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Career Pathways
Preparing Students for Life
- Elaine Makas Howard - Curriculum Connections
- Pamela J. Ill - Curriculum Connections
February 2004 | 360 pages | Corwin
Career Pathways is a system of organizing student learning interests and aptitudes around career fields. The model grew out of the federally funded National School-to-Work Opportunities Act (1994). Briefly, a career pathways high school starts with the career clusters, for students to align themselves with in high school. Depending on the school location and capacity, there are a variety of career clusters that are offered - engineering, health, science, art/design, writing, business, agriculture, etc. - and a curriculum is built around the individual pathway and career field - e.g. nurse - that the student chooses from within their career cluster. This is a student-oriented model of self-determination, in which students choose a curriculum area that matches their aptitudes and abilities. Core curriculum is still taught throughout each silo, so standardized testing is accommodated.
Career pathways allow students to connect their learning from year to year, to practice their strengths and skills to prepare for transition to college or work, to work as teams, etc. It does not require a high school to overhaul their system, but instead shows how high schools can integrate the pathways model to work within a school and make it a more connected learning environment.
Introduction: Student Centered High Schools
Acknowledgements
About the Authors
Dedication
Chapter 1. The What and Why of Career Pathways
Chapter 2. The Collaborative Career Pathways Model
Chapter 3. Steps to Implementing the Model
Part I. Three Steps to Successful Change - A Process Model
Part II. A Timeline for Implementation
Part III. Funding
Part I. Building a Foundation
Chapter 4: District Vision and School Leadership: The Pathways Foundation
Chapter 5. Comprehensive Guidance to Prepare and Assist Pathway Students
Chapter 6. Curriculum in a Career Pathways High School: A Rationale for Standards, Mapping and Integration
Part II. School Structure
Chapter 7. Focus Classes for Each Level of Career Pathways
Chapter 8. Scheduling in a Collaborative Career Pathways High School
Part III. Classroom Processes
Chapter 9. Freshman Explorations: The Cornerstone of Pathways Instruction
Chapter 10. Pathway Classes Grades 10-12: Sophomore Selections, Junior Judgments and Senior Transitions
Chapter 11. Core and Elective Teachers as Support for the Career Pathways Instructional Process
Part IV. Culture, Community, and Technology
Chapter 12. Public Relations, Parents and Pathways
Chapter 13. The School Community: The True Classroom of Pathways
Chapter 14. School Culture and Climate in a Pathways High School
Chapter 15. Pathways as a Systematic Philosophy
Resources: Sample Forms
References
"Howard and Ill have given educators a stunning encyclopedic handbook on career pathways. Loaded with helpful lists and charts, and written in a clear, conversational tone, Career Pathways is the new indispensable resource for superintendents, principals, counselors, and teachers."
Huron College
"Career Pathways is the most comprehensive curriculum approach to achieving the dual goal of academic and career maturity. High school educators who seek to promote not just college admissions but college success should consider the career pathways approach."
Penn State University
