The recently amended Carl Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act (Perkins III) directs the Secretary of Education to conduct an "independent evaluation and assessment of vocational and technical education programs under this Act" and appoint an independent advisory panel to advise the Secretary on the implementation of the assessment.

The National Evaluation of the Tech-Prep Education Program was a five-year study conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. in response to the Department of Education's need for a broad analysis of Tech-Prep implementation progress throughout the United States under Title IIIE funding.