Career Pathways in Alaska

by Susan Doherty

Why Pathways?

A 1995 Gallup Survey reported that a majority of Americans believe our youth need help making a successful transition from school to work and that the public expect high schools to provide that assistance. Yet half of all adults in the survey said high schools were not doing enough to help students choose careers and develop job skills (Hoyt and Lester 1995). Information gathered from a large sample of eighth graders found that approximately one-third of those students stated they know little about the world of work in their communities and see only a minor connection between school activities and future work plans. In addition, they stated that while in school, they learn very little about how to select a career (U.S. Department of Education 1992). Employers and policy makers are increasingly aware that economic development is interconnected with workforce development and a strong system of secondary and postsecondary education because employee skill levels, attitudes and ability to respond to change are directly related to productivity and profits.

Thus, parents, students, educators, employers and policy makers are all seeing a need for changes in the education system to prepare students with the skills and knowledge they need to be successful in the world of work. One strategy which has proven effective is organizing schools around career pathways. A career pathway is “an integrated, multi-year sequence of career guidance, course work, and work-based learning experiences that enables students to explore a variety of career choices and provides a context for learning” (National School to Work Office, 1997).

Benefits of Pathways

There are several benefits to a career pathway structure:

• Pathways help make learning more relevant for students.

• Pathways prepare students with academic, employability, and occupational skills needed for entry into broad career pathways to provide opportunities for different anticipated job-entry points based on varying levels of training and education.

• Pathways connect the K-12, postsecondary and workforce development systems.

• Pathways provide a way to organize labor market and occupational supply and demand information that is relevant to the K-12, postsecondary, and workforce development systems.

To be effective, pathways must build on a strong career development program in both elementary school (where students gain an understanding of their interests and abilities as well as a variety of ways people work) and middle school (where students learn about a variety of careers in each pathway ranging from those requiring little postsecondary training through those which require extensive postsecondary education). This background ensures students choose a career pathway which fits their interests -- though another key feature of a pathway structure is that students can easily change pathways.

A Continuum of Options for Structuring Pathways

There are a variety of ways in which high schools can structure career pathways.

Career Academies in Regular School- In this approach, some students choose a pathway and enter self contained subschools within the larger high school around an occupational theme. Students stay with the same teachers for 3-4 years.

Pathways for All Students - In this approach, all students choose a pathway. Some courses include students from all pathways, and the curriculum covers broad employability skills, though students are strongly encouraged to conduct projects that directly relate to their individual pathway. There are also pathway-specific courses that constitute the core curriculum for the pathway, are limited to pathway students only, and incorporate the pathway’s technical content and career information. Students also participate in work-based learning experiences based on the career pathway. Some schools adopt a pathway structure but keep conventional departments and traditional classes with teachers gearing assignments to pathway interests of students. Other schools replace conventional departments with pathways, and students take specific course sequence through pathway.

(Urban) Career Magnet Schools- In some larger urban areas, the entire school is organized around a single career pathway and students choose the high school which fits their pathway interests (e.g., Chicago High School for Agricultural Science). All classes are taught with the career pathway as context (e.g., students research agriculture in France as part of French class, write a paper on agriculture careers as part of English class, analyze production charts as part of math class, etc.). Students also participate in work-based learning experiences based on the career pathway.

Whole Schools Divided Into Subschools - Some communities organize the entire school around subschools which are career academies (e.g., Patterson High School in Baltimore, Fenway Middle College High School in Boston). This requires intense teacher collaboration, integration of academic and vocational content, and learning organized around projects and internships. At Patterson High School in Baltimore, the number of teachers in grades 10-12 who said the learning environment was not conducive to school achievement for most students fell from 86.7% to 4.5% as a result of organizing into subschools! This model is at the intersection of school reform efforts (more personal contact, a focused curriculum, use of projects, and effective learning communities) and school to work efforts (a career emphasis, integrated curriculum, work-based learning, connecting activities, employer partners).

Regardless of the structure chosen, developing pathways often requires significant changes in schedules to accommodate new forms of learning and opportunities to connect with employers and other community members through work-based learning and classroom experiences. This may involve longer time blocks during the day or breaking up course curricula into different time blocks over a semester or year. Larger blocks of time are also beneficial to teachers, providing time to work on curricula, team teaching strategies, and new instructional techniques.

Characteristics of Pathways:

Regardless of how the pathways are structured, they should incorporate the following characteristics:

1. All students are prepared for success in the world of work, and possess broad, transferable academic, employability, and occupational skills.

