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TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE HIGHER EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIP

The Technical Excellence Scholarship (TES) is a state supported program administered by the Higher Education Aids Board (HEAB). The enabling legislation on the TES program is the 2013 Wisconsin Act 60. Beginning in 2015, Technical Excellence Scholarships are to be awarded to Wisconsin high school seniors who have the highest demonstrated level of proficiency in technical education subjects. The number of scholarships each high school is eligible for is based on total student enrollment.

The scholarships are only for use at a Wisconsin Technical College within the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) located within the state. The value of the scholarship is up to $2,250 per year, to be applied towards tuition. Half of the scholarship is funded by the state, while the other half is matched by the institution. Eligibility for the TES scholarship does not exceed 6 semesters, or a total of three years of postsecondary support. Semesters are defined as fall or spring semesters, not summer sessions or other shorter sessions. A student who receives a Technical Excellence Scholarship is not eligible to receive a Wisconsin Academic Excellence Higher Education Scholarship, and vice versa.

Nominees to the program are to be selected by designees from each high school in the AASD. Students enrolled in the AASD, who have reached senior status, are eligible for the Technical Excellence Scholarship. Senior status is determined as a student who is enrolled in his/her eighth semester of high school and who has completed at least 20 credits or has requested early graduation and has completed the District requirement of 23 credits. Students must have been enrolled full-time in the AASD for at least four consecutive semesters prior to the second semester of their senior year to be eligible for the Wisconsin Academic Scholarship.

Candidates for the Technical Excellence Scholarship will be selected according to eight HEAB criteria:

• student affirmation of intention to enroll in a technical college
• CTE concentration (3 or more CTE courses completed in a specific pathway)
• Youth Apprenticeship participation
• CTE pathway participation
• Skills standards participation
• Completion of industry certification
• Participation in a Career and Technical Student Organization
• Completion of technical training outside of the high school (ex. Youth Options).

AASD High Schools will use an unweighted 4.0 grade point scale to compute GPA. Pass/fail grades are not included when calculating grade point averages. Students must hold a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 on the 4.0 unweighted scale at the time of application to qualify for the scholarship.

Courses completed by students participating in study abroad programs will be accepted on a pass/fail basis. Alternative or home-based private education grades that do not have official transcripts from a recognized educational institution are accepted for credit on a pass/fail basis with no grade point value.

The scholarship committee of each high school will determine the recipients of the Technical Excellence Higher Education scholarships for their school. The recipients must attend a Wisconsin technical college. If recipients later choose not to attend a Wisconsin technical college, the scholarship will be awarded to the next person on the list. The recipients of the scholarships shall be chosen by using an established AASD matrix (based on HEAB criteria) that ranks students in descending order until the recipients have been determined. If students emerge from the evaluation system with tied scores, CTE grades become the tie-breaker. Because some students may have the same credit-hours at the time of nomination, the HEABrecommended ranking system then assigns rankings to “tied” students based on the grade point earned by eligible students in CTE courses. The grades used for this purpose are only those grades earned in CTE courses, not a student’s overall grade point.

Cross Reference:
School Admissions, 420
High School Credits Awarded from Outside the District (Youth Options) 343.42
Academic Excellence Higher Education Scholarship, 461

Legal References:
Wisconsin Act 60

Adoption Date: January 26, 2015