(1) A pathways in technology early college high school, or p-tech school, is a public school that includes grades nine through fourteen and is designed to prepare students for high-potential careers in industry by enabling them to graduate with a high school diploma and an industry-recognized associate degree. Students in a p-tech school may also earn pre-apprenticeship certificates and other industry-recognized certificates in addition to an associate degree. A p-tech school is operated as a collaborative effort by a local education provider, a community college, and one or more local high-growth industry employers. Throughout grades nine through fourteen, a p-tech school integrates high school and college courses and certificate programs that are informed by current and projected industry standards and focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics with mentoring, job shadowing, internships, pre-apprenticeship training, and other workplace education experiences.
(2) A p-tech school to be operated by a local education provider must be jointly approved by the commissioner of education and the executive director of the department of higher education. The commissioner and the executive director shall jointly establish time lines and procedures by which a local education provider may apply to operate a p-tech school and shall develop a model p-tech agreement template that may be used by an applicant. The application must include:
(a) The agreement that the local education provider, a community college, and one or more employers enter into to operate the p-tech school, which must address:
The responsibilities of the local education provider and the community college toprovide, at a minimum, course work, counseling, and student support services, as well as provisions relating to instructor qualifications;
The responsibilities of the employer to provide workplace education and experiencesand to consult with the local education provider on course design, as requested, whether the employer is a certified center of learning, with preference given to such employers, and any funding that the employer may provide for the p-tech school program;
The procedure for communication and shared decision-making by the local education provider, community college, and employer regarding school operations; and
The allocation of support, including but not limited to funding, internships, mentorships, potential job opportunities, and other related resources, between the local education provider, the employer, and the community college;
The operational model for the p-tech school, including but not limited to curricula,instructional practices, faculty roles, student support structures, class schedules, experiential learning opportunities, and the associate degrees that students may attain through the p-tech school;
The estimated number of students that the p-tech school will enroll when operating atfull capacity and the plan for selecting students to enroll in the p-tech school, which must be designed in a way that encourages the enrollment of a student body that is socioeconomically and racially diverse and that includes first-generation college students, English language learners, and students with disabilities;
If the applying local education provider is a charter school, written confirmation thatthe charter school's authorizer agrees to amend the charter contract to allow the charter school to operate as a p-tech school; and
Any additional information that the commissioner and the executive director mayrequire.
The commissioner and the executive director shall review each application receivedand jointly approve local education providers to operate a limited number of p-tech schools within the state. The commissioner and the executive director shall base their selections on the quality of the proposed design of the p-tech school and the degree to which the agreement of the local education provider, community college, and employer is collaborative and requires full participation by each party. Once an application is approved, the local education provider shall have up to one full academic year to implement the p-tech program. It is the intent of the general assembly that one or more p-tech schools begin operating by the 2016-17 school year.
A p-tech school is subject to the state assessment requirements specified in section22-7-1006.3 and the accountability requirements specified in article 11 of this title. In addition, the commissioner and the executive director may establish indicators for measuring the performance of each p-tech school, which indicators may include the ability of students who graduate from a p-tech school to obtain employment in the field or to pursue additional postsecondary education in the field, as well as any relevant performance indicators established for the concurrent enrollment and ASCENT programs.
A p-tech school may have different high school graduation requirements from thoseof the local education provider or the host school. However, for purposes of applying the provisions of article 11 of this title 22 concerning school accountability and reporting graduation rates, a p-tech student will be counted in the local education provider's or host school's graduation rate in the year in which the student completes the local education provider's or host school's minimum graduation requirements. Nothing in this subsection (5) affects provisions relating to the funding of p-tech students pursuant to section 22-35.3-104.
Source: L. 2015: Entire article added, (HB 15-1270), ch. 195, p. 653, § 1, effective August 5. L. 2016: (4) amended, (SB 16-189), ch. 210, p. 763, § 38, effective June 6. L. 2017: (5) added, (HB 17-1194), ch. 129, p. 440, § 3, effective August 9.
Cross references: For the legislative declaration in HB 17-1194, see section 1 of chapter 129, Session Laws of Colorado 2017.