2. Educational and employment opportunities are expanded, not limited. There are no distinctions between “college bound”/“academic” and “vocational” tracks, and there is no “general” track. Instead, career pathways provide opportunities for different anticipated job-entry points (from high school, from technical training, from two-year college programs, from four-year college programs, and from graduate programs). For example, a heath care occupations pathway provides students with the foundation of skills

necessary in a variety of occupations, such as laboratory technicians, pharmacists, registered nurses, and physicians.

3. There are rigorous standards for achievement. Building pathways around a framework of academic standards encourages all students, regardless of their chosen pathway, to achieve the academic competencies necessary for further education and employment.

4. Theoretical and applied (academic and vocational) learning are integrated. All students learn challenging subject matter in the context of real-world applications in the classroom, the workplace, and the community. The focus is on contextual approaches to instruction, applied learning, team teaching, project-based instruction, and structured work-based learning that is linked to classroom instruction.

5. There is collaboration in integrating curriculum and instruction to provide contextual learning for students. Many schools use pathway teams that include school administrators, academic and occupational teachers, employers, and union representatives to integrate curricula around occupational clusters.

6. Students have opportunities to develop career development competencies, including self-knowledge, educational and occupational exploration, and career planning, and each student has a career/educational plan for high school and beyond.

7. There is structured access to a variety of postsecondary options (including assistance in applying for college and financial aid, opportunities for dual credit, and articulation agreements between high school and colleges and universities).

8. There are opportunities for students to connect with a variety of work-based learning opportunities in the community (such as job shadows, mentorships, cooperative work experiences, on-the-job training opportunities, service learning, internships, youth apprenticeships, volunteer opportunities, school based enterprises, etc.).

9. Assessment methods are “authentic.” The contextual and work-based nature of pathways curricula requires innovative assessments to measure student performance accurately. Assessments in career pathways should measure not only a student's competency in academic subjects, but also the ability to apply these skills. Portfolios and other forms of authentic assessments augment traditional assessments, providing students an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in the school and the workplace.

10. Pathways connect with elementary and middle school awareness and exploration activities so that students have information necessary to make informed pathway choices in high school.

11. Students can easily change pathways as they change their ideas about the kind of work and careers in which they are interested.

12. There is community involvement in designing and implementing career pathways.

13. There is parental involvement in student pathway choice.

14. The system is continuously improved.

15. There are professional development opportunities for teachers, counselors, administrators, and employers to learn more about contextual learning, project-based learning, team teaching, connecting with the community, etc.

Pathways for Alaska

A career pathway is intended to cover a very broad scope of occupations; having too many pathways makes for a very complex school structure! Pathways should be broad enough to enable students to learn about math, science, and communication skills in broad fields rather than just specific applications in narrowly defined clusters such as restaurants or mining. Additional careers may be important to a particular community, which could then identify a series career clusters (sub-categories of a pathway) to reflect its specific needs. Some districts might also choose to combine pathways to further reduce the complexity. Delta Greely School District, for example, is organizing around only two pathways: technical occupations and human service occupations.

Research into pathways used in other states shows that there are six commonly-used pathways (though there are variations among states). We are suggesting that Alaska adopt the following six pathways:

ARTS & COMMUNICATION - Programs related to humanities and performance/visual/literary/media arts

BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY - Programs related to the business environment, including entrepreneurship, sales, marketing, hospitality and tourism, computer/information systems, finance, accounting, personnel, economics, and management

HEALTH SERVICES - Programs related to promotion of health and treatment of injuries and disease, including medicine, dentistry, nursing, therapy, rehabilitation, nutrition, fitness, and hygiene

HUMAN SERVICES - Programs related to economic, political, and social systems, including education, law, public administration, religion, social services, and public safety

NATURAL RESOURCES - Programs related to the environment and natural resources, including agricultural, earth science, environmental science, fisheries, forestry, horticulture, and wildlife

INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY - Programs related to technology necessary to design, develop, install, and maintain physical systems, including engineering, mechanics and repair, manufacturing technology, precision production, electronics, and construction

See the attached pathway descriptions for more information on each pathway.

These six pathways align well with the set of industry clusters established by the National Skill Standards Board (NSSB). At the national level, these industry standards were designed to organize and portray the skills needed in today’s job market. They specify the knowledge and competence required to successfully perform in a given industry or field. (Ettinger, Career Clusters Guidebook)