Career Clusters: Focusing Education on the Future

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Career ClustersFocusing Education on the Future

• National Dissemination Center for Career and
  Technical Education
• April 2, 2004 Webcast
• The National Association of State Directors
• of Career Technical Education Consortium
• States Career Clusters Initiative

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Career Clusters Presentation Overview

• History and Background of Career Clusters
• Vision for Career Clusters
• Career Cluster Resources and Their Development
• Policy Implications

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History and Background of Career Clusters
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What is a Career Cluster?

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

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What is a Career Cluster?

• A 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

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Career Clusters Model

• Organizes the occupations, within each cluster,
  into pathways that group the cluster occupations
  based on commonalities

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Career Clusters Titles

• Agriculture, Food Natural Resources
• Architecture Construction
• Arts, Audio/Video Technology Communications
• Business, Management Administration
• Education Training
• Finance
• Government Public Administration
• Health Science

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Career Clusters Titles

• Human Services
• Information Technology
• Law, Public Safety Security
• Manufacturing
• Marketing, Sales Service
• Hospitality Tourism
• Science, Technology, Engineering Mathematics
• Transportation, Distribution Logistics

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Career Clusters Development

• US Dept. of Education originally identified the
  16 clusters
• Refined by broad-based National Advisory
  Committees of content experts
• Crosswalks/cross-references

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Career Clusters Differences/Complements

• Differences
• Guidance Instruction
• Embraced by all states
• Vertical Horizontal

• Complements
• Crosswalks to other grouping systems
• Flexibility for packaging instruction
• Not a silo system

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Career Clusters Organizational Structure

• National Association of State Directors of Career
  Technical Education Consortium partnering with
• 16 clusters
• Product/service providers

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Vision for Career Clusters
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• there is a growing interest in high school
  reform, and because the Perkins Act is one of the
  primary sources of funding for secondary schools,
  the federal contribution to CTE deserves scrutiny
  to determine how it contributes to improved
  academic learning experiences for high school
  students.
• Rigor and Relevance A New Vision for
  Career and Technical Education, Betsy Brand,
  April 2003

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• The needs of the workforce have continued to
  evolve and require higher levels of academic,
  technical, and employability skills therefore,
  the federal role in CTE should be reviewed to
  ensure that it is meeting the needs of the labor
  market.
• Rigor and Relevance A New Vision for
  Career and Technical Education, Betsy Brand,
  April 2003

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Career Clusters Vision

• Career-focused strategy supporting
• Educational reform
• Workforce preparation
• Economic development

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Career Clusters Goals

• High academic attainment (meet state
  requirements)
• Successful transition to postsecondary education
  and training

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Career Clusters Goals

• Preparation for success in careers (academic
  skills, technical skills, employability skills)
• Promote/support economic development to increase
  productivity
• Enhance career development outcomes

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Academic Attainment

• When students complete at least four credits in
  an academic or career/technical major (Career
  Cluster), those students also meet higher
  academic achievement goals.
• HSTW Findings from the 1996 and 1998
  Assessments, P. Frome, 2000.

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Academic Attainment

• During the decade of the 1990s, CTE concentrators
  increased their participation in more rigorous
  academic coursework, and when compared with
  general students, CTE learners are taking more,
  higher level math and science.
• Research to Practice, J. Stone, 2003

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Academic Attainment

• A large number of entry-level jobs among the 16
  Career Clusters have higher reading requirements
  than many high school tests required for
  graduation.
• The Future of Career and Technical
  Education,Willard R. Daggett, 2001

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Successful Transition

• Career academy (career-themed, career
  cluster-based instruction) students studied were
  more likely to go on to postsecondary education
  than a national sample of students.
• Career Academies, J. Kemple, 2001

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Successful Transition

• 54 of non-tech prep students required
  remediation at the community college level and
  only 37 of tech prep students required it.
• Tech Prep Pathways to Success, D. Krile and
  P. Palmer, 2002

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Success in Careers

• Gold-Collar Worker
• a highly skilled multidisciplinarian who
  combines the mind of the white-collar worker with
  the hands of the blue-collar employee
• Cultivating the Gold-Collar Worker, M. A.
  Roe, May 2001

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Success in Careers

• Career Clusters are the foundation of the
  smaller learning communities and are grouped by
  common academic and technical skills sets needed
  for postsecondary education and employment in
  each category.
• School-to-Career Reworking the Model, Barry
  Burke, January 2004

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Economic Development

• The single most important resource of any
  cluster in todays economy is its human capital.
  Access to a labor pool that knows how to apply
  its knowledge to the business of the cluster is a
  key to success.
• A Governors Guide to Cluster-Based Economic
  Development, NGA, 2002

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Career Development Outcomes

• Most young people are receiving little to no
  career guidance outside the home, and not enough
  from their parents.
• Decisions Without Direction, Dan Hurley and
  Jim Thorpe, 2002

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Career Clusters Educational Reform

• Learners
• Help develop workplace, academic and technical
  skills
• Build a repertoire of skills
• Enhance career guidance and transitions
• Add relevance to the curriculum
• Provide for re-tooling, changing careers

