Career Clusters: Focusing Education on the Future

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Career ClustersFocusing Education on the Future

• U.S. Department of Education
• National School-to-Work Office

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Career Cluster Definition

• A Career Cluster is a grouping of occupations and
  broad industries based on commonalities.
• The 16 Career Clusters provide an organizing tool
  for schools, small learning communities,
  academies and magnet schools.

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16 Career Clusters

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

• Health Science
• Hospitality Tourism
• Human Services
• Information Technology
• Law Public Safety
• Manufacturing
• Retail/Wholesale Sales Service
• Scientific Research Engineering
• Transportation, Distribution, Logistics

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Cluster Partnerships Are Key

• State Education Agencies
• Post-secondary Education (vocational school,
  community college, university)
• Employers/Industry Groups (local, national)
• Other relevant stakeholders (labor, professional
  organizations)

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Career Cluster Development

• Form Cluster Consortium with Partners
• Conduct Research to Identify
• Cluster Occupations
• Existing Standards
• Define the Scope of the Cluster
• Align Occupations to Identify Cluster Pathways

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Career Cluster Development

• Select Cluster Pilot Test Sites
• Establish Cluster Foundation and Pathway
  Standards
• Develop Cluster Assessments
• Pilot Test Assessment and Certification Process
• Document Pathway Knowledge and Skills With
  Certificates

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Cluster Foundation StandardsTopics

• Academic Foundation
• Communications
• Employability Skills
• Ethics
• Information Technology Applications
• Legal Responsibilities
• Safety Practices
• Systems
• Teamwork
• Technical Skills

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Career Cluster Framework

• Cluster Foundation
• Represents the skills and knowledge, both
  academic and technical, that all students within
  the cluster should achieve regardless of their
  pathway.
• Pathways
• Represents the skill and knowledge, 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.
• Career Specialties
• Represents the full range of career opportunities
  within each pathway.

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Career Specialties
CAREER CLUSTER FRAMEWORK
Pathways

Cluster Foundation
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Arts, Audio/Video Technology and Communications
Career Cluster
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Instructional/Assessment Scenarios Include

• AAVTC Content Standard(s) Addressed
• Required Academic Skills (Taxonomy Based)
• Workplace Skills
• The Contextual Problem to be Solved
• Conditions for Performance
• Performance/Assessment Criteria

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Instructional/Assessment Scenarios Include

• Student Instructions
• Teacher Instructions
• Resources Used to Develop the Scenario
• Business and Industry Input for Reality Check
• Quality Criteria for Scenario Developers/Reviewers
  

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CLUSTER CROSSWALK
2000 Census BLS/OES Classification OMB/SOC
Classification ETA/ONET Classification Classifi
cation of Instructional Programs (CIP) NSSB
Industry Standards U.S. Department of Ed. Career
Clusters
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Current Career Cluster Projects

• Arts, Audio Video Technology, and Communications
  (AAVTC)
• Health Science
• Information Technology (IT)
• Manufacturing
• Transportation, Distribution and Logistics (TDL)

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The AAVTC Pilot Sites

• Miami Senior High School
• Miami, FL
• Glenwood High School
• Chatham, Il
• Covington High School
• Covington, LA
• Communication Hi School
• Wall, NJ
• Western Suffolk BOCES
• Dix Hills, NY

• Will Rogers High School
• Tulsa, OK
• Middle Bucks Institute of Technology
• Jamison, PA
• Hannaford Career Center
• Middlebury, VT
• Peninsula/Gig Harbor High
• Gig Harbor, WA

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CAREER CLUSTER BROCHURE AND POSTERORDERING
INFORMATION

• CALL ED PUBS AT
• 1 877 433 7827

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Cluster Project Web Sites

• AAVTC
• www.artavcomm.org
•  
• Health Science
• www.nchste.org
•  
• Information Technology
• www.edc.org/EWIT/bltext.htm
•  

• Manufacturing
• www.mfglinks.org
•  
• Transportation, Distributionand Logistics
• education.dot.gov/translinkage

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Contact Information U.S. Department of Education

• Scott Hess
• Education Program Specialist
• U.S. Department of Education
• Office of Vocational and Adult Education
• 4090 MES400 Maryland Avenue, SWWashington, DC
  20202Scott_Hess_at_ed.gov
• www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/