Welcome to Western Maricopa Tech Prep

Western Maricopa Tech Prep Consortium is a resource for students and for the parents, teachers, counselors, and business and industry representatives who believe in Educating Students Today for Careers Tomorrow. The goal of Tech Prep is to link career and technical education programs offered at the high school level to degree and certificate programs at the post-secondary level.

In addition, Tech Prep strives to provide each student with:


• A curriculum integrating academic and occupational learning and applications.
• A career pathway with an identified sequence of courses which leads to employment, employability and technology skills.
• Articulated programs?many with transcripted credit?leading to certification and/or a degree.
• Advanced occupational training identified in partnership with business and industry.

Western Maricopa Tech Prep Consortium (WMTPC) is the largest of eleven Tech Prep consortias in the state of Arizona. There are fifty-six high schools in twelve districts and six community colleges in a geographic area encompassing more than 5,500 square miles under the WMTPC umbrella. It serves high school districts as far north as Wickenburg, as far south as Gila Bend, as far east as Paradise Valley, and as far west as Saddle Mountain.

Tech Prep was created under the Tech Prep Education Act of 1990 to link career and technical education programs offered at the high school level to degree and certificate programs at the post-secondary level. Employers were concerned that young people lacked both the social and technical skills required to succeed in even entry-level jobs. They felt that many fields did not require a four-year degree, but did require specific technical training.

Arizona Tech Prep is part of the national educational initiative that involves restructuring traditional curricula and introducing new teaching approaches at the secondary and post-secondary levels preparing students with academic and workplace skills. Western Maricopa Tech Prep Consortium works with consortium high schools and post-secondary institutions to tailor the national imitative to serve each community?s unique population through articulation efforts and numerous activities such as academic integration, Summer Programs for college credit, and the Career Expo.