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The Work Suite
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Career Clusters and Career Pathways
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- Are you
trying to efficiently place Summer Youth in the best work experience sites?
- Does your
eighth grade class have to choose a high school major?
- Do your
unemployed adult clients want to return to college?
See a
new assessment report of Recommended Career Clusters and Pathways based on interest and aptitude. On page 2 of the following CareerScope Career Cluster/Pathway Summary
report, you can immediately see the Pathways with the highest percentage
of high-interest Career Specialties within the Career Pathways meeting the aptitude cut off scores for that individual.
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Background of Career Clusters - Gaining Knowledge in the Context of Careers
The U.S. Department of Education's 16 Career Clusters provide learners
with a focus for career-related learning and academic study, and schools or training programs with a way
of restructuring curriculum, teaching resources, and how students are grouped. Students take classes around a particular
career field (such as business, health, the arts or technology). Students who select a career cluster learn about that particular
field and may also learn general academics (i.e., English, mathematics, social studies and science) in the context of that
career field.
Each Career Cluster has within it several Career Pathways,
within which there are numerous Career Specialties - each layer requires more specific and advanced skill learning,
but skills learned at the Cluster level are usually transferable to most of the Pathways and Specialties within
the Cluster. CareerScope provides an objective way to guide and connect students to Career Clusters and
Pathways and Specialties for which they have high interest and aptitude - thus ensuring a higher likelihood of success in
school and at work.
History of Career Clusters Initiative
The Career Clusters Initiative began in 1996 in the U.S. as the Building Linkages
Initiative and was a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Education, the Office of Vocational and Adult Education
(OVAE), the National School-to-Work Office (NSTWO) and the National Skill Standards Board (NSSB). The purpose of the Initiative
was to establish linkages among State educational agencies, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions, employers,
industry groups, other stakeholders and Federal agencies. The goal was to create curricular frameworks in broad career clusters,
designed to prepare students to transition successfully from high school to postsecondary education and employment in a career
area.
The creation of curricular models within the context of broad career clusters ensures
the alignment of academic and technical instructional strategies with the requirements of postsecondary education and the
expectations of employers in increasingly academic and technologically demanding careers. The vocational education field has
historically responded to the needs of the national economy by preparing individuals to enter jobs in demand. Source
Federal Register, December,6, 2000
U.S. DOE Structure of Career Clusters, Pathways and Specialties
Cluster Level Represents the general skill and knowledge, both academic and technical, that all learners should achieve regardless
of their pathway. There are 16 Career Clusters in the U.S. DOE model:
- Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources
- Architecture & Construction
- Arts, Audio/Video Technology & Communications
- Business, Management & Administration
- Education & Training
- Finance
- Government & Public Administration
- Health Science
- Hospitality & Tourism
- Human Services
- Information Technology
- Law, Public Safety & Security
- Manufacturing
- Marketing, Sales & Service
- Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
- Transportation, Distribution & Logistics
Pathway Level Represents the more specific 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. There are 78 Career Pathways in the U.S. DOE model. Examples include: Business Financial Management
and Accounting, Health Informatics, Management and Entrepreneurship, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics . .
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Career Specialties Represents U.S. DOE's full range of career opportunities within each pathway. There are 1800 Career
Specialties in the U.S. DOE model. Examples include Bookeeper, Epidemiologist, Marketing Manager, Geoscientist. . .
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See a
Sample Report of Recommended Career Clusters, Pathways and Career Specialties, based on interest and aptitude!
In the following CareerScope Career Cluster/Pathway report, this student can immediately see that, within the
Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Cluster, in the Career Pathway of Plant Systems, the Career Specialties of Biotechnology
Lab Technician, Forest Geneticist, and Greenhouse Manager are all in their number one interest area, and they can see that
they only meet the aptitude cut off scores for two of the three specialties. Being a Forest Geneticist might be hard
for them, although some studies show that you can still develop your aptitudes up to age 18 or so.
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