Section III 

Introduction of Career Clusters 

1.      What is the process for introducing career clusters to all students, including: 

When are students given an introduction into the Connecticut STC Career Clusters? 

The first introduction is during our recruitment cycle, where it is mentioned that we are an STC School offering education to support Connecticut business and industry. As STC takes hold across Connecticut, it is vital that Vinal Technical High School be recognized both as a resource for our students and district schools as well as a leader in the implementation process. 

Open Houses are regularly scheduled throughout the school year. At each Open House, cluster information is available to perspective students and their parents.  Information is also included in the student handbook and in the course description book. 

Students participate in the three-phase exploratory cycle during their freshman year. They experience each occupation that is offered by Vinal in preparation for their final selection of a cluster and specific technology. 

A portion of the Freshman Foundation Course is devoted to cluster information along with personality assessment to determine their hidden talents and provide assistance in choosing a cluster. Written information and videos have been provided by CBIA and are used as the backdrop for all cluster discussions and training. 

The Blueprint Reading course will show the families of clusters and occupations. An example is The Construction: Technologies and Design Cluster, which nicely frames how Architectural Drafting, Carpentry, Electrical, and Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning have similarities by using the same blueprint. 

What is the duration of student contact time to introduce clusters?

All freshmen and juniors will participate in the foundation course each week of their exploratory or trade cycle. Each class is 50 minutes in duration. While in keyboarding, they will be required to produce a research paper on clusters. In the Career Center there will be videos and speakers on clusters as well as portfolio work. While in the technologies, they will experience industry tours and job shadowing that is built around clusters. It will require walking through this first year of student contact to know the exact number of contact hours.  Without a doubt, the contact time will be substantial and beneficial to the students because of the nature of vocational education. (Estimated time 18, 50 minute classes)

Primary responsible will be the Technology Instructors and the Career Center Coordinator who will assure that all of the components are fully coordinated. Given that responsibilities are delegated to many, the coordinator will assure that an accurate assessment is in place. 

There already exists a Three Phase Exploratory and Guidance Department system for students to select a specific technology. That system, for the present, only needs to be expanded. One addition will be that prior to selection, all students will have received cluster consultation through the Career Center Coordinator as they build their student portfolios, career transcripts and training plans. The information is then presented to students and their parents during a selection evening, and they make their selection together. Their choice is based primarily upon the recommendations and the grades earned as they experienced each technology. 

A career cluster is changed upon the student's request and/or an instructor's recommendation. 

What is the correlation of coursework to the selected career clusters? 

A vocational technical school is designed to support technologies with related courses, (Math, Science and Art) which, except for Art, are presently grouped according to ability. Presently, there is no real correlation of coursework to career clusters. 

Our general courses (English and Social Studies) already support many STC components such as: senior projects that must reflect the student's technology area, resumes, cover letters, and video taping of interviews. 

Every curriculum was cross-walked to assure CT STC Skill requirements were being addressed.  It has been recommended that all instructors' build into their daily lesson plans a component of the CT STC Skill Requirements. 

Our present thrust is twofold: one, to integrate general, and related classes with the technologies through project-based learning; and two, to schedule related teachers into the technology areas in a core environment.

2.      What curriculum is used to introduce career clusters to all students? 

The freshman foundation course is used to introduce career cluster to all students. 

Since this is the pilot year for the foundation course, assessment, although in place is still in its infancy. A graduation requirement has been determined to be .13 credits for the foundation course. There will be a performance-based assessment according to the research work and information collected in their portfolios. Performance-based outcomes will be collected via work sheets from the technology teachers to record work-based activities. This will become a part of their portfolios.   

Although understanding career clusters is important, even more important is the self-awareness that should derive from this knowledge. Although cluster information is easy to teach and easy to learn, internalizing, is more difficult. The journey of self-discovery and recognizing hidden talents is of greater value.