Career Clusters: Tool for Seamless Educational Transition Presentation Location | Statistics Current as of 11/20/2007

1. Career Clusters: Tool for Seamless Educational Transition Presentation Location | Statistics Current as of 11/20/2007

2. Overview • What are Career Clusters? • Why Career Clusters? • What are the Benefits? • What Resources are Available? • Developing a Plan of Study

3. Career Clusters: Definition • Career Clusters represent a grouping of occupations and broad industries based on commonalities. • Instructional + Guidance Model

4. Career Clusters: Tool A TOOL for seamless educational system that: • Blends rigorous academic/technical preparation • Provides career planning • Offers options for students to experience all aspects of an industry • Facilitates/assists students with transitions

5. What Career Clusters Do • Provide a framework for seamless education • Provide MORE career options for learners • Provide a framework for addressing the entire world of work • Provide a picture of how knowledge and skills transfer vertically and horizontally

6. 16 Career Clusters

7. Career Clusters: Model • Organizes the occupations, within each cluster, into pathways that group the cluster occupations based on commonalities

9. Why? Our economy is changing to: • Technology-driven • Knowledge-based • Global • Increased employer demands

10. Why? Supports 6 Major Initiatives • EDGE • Governor’s Council for Workforce and Economic Development • The Alliance Initiative • The new Carl Perkins Legislation • No Child Left Behind • Achieving Classroom Excellence (ACE)

11. Our Solution A model that: • Fits our mission. • Prepares students for • Employment • Technical and postsecondary education • Lifelong learning. • Increases our ability to meet industry expectations.

12. Our Solution • Adapted the national career clusters framework • 16 clusters and 81+ defined pathways • Adds components unique to Oklahoma • Career majors (339) • Courses (1501 unduplicated) • Allows us to become industry-focused, student-centered, and performance-driven

13. VocationalEducation Technical skills Focused on a few jobs In lieu of academics/college Program-focused Entry-level preparation CTE Tech skills and academics For many careers Aligns with and supports academics 16 clusters, 85 pathways Industry-focused to create pathways for career advancement Traditional Career Clusters

14. New Instructional Framework • Realigning existing programs to a sequence of courses (career majors) based on industry-identified: • Knowledge • Skill • Credentials

15. Programs to Courses Using the Career Clusters Model

16. Instructional Framework Cluster Transportation, Distribution & Logistics Pathway Automotive Service Career Major Maintenance/Light Repair Technician Course Electrical/Electronics Introduction Knowledge & Skills DVOM Operation

17. Cluster A career cluster is a grouping of occupations and broad industries based on commonalities. A career cluster represents the knowledge and skills, both academic and technical, that all students within the cluster should achieve regardless of their pathway. Pathway Career Major Course Knowledge & Skills

18. Sixteen Career Clusters • The Career Clusters icons are being used with permission of the States’ Career Clusters Initiative, 2007.

19. Transportation, Distribution & Logistics

20. Transportation, Distribution & Logistics

21. A pathway is a more narrow grouping of occupations and broad industries within a career cluster. The pathway represents the knowledge and skills, both academic and technical, necessary to pursue a full range of career opportunities within a pathway - ranging from entry level to management, including technical and professional career specialties. Cluster Pathway Career Major Course Knowledge & Skills

22. Cluster Pathway Career Major Course Knowledge & Skills Automotive Service Pathway

23. A career major is a model sequence of courses or field of study that prepares a student for a career and ensures that: Integration occurs between academic and occupational learning; Transitions are established between secondary schools and postsecondary institutions; Students are prepared for employment in a broad career cluster; and Students receive a skill credential. Cluster Pathway Career Major Course Knowledge & Skills

24. Cluster Pathway Career Major Course Knowledge & Skills Maintenance/Light Repair Technician

25. A course is an instructional unit that includes a set of defined competencies, a syllabus or course outline, and a measure of accountability, evaluation, or assessment. A course may be occupational, exploratory, academic, foundational, or competency development. Cluster Pathway Career Major Course Knowledge & Skills

26. Cluster Pathway Career Major Course Knowledge & Skills Electrical/Electronics Introduction Automotive Electrical/Electronics Introduction

27. Cluster Knowledge and Skills are specific work tasks performed on the job. They are a large enough task to be valued in and of themselves, and are measurable and observable. Pathway Career Major Course Knowledge & Skills

28. National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation Knowledge & Skills Cluster Pathway Career Major Operation of a Digital Volt Ohm Meter (DVOM) Course Knowledge & Skills

29. What Do We Do Differently? • Career Guidance • Use the 16 clusters as a basis for educational and career planning • Identify pathways within each cluster with their specific occupations and career ladders (done on the plan of study) • Identify specific academic and technical coursework for each cluster area (done on the plan of study)

30. Guidance • Develop Plan of Study for each student • Strengthen the plan of study to be “career focused,” NOT focused on “meeting graduation requirements” • Work to connect guidance strategies from middle school to high school to tech center to college • Recognize the value of a “career” not a college scholarship

31. What are Plans of Study? • A sequenced listing of courses, • academic and CTE/degree major • connects student’s high school and postsecondary educational experiences • A set of course descriptions for the CTE/degree major courses • knowledge and skills

34. Three Basic Implementation Stages Career Preparation and Planning (9-Postsecondary) Career Awareness and Career Exploration (K-8) *Exploring all clusters Lifelong Learning (K-Careers) *Cross-training, retooling within a cluster or across related clusters • Focusing on cluster • Focusing on pathway within cluster • Focusing on occupation within pathway

35. Career Clusters: Benefits • Enrollment in Rigorous & Relevant coursework • Comprehensive & Integrated Career Guidance • Smooth Educational Transitions • Successful Career Transitions

36. Resources • www.okcareertech.org/okcareerclusters • Career majors, career major courses, resources, workforce statistics, etc. • www.okcareertech.org/iis • www.okcareertech.org/guidance • Pathway plans of study, Plan of Study rubric, one page cluster plans of study, etc. • www.careerclusters.org • National models, plans of study, resources, etc. • www.careervoyages.com