From APEC HRDWG Wiki

Overview

The States’ Career Clusters Initiative (SCCI) was started in the United States about 10 years ago to help US States and schools refocus their programs of career and technical education (CTE) (formerly known as vocational education) around clusters of similar occupations. Traditional vocational education prepared learners with a narrow set of specific skills for certain jobs. That preparation is no longer adequate for workers to remain competitive in a global economy having a changing and dynamic labor market where over a lifetime workers will have multiple careers.

Career Cluster Objectives

Career clusters and their associated curriculum frameworks integrate both the academic knowledge and technical skills needed for a wide range of occupations, allowing school graduates to pursue career opportunities from entry level through management and professional levels. The objectives of the SCCI are to increase:

• Students' awareness of career options to improve their educational and work choices;
• Students' understanding of the structure and function of businesses so they can be more productive workers; and
• Students' achievement by setting high standards and expectations and teaching academics in a context that interests and motivates learners

The career clusters and their curriculum frameworks reflect the higher academic standards that States have created for preparing more secondary learners for postsecondary education (college-ready) as well as for entry into the labor force (work-ready). They also focus on all aspects of an industry or cluster so that a learner gets exposed to a range of possible occupations and industry standards.

Federal Government and Industry Roles

Under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Education and the National Association of State Directors of Career/Technical Education, using national advisory committees composed of educators as well as business and industry representatives, the SCCI developed 16 clusters encompassing the 970 or so occupations described by the U.S. Department of Labor’s standard occupational codes (SOC). Within the 16 clusters, the SCCI identified 79 career pathways or groupings of similar occupations. Associated with each pathway are programs of study (sometimes called plans of study) integrating challenging academic content and technical material in a coherent sequence of courses aligning secondary and postsecondary education programs and resulting in an industry-recognized credential or postsecondary certificate or degree.

Standards

Each program of study rests on standards in the form of a set of knowledge and skill statements. These standards include foundation academic expectations, essential knowledge and skills for work, career cluster knowledge and skills, and career pathway knowledge and skills. In some States (e.g., Florida and South Carolina), secondary learners are expected to choose a career major program within a career pathway to organize their schooling, while in other States students may elect to do so.

Implementation

State and local education districts vary in the degree to which they organize their career and technical education programs around career clusters. Some States use all 16 clusters, while others use fewer or none. States and their local education districts also vary in the career pathways and programs of study they offer, often depending upon local business and industry needs.

Career Cluster Descriptions

The table below shows the 16 different career clusters and additional resources about the SCCI.