Tech prep is an articulation partnership between secondary vocational-technical schools and postsecondary institutions. It can be described as an "advanced skills" articulation model because it enables students to use the time saved through coordinated course work to acquire the more advanced occupational knowledge and skill required by changing technologies. Tech prep is becoming highly visible in vocational-technical education for a variety of reasons: the change to a service economy, new technology, and changing work force demographics. Articulation through tech prep offers a more efficient use of tax dollars for education and training, eliminates unnecessary duplication of program content, and includes, as critical to education, the technological content knowledge and skill training required by today's employers. Factors have been identified that influence the success of tech-prep articulation efforts. The factors affecting students are counseling, orientation, mentorship, and automatic admission to postsecondary institutions. Faculty leadership is also critical to tech-prep articulation. Some strategies for strengthening tech prep include establishing lines of communication, identifying programs to be coordinated, rewriting curricular competencies, developing a model, designing an evaluation model, providing technical assistance, and conducting a public relations effort. (7 references) (YLB)