includes professionals in Tech Prep leadership positions in all levels of education, business and industry, community organizations, and government.
Fraser has been the Tech Prep director at Penn College since 1993. She is also director of the Central Pennsylvania Tech Prep Consortium, and, since 2001, she has been a member of the Tech Prep Advisory Committee for the state Department of Education. She earned a doctorate in political science from The Ohio State University.
NATPL's Legislative and Public Policy Committee aims to educate legislators and relevant partners about Tech Prep and to provide members with information about current and pending Tech Prep legislation, public policy and regulations. The committee also assesses Tech Prep programs and strategies that promote quality Tech Prep initiatives.
Fraser was recruited to head the group by NATPL's Executive Committee.
"Because of her extensive knowledge of Tech Prep and her political awareness of issues relevant to Tech Prep, Dr. Fraser makes the perfect candidate as chair for this committee," said Raymond Timlin, immediate past president of NATPL.
Tech Prep is a national strategy for improving students' academic knowledge and technical skills. It is a sequenced program of study that combines at least two years of secondary and two years of postsecondary education, leading to an associate's degree or certificate in a specific career field and, ultimately, to high-wage, high-skill employment or advanced postsecondary training.
Almost every community college and technical college in the United States is part of a Tech Prep consortium, and about 47 percent of the nation's high schools offer at least one Tech Prep program.
For more information about the services and resources available through Penn College's Outreach for K-12 Office to teachers, counselors, administrators and students in K-12 schools, call (570) 320-8003, send e-mail or visit online.