Articulation Agreements

Articulation Agreements are formal contracts between secondary and post secondary education institutions that allow secondary school students to earn credit for college that will be awarded upon enrollment in the college.

Basic Skills

Basic Skills are essential academic and personal abilities that are necessary for success in school and the workplace.

Benchmarking

Benchmarking is the continuous process of measuring products, services, and practices against strong competitors or recognized leaders.

Block Scheduling

Blocked courses may be scheduled for two or more continuous class periods or days to allow students greater time for laboratory or project-centered work.

Career Academy

A career academy is typically a school-within-a-school that offers students academic programs organized around broad career themes.

Career Awareness

Career Awareness helps students acquire knowledge about career areas and how the world of education relates to the world of careers.

Career Development

Career Development is the process through which and individual comes to understand his or her place in the world of work.

Career Exploration

Career Exploration helps students explore academic interests and abilities as a means of enhancing decision-making skills and helps students develop an education plan that allows a smooth transition throughout their academic life to successful entry and progress in the career of their choice.

Career Map

A Career Map is a written plan of study that helps students select a coherent sequence of secondary (and where appropriate, post-secondary) courses and experiences to prepare them for college entry or work.

Consortium

A consortium is a group of two of more agencies that enter into a cooperative agreement to share information to provide information or provide services that benefit students.

Contextual Learning

Contextual learning enables students to test academic theories via tangible, real world applications.

Curriculum Alignment

Curriculum alignment is when academic and Career and Technical Education curricula are linked so that course content and instruction dovetail across and/or within subject areas.

Dual Enrollment

Dual enrollment is a program of study allowing high school students to simultaneously earn credits toward a high school diploma and a post secondary degree or certificate.

Integrated Curriculum

Integrated Curriculum is when academic and occupational or career subject matter are taught in a manner that emphasizes relationships among the disciplines.

Job Shadowing

Job Shadowing is typically when a students follows an employee at a firm for one or more days to learn about a particular occupation or industry.

Tech Prep

Tech Prep is the name given to programs that offer at least four years of sequential course work at the secondary and post secondary levels to prepare students for technical careers.

Technical Education

Technical Education is a program of vocational instruction that prepares individuals for positions, such as draftsman or lab technician, in different occupational areas requiring a range of skills and abilities.

Vocational Education

As defined by the U.S. Department of Education, vocational education consists of "organized educational Programs, services, and activities that are related to the preparation of individuals for paid or unpaid employment, or for additional preparation for a career that does not require a baccalaureate or an advanced degree." Vocational Education has matured and become Career and Technical Education.