FINDING YOUR CAREER INTERESTS

Before choosing a pathway you may want to explore the many careers available. You can use NCCareers.org, CPCC Career Coach, or any other career interest inventory to explore careers, incomes, availability of jobs, and required education, and more. See your Career Development Coordinator or visit the Resources page to explore your options.

NCCareers.org and CPCC Career Coach use current and relevant information for careers in your area (Mecklenburg and surrounding areas). 

BENEFITS OF A CAREER PATHWAY

What is a Career Pathway?

· A pathway is a “specific area” within the cluster that you choose to concentrate in

· You will complete the courses within the pathway and that will make you a  concentrator

WORK-BASED LEARNING

Students who identify their pathways in their Freshman year will be part of a select group of students who will be chosen first for internships (both paid and unpaid), mentoring, apprenticeship, and job shadow opportunities. Students can complete a pathway in multiple ways, one of those ways is to explore our Career and College Promise Program (CCP). Our CCP courses offer students college course work and help achieve both college and high school credit while completing their Career Cluster Pathway. Many of the CCP courses are included in our Career Clusters and can help you become a WorkKeys Concentrator. 

CERTIFICATION

Being a Career and Technical Education Concentrator allows students to complete the WorkKeys assessment, which provides a career and college readiness industry certification upon successful completion. You can find more information about this assessment here. In addition to the WorkKeys industry certification these students will be eligible for additional certification in their career track.

CTE CONCENTRATOR

Butler High School offers many opportunities for students to get closer to their career goals. One of these ways is to become a Career and Technical Education (CTE) Concentrator. 

Career & Technical Education prepares students to be college & career ready by providing core academic skills, employability skills, and job-specific skills.

*What is a CTE Concentrator?

· A student who has earned the appropriate credits in a career pathway

ACT WorkKeys…

·  ACT WORKKEYS  is a job skills assessment that helps measure and ensures “real world” skills that employers believe are critical to job success

· This test measures students’ career readiness by assessing their abilities in: Applied Mathematics, Reading for Information, and Locating Information

What can WorkKeys do for me?

· You can earn a North Carolina Career Readiness certificate that is recognized at over 600 business in NC (could potentially be paid more when hired)

· The levels of the certificates include: Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze

All CTE Concentrators are required to take this assessment and the ACT WorkKeys will assesses career readiness skills and may be recognized as an industry credential. State data reports can be accessed at: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/act/ 

Preparing for WorkKeys

Students who are required to take the assessment will be identified in the Fall of their senior year. Butler High staff will inform students if they are required to test. The test administration will take place on Butler's campus in the Spring semester (Some student's may test in the Fall semester if they have elected to graduate early).

Explore free sample questions, available for each WorkKeys® skills assessment below:

Applied Math  

Workplace Documents

Graphic Literacy

Online Practice Test:

Build your skills at your own pace. Online Practice Tests are available for several of the WorkKeys Assessments. These tests look and feel like the actual online assessments. There are free practice tests for the updated WorkKeys NCRC assessments that allow you to get familiar with the types of questions. NOTE: this practice test is given online, your test will be given in the form of paper and pencil. These tests will also provide a basic score summary upon completion.

System Requirements

Browser: Internet Explorer 8+; Firefox 24+; Testing Workstations and Administrator URL

Operating System: Windows 7+; MAC OS 10.x.x only with Firefox

Screen Resolution: 1024 X 768 minimum

If you chose to take advantage of the practice tests in addition to the practice questions please make sure you create an account and only select "Practice Test Packages", these are free: WorkKeys Applied Math, WorkKeys Graphic, and WorkKeys Workplace Documents. To add these you must click "Select a New Title" and add each test. Once you press launch you will be able to experience the Practice Tests like you will in regular test session, set your browser to full screen after launch (F11).

​You have access to the tests for 24 hours. Once inside the test, if you click 'Quit', the test will end and you will have to select the test again in the ‘Select a new title’ menu.