Integrating College and Career Readiness Standards into Curricula
In the past, school districts developed curricula that helped students learn the knowledge and technical skills required for a specialized content area that led to a certificate or to an associate or baccalaureate degree program in that specialization (e.g., HVAC, computer programming). More recently, Career and Technical Education (CTE) has embraced the development of more broad-based curricula that helps students develop the academic knowledge and a broad range of technical skills that prepares them for multiple career options in a career cluster. Both types of CTE programs of study ultimately contribute to students’ employability in one or more work settings.
To develop CTE programs of study curricula, secondary and postsecondary faculty work together to develop and align academic and CTE curricula with: (1) college course syllabi/curricula to establish course equivalency; (2) the New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards, including the 21st-Century Life and Careers Standards 9.1-9.4; and, (3) secondary and postsecondary exams to ensure that students enrolled in a seamless credit-based transition program will pass the HESPA and ACCUPLACER or SAT exams, and will not require remediation.
Partnering representatives from business and industry also contribute to well-rounded integrated curricula by identifying the “employability” and “occupational-technical” standards that students must learn to be successful in global work environments. Employability skills include the foundational skills, and personal qualities that make students productive workers, Occupational-technical standards are job-related competencies and specifications set forth by the health care industry necessary for workers to perform successfully in occupational settings.
21st Century Skills
http://www.p21.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=254&Itemid=120
NJ Core Curriculum Standards 2009: Standards 9.1-9.4
http://www.njcccs.org/
If school districts are revising existing curricula to develop a CTE POS, the curricula may be submitted to the partnering postsecondary institution. The contact individual at the postsecondary institution will forward the curricula to the appropriate college department for review, and work with the school district to align the program curricula with existing college courses to establish college course equivalency. |
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