Career Pathways Development Template – Program Name


     
    Initial review for planning and prioritization – Review date
     
    Legislation and Policies
    Current Status
    None Progress In place
    Importance
    Low Important Critical
    Policies in place to support active program advisory board               
    Comments:  
       
    Policies in place to encourage instructors to collaborate on curriculum development and alignment                
    Comments:
     
    Policies in place to require and incentivize faculty to participate in professional development and program of study development                
    Comments:
     
    Policies and procedures in place to ensure academic and technical content alignment and to determine and periodically review need for course prerequisites               
    Comments:
       
    Partnerships
    Current Status
    None Progress In place
    Importance
    Low Important Critical
    MOUs in place between secondary, postsecondary, and business and industry groups collaborating in pathways development, including advisory board members          
    Comments:
     
    Articulation agreements in place, where possible, with secondary, other 2-year, and 4-year institutions          
    Comments:
     
    Dual or concurrent enrollment options articulated, where possible          
    Comments:
       

     
    Professional Development
    Current Status
    None Progress In place
    Importance
    Low Important Critical
    Ensure that teachers and faculty have the content knowledge to align and integrate academic and technical material into the curriculum and their instruction, including the development of project-based curricula that allow students to apply what they have learned          
    Comments:  
       
    Sustained, intensive, and focused opportunities for administrators and instructors/faculty to foster POS design, implementation, and curriculum maintenance including providing secondary and postsecondary instructors opportunities to meet and both design and understand an aligned, vertical sequence of coursework          
    Comments:  
       
    Train and encourage instructors to examine and use data to drive instruction and targeted assistance to students.             
    Comments:
     
    Support the alignment of curriculum throughout a program of study through the development of program outcomes rather than simply course outcomes.             
    Comments:
     
    Ensure instructors, staff, and advisors understand the overall pathway/program of study outcomes and how individual course outcomes contribute to the larger program outcomes          
    Comments:
     
    Ensure instructors understand how the courses they teach fit into a course sequence that includes both CTE and academic coursework and leads to non-duplicative courses and course outcomes          
    Comments:  
       

     
    Accountability and Evaluation Systems
    Current Status
    None Progress In place
    Importance
    Low Important Critical
    Provide timely data to faculty, staff, and administrators to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of instruction including robust utilization of SOI evaluations and peer observation             
    Comments:
     
    Program data is disaggregated and analyzed to monitor the performance of sub-groups.          
    Comments:
     
    Course attendance is collected and shared with academic advisors as well as tracked by program administration as a data tool                
    Comments:   
       
    Program admissions requirements are industry validated and clear to college administration, faculty, advisors, and students            
    Comments:
     
    Programs develop annual action plans in an effort to maintain efforts toward continuous improvement          
    Comments:
       

     
    College and Career Readiness Standards
    Current Status
    None Progress In place
    Importance
    Low Important Critical
    Program outcomes are developed and continually validated in collaboration with advisory board          
    Comments:  
       
    Course outcomes are regularly checked for alignment and fit with program outcomes             
    Comments:
       
    Instruction incorporates essential knowledge and skills (i.e., academic skills, communication, and problem-solving), which students must master regardless of their chosen career area or program of study          
    Comments:
     
    Instruction incorporates industry-recognized technical standards that are valued in the workplace          
    Comments:
     
    To the extent practicable, courses are internationally benchmarked so that all students are prepared to succeed in a global economy          
    Comments:
       

     
    Course Sequences
    Current Status
    None Progress In place
    Importance
    Low Important Critical
    Program provides default/suggested course sequences for both full time and part time students          
    Comments:
     
    Program course sequences begin with introductory courses that teach broad foundational knowledge and skills that are common across related programs of study             
    Comments:  
       
    Program course sequences progress to more occupationally-specific courses that provide knowledge and skills required for entry into and advancement within a chosen career sector          
    Comments:
     
    Program has identified and offers opportunities for students to earn postsecondary credit for prior learning or for coursework taken during high school or workforce training programs.          
    Comments:
       
    Credit Transfer Agreements
    Current Status
    None Progress In place
    Importance
    Low Important Critical
    Transfer agreements align coursework between secondary and postsecondary education to reduce redundancy             
    Comments:
       
    Transfer agreements are developed at the local, regional or statewide level between the school districts/high schools and the College          
    Comments:  
       
    Agreements provide a systematic, seamless process for students to transfer credit earned at a two-year college to other two- or four-year institutions in the state that offer the same program of study          
    Comments:
        

     
    Guidance Counseling and Academic Advisement
    Current Status
    None Progress In place
    Importance
    Low Important Critical
    Advising based on national, state, and/or local guidance and counseling standards, such as the National Career Development Guidelines or the Career Development Facilitator certification             
    Comments:
     
    Guidance counseling and advisement professionals have access to up-to-date information about program of study offerings to aid students in their decision-making          
    Comments:
     
    Advisers and programs offer resources for students to identify their career interests and aptitudes and to select an appropriate program of study          
    Comments:
     
    Program offers, where possible, and encourages students to expand their portfolios by participating in volunteer, work based, and paid opportunities to provide real-life experience in their chosen field.          
    Comments:
     
    Guidance system includes initial and regular follow-up opportunities to plan and assess student progress in a course sequence          
    Comments:
       

     
    Teaching and Learning Strategies
    Current Status
    None Progress In place
    Importance
    Low Important Critical
    Instruction employs contextualized, work-based, project-based, and problem-based learning approaches          
    Comments:  
       
    Instruction incorporates team-building, critical thinking, problem-solving, and communications skills          
    Comments:
     
    Program and course outcomes are clearly defined, regularly reinforced, and made explicit in instruction          
    Comments:  
       
    Effective teaching and learning strategies are jointly led and/or developed by interdisciplinary teaching teams of academic and career and technical instructors             
    Comments:
       
    Technical Skill Assessments
    Current Status
    None Progress In place
    Importance
    Low Important Critical
    Assessments measure student attainment of technical skill proficiencies at multiple points throughout course instruction and the program          
    Comments:
     
    Courses employ industry-approved technical skill assessments and credentials based on industry standards, where available and appropriate          
    Comments:
     
    Courses incorporate performance-based assessments, to the greatest extent possible, where students must demonstrate the application of their knowledge and skills.          
    Comments:
       
    Employer Engagement
    Current Status
    None Progress In place
    Importance
    Low Important Critical
    Advisory board identifies, validates, and updates the technical and workforce readiness skills that should be taught within the program          
    Comments:
     
    Advisory board meets the following criteria:

    a.   Is balanced with a variety of stakeholders (including, secondary, postsecondary, and business and industry groups) and persons who can influence policy decisions that affect the program of study
    b.   Meets regularly to hear progress reports, make recommendations, and receive administrative feedback on actions regarding prior recommendations on the following: workforce development needs, funding, program content standards, student assessment of technical skills, student college and career transitions, and the availability of the dual or concurrent credit opportunities
    c.   Uses the national career cluster advisory committee resources or state resources
             
    Comments:
     
    A system is developed and implemented to track advisory boards and their effectiveness.          
    Comments:
       

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