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Career Clusters Educational Reform

• Educators/Schools
• Offer a broader, more durable preparation for the
  world of work
• Provide documentation of academic
  integration/achievement
• Create a seamless educational system

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Career Clusters Educational Reform

• Guidance Counselors
• Provide a focus for education and career planning
  to be connected (assessment, exploration, courses
  and enrollment sequenced)

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Career Clusters Educational Reform

• Guidance Counselors
• Individualize students education plans
• Help parents/students see a variety of career
  options
• Help parents/students see horizontal and vertical
  options for mobility

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Career Clusters Educational Reform

• Parents
• Understand and visualize career options/pathways
• Use information to assist children with
  navigating a career pathway

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Career Clusters Educational Reform

• Parents
• Provide organized structure (enrollment/course
  sequence, test interpretation, career planning,
  postsecondary planning)

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Career Clusters Workforce Preparation

• Employers/Industry Groups
• Driven by local business/industry and economic
  development
• Prepare the emerging workforce
• Cross-train/re-tool the workforce
• Build a flexible, Gold Collar workforce

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Career Clusters Workforce Preparation

• Workforce Development Systems
• Provide a common language for communication from
  state to state, from agency to agency, from
  stakeholder to stakeholder
• Provide a well-prepared, qualified workforce for
  employers

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Career ClustersEconomic Development

• The cluster as context can be adopted throughout
  the educational systemto make the learning more
  meaningful and introduce youth early to the
  economy. By designing curricula around the
  workplace and business of firms in a local
  cluster, learnerscan perhaps be more inclined
  to follow career paths in the cluster.
• A Governors Guide to Cluster-Based Economic
  Development, NGA, 2002

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Career Clusters Connections

• School-to-Careers
• HSTW
• Tech Prep
• Career Academies
• Small Learning Communities

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Career Clusters National Value

• National Association of State Directors of Career
  Technical Education Consortium
• Accountability/data collection
• Central distribution system
• Web site
• Review and validation of knowledge and skills

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Career Clusters State Value

• Broader preparation meets business and industry
  needs for qualified workers
• Contextual learning increases academic
  performance for all students

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Career Clusters Local Value

• Potential enrollment increases with broader
  programs that appeal to more students
• Enhanced guidance services through the cluster
  models identification of many careers and their
  pathways
• Aligned linkages from postsecondary education to
  feeder programs

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Career Cluster Resources and Their Development
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Career Clusters Resources

• www.careerclusters.org
• www.careervoyages.com
• Preferred Product/Technical Assistance Providers
• Career Cluster Resources CD
• Second Annual Career Clusters Institute, June
  27-29
• Plans of Study

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Career Clusters Assessments

• Workplace Readiness Assessment
• Assessments across clusters
• Cluster-specific assessments

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Career Clusters Products
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Tips for Using Resources

• Enhance existing programs.
• Use frameworks to strengthen/align programs,
  courses, and skill sets.
• Use resources for career academies, small
  learning communities, schools within schools,
  charter schools, home schooling and magnet
  schools.

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Validation Process

• Validation by advisory committees
• National web-based validation or
• pilot site validation
• Continuing review by advisory committees, pilot
  sites and subject matter experts

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Policy Implications
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National Policy

• NCLB
• Academic Achievement
• Career Guidance Component
• Perkins Reauthorization
• Accountability
• Secondary/Postsecondary Transition

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State Policy

• Organize service delivery around clusters
• Target investments to clusters
• Strengthen networking and build bridges
• Develop human resources for clusters
• A Governors Guide to Cluster-Based Economic
  Development, NGA, 2002

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Local Policy

• 1. The curriculum includes the cluster foundation
  knowledge and skills.
• 2. The curriculum includes pathway knowledge and
  skills.
• 3. Academic and technical instructors jointly
  plan the curriculum.
• 4. The specific state academic standards
  reinforced in the curriculum are clearly
  identified.

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Local Policy

• 5. Communication (reading, writing, and
  presenting) activities are pervasive in the
  curriculum.
• 6. The curriculum reflects multiple careers
  associated with the cluster. 
• 7. The curriculum reflects the economic
  development plans of the local/state community.
• 8. Instructors provide direct support to students
  in developing a career/educational plan.
• 9. Data is collected and used for quality control
  and improvement.

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CCTI

• Fifteen community/technical college-led site
  partnerships in five occupational areas
  developing programs of study linking secondary
  and postsecondary education
• www.league.org/league/projects/ccti/index.html

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CCTI

• Development of academically rigorous programs of
  study organized around broad occupational areas
  that initially include
• Health Science
• Information Technology
• Education and Training
• Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
• Law, Public Safety and Security

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CCTI and Career Clusters

• Career Clusters are an ideal way of organizing
  Career Pathways and can assist schools in
  determining Career Pathway curriculum content.

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Future Legislation
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Contact Information

• www.careerclusters.org
• Kimberly Green or Pam Stacey
• 202.737.0303 or 405.743.6850
• careerclusters_at_careerclusters.org