High School Curriculum - CTECS

Twenty-two research-based skills are addressed with activities under each skill standard, and the curriculum is growing. Each activity can be delivered in 1-2 class periods, with some homework, so it works perfectly to complement your existing curriculum, and is especially great for CTE or alternative education classrooms. You may use it as a stand-alone, where appropriate and approved. Proceed through the curriculum at your own pace and cover only the activities that are most important to you and your students. An exportable (.csv file) gradebook is included. When students are enrolled in the curriculum, anything they submit is automatically recorded in your gradebook. If you agree that workplace readiness skill education is crucial preparation for your students transitioning into postsecondary opportunities and the world of careers, this curriculum provides those crucial pieces that can often be overlooked in traditional classroom settings. In addition, this curriculum thoroughly prepares students for success on the CTECS Workplace Readiness Skills Assessment_©. For more on the Assessment as a credential option, please go to our About WRS Assessment page.

Key Links

Curriculum Outline

Sample Activity

Anatomy of an Activity

Cornerstone Flyer

User’s Guide

Quick Start Guide: Start Teaching Fast

Ordering

Infuse

Activities are short and to-the-point, so they are a perfect complement to what you are already teaching and were designed with this in mind. Each activity requires a “pre-quiz,” an “artifact” or assignment, and a “reflection quiz.” Students may download a completion certificate on completion of each reflection quiz.

Free-Form

Proceed through the course as you like. Assign any activity to students, but prepare them for success by following your teacher’s guides. There are no prerequisites to beginning any activity. However, students must submit the pre-quiz before submitting the reflection quiz, which signifies completion.

Grade and Track

Quizzes and assignments should be submitted by students through the system. That way, a pre-graded value will automatically populate into the teacher’s system gradebook. Assignments and final reflection quiz answers require instructor review/approval, and labeled as such right in the grade book. All submissions are exportable as a .csv file to make it easier to import into your school grade book system.

Correlated

The curriculum was built around the CTECS Workplace Readiness Skills standards, which are research-based and validated. These are the standards tested by the CTECS WRS Assessment, which was launched in 2011, and which some states use to satisfy graduation requirements or to complement CTE program seals. Further, the WRS skills are correlated to the California Standards for Career Ready Practice and related assessment.

Outcomes

Focused on the individual learner to produce career-ready candidates who know who they are, what they want from a career, and how to get there. Learning will help them explore new career possibilities, capitalize on assets from their personal and professional inventories (aptitudes, technical skills,
& goals), adapt to change, overcome perceived barriers, and stay disciplined, creative, confident, and motivated.

Self & Society

in the post-pandemic era, we have an opportunity to both reverse our educational losses and advance progressively without taking anything away from traditional CTE. We should do this by teaching social and emotional learning (SEL) within a career context. A career offers the realization of the self or identity in society, because for many, it enables individuals to synthesize deeply personal mindsets, values, and goals within a social landscape of ethics, behavioral expectations, and collective mission.