Briefing Paper
Issue:
The Career Technical Education Model Curriculum Standards (MCS) have not been updated for nearly 10 years. Dramatic changes have taken place throughout business and industry sectors based on the introduction and expansion of technological processes and procedures and environmental issues. Concurrently there is a need to ensure those enrolled in Career and Technical Education are gaining the 21st Century skills and knowledge necessary to be globally competitive. Additionally, the MCS are not aligned with the recently adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English-language arts and mathematics. To ensure strong interdisciplinary opportunities, this alignment should proceed in a judicious manner. Hence, it is timely for the MCS to be reviewed and recommendations for revisions considered.
Background:
A number of recent reports underscore the importance of preparing young people for both college and careers. Recommendations include applications of academic concepts through real world examples that “make sense” to students, causing them to retain the information presented, and giving them the ability to use that information in new settings and situations beyond the school environment. As the MCS are reviewed the following needs to be considered:
- First, Clarifying the state’s role in the education system by focusing on developing standards for student success and holding district’s accountable for meeting those standards, including a greater emphasis on knowledge and skills in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The California Department of Educations’ updated Frameworks should integrate 21st century learning skills, including building on brain research that demonstrates the effectiveness of hands-on inquiry-based approaches. . .”1
- Next, the current generation of young people is more exposed than any generation before to a wide array of technology and other media that causes educators to consider new ways of presenting information. To address this new way of learning, the MCS should employ a variety of technology based strategies for instructional purposes.
The First Globals, as the current generation of young adults has been named by John Zogby in his recently published book The Way We’ll Be, will lead the way for the next generation in how they learn, approach the work they will do, and their expectations of those that shape the future.
“This is a group in almost constant conversation-using cell phones, e-mails, text-messaging, instant messaging, chat rooms…much of that conversation is idle chatter, but it is also a form of conditioning with inevitable results.” 2 - In addition, as stated in Governor Jerry Brown’s Jobs for California’s Future Education Plan, “We should expand curriculum and teaching materials in STEM subjects, including online and virtual programs, enhanced teaching materials, partnerships with high tech companies, and hands on learning opportunities. In addition, we should look at career focused schools supported by local businesses and other institutions that prepare students more directly for employment in valuable industries such as high tech, engineering, health care, or the building trades.”
From the Top 100 Fastest Growing Occupations in California 2008–2018 report, each of the industries noted in the Governor’s comments are included. Leading the list is Biomedical Engineers with an 80.6 percent growth projection followed by Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts at 50.3 percent. Managers of the Construction Trades are noted as needing more than 2,000 new workers annually. Finally, health care projections show that the fastest growing occupations span the industry sector from: Biochemists and Medical Scientists, to Health Information and Medical Laboratory Technicians.3
Although preparation for occupations in these fields is not new nor exclusively offered in secondary schools, the standards that are the basis for the program of study should reflect current practices that will be built upon in postsecondary programs. For example, the use of Electronic Health Records across the health care industry suggests that an introduction to Health Information Technology should be integrated into the MCS for this sector. Global initiatives and competition will significantly impact the Business and Finance sector and global practices, and cultural considerations should be introduced early in this sectors’ program of study. New materials, environmental issues, and technological advances significantly impact the Energy, Transportation, Engineering, and Construction sectors and should be considered as the MCS are reviewed and updated.
- Also, according to a recent study by the Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc.4 the top skills in order of importance are:
Most Important Skills Employers Look For In New Hires- Teamwork skills
- Critical thinking/ reasoning skills
- Oral/written communication
- Ability to assemble/organize information
- Innovative/thinking critically
- Able to work with numbers/statistics
This list aligns well with the 21st Century skills referred to as the four “C’s,”5 Critical thinking and problem solving, Communications, Collaboration and team building, and Creativity and innovation. All to be addressed in the MCS review.
Organization:
The MCS for each of the 15 Industry Sectors are organized in two sections, Foundation Standards and Pathway Standards. They are designed to provide guidance for new course development and as a basis for measuring student achievement. The MCS Foundation Standards by title are common to all of the Industry Sectors. Each standard includes measures that are common across the sectors, as well as those that may be unique to the individual sector.
The pathways for each sector are groupings of career areas within a sector identified by common functions, behaviors, interests, and environments. Both the MCS Foundation and Pathway Standards should reflect the most current industry practices and procedures to ensure the program of study prepares students for continuing their education at a postsecondary agency without the need for remediation or for successful entry level employment in their selected sector.
In addition the MCS are utilized by the California Department of Education staff for approving courses that receive federal funding support from Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006. This funding is one of the few sources of discretionary money available to local schools for meeting start up and excess costs, such as equipment and supplies, associated with career technical education programs of study.
Process:
Convene review teams of professional representatives from business and industry, postsecondary, and secondary education for each of the 15 industry sectors to complete a review of the MCS. The review will determine if the MCS Foundation and Pathway Standards combined are adequately meeting the following:
- Hands-on applications
- Use of technology specific to each industry sector/pathway
- Use of technology for instructional purposes
- Green content integration
- Clean energy jobs preparation
- STEM standards and practices
- Entrepreneurial preparation
- Logistics alignment
- Workplace learning and virtual experience possibilities
- 21st Century innovation, practices, and procedures integration
- Preparation aligned with postsecondary entry requirements
- Lead to a certificate, license, or degree
- Applications to enhance and reinforce the English language arts and Math CCSS
Develop new standards for foundation or pathways as recommended by the industry sector review teams.
Align the CCSS to the MCS Foundation Standards and create applications of the CCSS for each of the industry sector pathways as appropriate.
Footnotes
1 California Report Card 2011 Setting the Agenda for Children; Ch1ldren Now
2 Zogby, John, 2008. The Way We’ll Be: the Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream, p. 107
3 Labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov
4 “How Should Colleges Prepare Students to Succeed in Today’s Global Economy?” AAC&U/Peter D. Hart Research. 2006.
5 Up to the Challenge The Role of Career and Technical Education and 21st Century Skills in College and Career Readiness, p. 15, Association for Career & Technical Education, National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education consortium, and Partnership for 21st Century Skills. 2010.
