Yesterday the California Board of Education approved sweeping updates to California’s Career Technical Education (CTE) Model Curriculum Standards.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said: “This new framework sheds light on many new 21st century industry pathways, from game design and mental and behavioral health to green energy and international business. They also tie in well with the rigorous academics and modern relevance demanded under the Common Core State Standards.”
The new CTE standards have been updated to meet current business and industry practices, provide guidance to meet entry-level employment requirements, and demonstrate integration with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Sector standards were developed and written with extensive teacher participation and feedback.
With the adoption of new and aligned standards, this is a good time for teachers to begin to reconsider what is currently taught and what changes may be appropriate in their classroom. Administrators may want to incorporate CTE standards into the district or school plan for roll-out of the new CCSS to develop a strong relationship between the CCSS and the whole notion of college and career readiness and 21st century skills.
The newly adopted ICT standards increase the level of rigor over previous standards, and promote computational thinking. The standards include an academic alignment matrix to support the work of school collaboration teams who are tasked with integrating the new CTE and CCSS curriculum standards into instruction and assessments. Send a “blank” email message to: join-commoncore@mlist.cde.ca.gov to receive ongoing information about California’s implementation of CCSS.
What Verses How
A standard is defined as the knowledge, concepts, and skills that students should acquire at each grade level. This is the “what” that should be taught. It is the teacher’s responsibility to figure out “how” to teach the subject to meet the particular needs of the students they are assigned to teach.
The new ICT standards are designed to better engage and prepare students to master the demands necessary to compete and excel in the technologically advanced workplace of the 21st century. Programs that align to these new standards will help assure that our students have the best programs to help them succeed and prepare for the future.
CDE is planning to recruit teachers to develop integrated instructional units and develop “trainers of trainers” to promote the integration between career and academic subjects. CDE will also be developing a CTE education framework document that will include resources to help those involved with CTE program development, delivery, and support at the course, school, and district levels.
Working together is Vital
Many teachers have told me through statewide surveys that they want to know “what works” and many are interested in working together. To that end, I am working to connect teachers who teach similar ICT sector courses and plan to bring them together for professional learning and to refine instructional practice and course materials.
Thanks to many teachers who responded to a recent survey and with support from the CTE Standards Writing team, I have put together a draft list of course titles and descriptions that fit nicely on pathways in the ICT Sector: ICT Sector Course List.
Exploring Computer Science as a Foundation for 21st Century Learning
The ICT Sector offer many significant opportunities for school wide collaboration because technologies in this career sector are the driving force of innovation behind the efficiency initiatives of all career clusters. I recommend the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) curriculum be used at the first course in all of the ICT pathways because it has a broad focus on how various technologies impact our society. ECS is free, aligned with CCSS, has a-g UCOP status, and a support network.
CCSS standards, CTE standards, twenty-first century skills, college and career readiness, the five Cs (critical thinking, computational thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity)… is your head spinning?