New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards

for

Career Education and Consumer, Family, and Life Skills

INTRODUCTION

The Vision

Rapid societal changes, including innovations in technology, information exchange, and communications, have increased the demand for internationally competitive workers and for an educational system designed to meet that demand.  Today’s students will be employed through much of the twenty-first century and will, therefore, need increasingly advanced levels of knowledge and skills.  To obtain and retain high-wage employment that provides job satisfaction, they will also need to continue to learn throughout their lives.  The career education and consumer, family, and life skills standards identify key career development and life skills that students must accomplish in order to achieve continuing success in various life roles related to continuing education, career development, and personal growth. 

Members of the business and industry communities have identified vital career and technical education skills.  In 1992, the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) identified productive use of resources, interpersonal skills, information, systems, and technology as essential workplace competencies.  The SCANS foundation skills include basic skills, personal qualities, and the ability to identify and solve real problems, reason effectively, and apply critical thinking skills. 

To compete in this global, information-based economy, students must be able to identify and solve real problems, use appropriate tools, reason effectively, and apply critical thinking skills.  The career and technical education and consumer, family, and life skills standards identify key career education and consumer, family, and life skills which can also enhance personal behavior and professional conduct in life and careers.  In addition to the SCANS report, the National Career Development Guidelines and National Standards for School Counseling Programs were used as resources.  Educators may find these national standards as well as the national standards documents in other areas very useful resources.

Career and Technical Education

The career and technical arts standards at the elementary and middle school levels are designed to prepare students for further study at the high school level in career and technical education, formerly known as practical arts.  These courses typically include business education, family and consumer sciences, and other courses related to career education and consumer, family, and life skills.  In early elementary grades, career and technical education is designed to be integrated with other core content.  At the middle and junior high school levels, the standard may be integrated or taught through rotational programs as students work on interdisciplinary projects that develop employability and academic skills.  At the high school level, career and technical education programs establish necessary pathways for entering the world of work as well as continuing education, such as college, post-secondary vocational-technical education, specialized certification and/or registered apprenticeships.  They also support lifelong learning.  These essential elements include preparation for post-secondary pursuits as well as providing an essential foundation in everyday living skills.  In essence, career and technical education is the application of life, academic, and occupational skills demonstrated by student-centered experiences in courses related to the sixteen States’ Career Clusters supported by state vocational technical directors from across the country.  Career and technical education provides a variety of learning experiences to meet the needs of students having multiple learning styles.

Students interested in more intensive study at the high school level in one of the career clusters may participate in a vocational-technical education program as defined in N.J.A.C. 6A:19, Vocational Technical Education Programs and Standards.  The career clusters include: agriculture, food, and natural resources; architecture and construction; arts, audio/video technology and communications; business, management, and administration; education and training; finance; government and public administration; health science; hospitality and tourism; human services; information technology; law, public safety and security; manufacturing; marketing, sales and service; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; and transportation, distribution, and logistics. A number of vocational student organizations have been created to enhance and support career development.  They include:

·        DECA/DEX/Distributive Education Clubs of America/Delta Epsilon Chi (marketing education);

·        FBLA-PBL/Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda (business/technology education);

·        FCCLA/ Family, Career, and Community Leaders of American (family and consumer sciences);

·        FFA (agri-business education);

·        HOSA /Health Occupations Students of America (trade and industrial education);

·        TSA/Technology Student Association (technology education); and

·        SKILLSUSA/VICA Vocational Trade and Industrial Student Organization.

Career and technical education programs enable students to:

• Describe and integrate basic skills, thinking skills, and personal qualities, as defined by the SCANS Report;

• Address self-knowledge, career planning, and employability skills utilizing technology, information, and other resources;

• Enhance academic achievement and motivation for learning;

• Explore career education and planning;

• Acquire necessary employability and interpersonal workplace skills; and

• Pursue specific courses and programs designed to lead to employment or post-secondary options in occupations included within the sixteen States’ Career Clusters.

Consumer, Family, and Life Skills

All students need to develop consumer, family, and life skills necessary to be a functioning member of society.  All students will develop original thoughts and ideas, think creatively, develop habits of inquiry, and take intellectual and performance risks.  They will recognize problems, devise a variety of ways to solve these problems, analyze the potential advantages and disadvantages of each alternative, and evaluate the effectiveness of the method ultimately selected.  Students will work collaboratively with a variety of groups and demonstrate trustworthiness, responsibility, respect, fairness, caring, and citizenship.   Students will apply the principles of resource management and skills that promote personal and professional well-being.  They will also be expected to understand the components of financial education and make economic choices.

Standards and Strands

There are two career education and consumer, family, and life skills standards, each of which has a number of lettered strands.  The standards and strands include:

9.1   Career and Technical Education

A.  Career Awareness and Planning

B.      Employability Skills        

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           9.2  Consumer, Family, and Life Skills

A.  Critical Thinking

B.  Self-Management

C.  Interpersonal Communication

D.  Character Development and Ethics

E.  Consumer and Personal Finance

F.  Safety

References

Campbell, C. A. & Dahir, C. A. (1997).  National standards for school counseling programs. Alexandria, VA: American School Counselor Association.

National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium.  (2003). States’ career clusters. Online: www.careercluster.org.

National Business Education Association. (2001).  National standards for business education.  Online: http://www.nbea.org/curriculum/bes.html.

National career development guidelines K-adult handbook.  (1996). Online: http://64.57.102.78/Old_Site/tabloid/guidelines.html#guidelines.

Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS).  (1992).  Learning a living: a blueprint for high performance.  A SCANS report for America 2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Labor.

The character education partnership. (2003) Online: http://www.character.org//.

Vocational-Technical Education Consortium of States.  (1998) National standards for family and consumer sciences education. online:  http://ideanet.doe.state.in.us/octe/facs/natlstandards.htm.

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. (2002)  Wisconsin’s model academic standards. Online: http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/standards/index.html.