Agriculture and Natural Resources

The Agriculture and Natural Resources sector is designed to provide a foundation in agriculture for all agriculture students in California. Students engage in an instructional program that integrates academic and technical preparation and focuses on career awareness, career exploration, and skill preparation in seven pathways. The pathways emphasize real-world, occupationally relevant experiences of significant scope and depth in Agricultural Business, Agricultural Mechanics, Agriscience, Animal Science, Forestry and Natural Resources, Ornamental Horticulture, and Plant and Soil Science. Integral components of classroom and laboratory instruction, supervised agricultural experience projects, and leadership and interpersonal skills development prepare students for continued training, advanced educational opportunities, or entry to a career.

Arts, Media, and Entertainment

Of all the career industries, the Arts, Media, and Entertainment sector requires perhaps the greatest cross-disciplinary interaction because the work in this sector has a propensity to be largely project-based, requiring both independent work and interdependent management skills for career success. New technologies are also constantly reshaping the boundaries and skill sets of many arts career pathways. Consequently, core arts-sector occupations demand constantly varying combinations of artistic imagination, metaphoric representation, symbolic connections, and technical skills. Successful career preparation involves both broad and in-depth academic and technical preparation as well as the cultivation of twenty-first-century skill assets, such as flexibility, problem-solving abilities, and interpersonal skills. Careers in the Arts, Media, and Entertainment sector fall into four general pathways: Design, Visual, and Media Arts; Performing Arts; Production and Managerial Arts; and Game Design and Integration. The anchor and pathway standards make explicit the appropriate knowledge, skills, and practical experience students should have in order to pursue their chosen profession, whether that profession requires postsecondary education, graduate training, or apprenticeship.

Learning the skills and knowledge for creating, refining, and sharing work in the Arts, Media, and Entertainment industry sector promotes teamwork, communication, creative thinking, and decision-making abilities—traits that are necessary to function successfully in the competitive and media-rich twenty-first century. Through the manipulation of sight, sound, and motion, those choosing a pathway from this sector reach out in unique ways to enhance the quality of life for those around them.

Building and Construction Trades

This sector provides a foundation in the Building and Construction Trades industry for secondary students in California. Students engage in an instructional program that integrates academic and technical preparation and focuses on career awareness, career exploration, and skill preparation in the Building and Construction Trades industry. The sector encompasses four career pathways: Cabinetry, Millwork, and Woodworking; Engineering and Heavy Construction; Mechanical Systems Installation and Repair; and Residential and Commercial Construction. These pathways emphasize processes, systems, and the way in which structures are built. The knowledge and skills are acquired in a sequential, standards-based pathway program that integrates hands-on, project-based, and work-based instruction. Standards included in the Building and Construction Trades sector are designed to prepare students for technical training, postsecondary education, and entry to a career.

Engineering and Architecture

This sector is designed to provide a foundation in engineering and architecture sector pathways and occupations for students in California. Students are engaged in an instructional program that integrates academic and technical preparation and focuses on career awareness, career exploration, and career preparation in four pathways that emphasize real-world, occupationally relevant experiences of significant scope and depth: Architectural Design; Engineering Technology; Engineering Design; and Environmental Engineering. To prepare students for continued training, advanced educational opportunities, and direct entry to a career, the Engineering and Architecture programs offer the following components: classroom, laboratory, and hands-on contextual learning; project- and work-based instruction; and leadership and interpersonal skills development.

Health Science and Medical Technology

The standards in this sector represent the academic and technical skills and knowledge students need to pursue a full range of career opportunities in health science and medical technology, from entry level to management as well as technical and professional career specialties. The standards describe what workers need to know and be able to do to contribute to the delivery of safe and effective health care. The six career pathways are grouped into functions that have a common purpose and require similar attributes. The pathways are Biotechnology, Patient Care, Health Care Administrative Services, Health Care Operational Support Services, Public and Community Health, and Mental and Behavioral Health. Standards for each career path build on and continue the anchor standards with more complexity, rigor, and career specificity.

Hospitality, Tourism, and Recreation

The Hospitality, Tourism, and Recreation sector provides students with the academic and technical preparation necessary to pursue high-skill, high-demand careers in these related and growing industries. The sector encompasses three distinct, yet interrelated, career pathways: Food Science, Dietetics, and Nutrition; Food Service and Hospitality; and Hospitality, Tourism, and Recreation. The standards are designed to integrate academic and career technical concepts. The anchor standards include Consumer and Family Studies comprehensive technical knowledge and skills that prepare students for learning in the pathways. The knowledge and skills are acquired within a sequential, standards-based pathway program that integrates hands-on projects, work-based instruction, and leadership development such as that offered through Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA). Standards in this sector are designed to prepare students for technical training, postsecondary education, and entry to a career.

Information and Communication Technologies

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have expanded the need for employees who can understand, manage, and support all rapidly emerging, evolving, and converging computer, software, networking, telecommunications, Internet, programming, and information systems. Essential skills for careers in the ICT sector include understanding systems that support the management and flow of data, the ability to work well and communicate clearly with people, and the ability to manage projects efficiently. The ICT sector meets national criteria for high demand, high wages, and high skills and provides students with excellent opportunities for interesting work and good pay. More than 70 percent of jobs in this sector will require a bachelor’s degree or higher by 2018.

Marketing, Sales, and Service

The Marketing, Sales, and Services sector is designed to align career-path course work with current and projected employment opportunities. There is a basic business foundation in this sector: marketing and innovation are two major competitive issues for business today. Marketing includes the processes and techniques of identifying, promoting, and transferring products or services to consumers and is a function of almost every business. It exists within an environment of rapidly changing technology, interdependent nations and economies, and increasing demands for ethical and social responsibility.

The three pathways in this sector (Marketing, Professional Sales, and Entrepreneurship/Self-Employment) emphasize training to meet the growing need for marketing professionals with skills in communication, small business, self-employment, advertising, marketing strategies, product and service management, and promotion and selling concepts. These pathways provide a firm foundation for advanced education, entry to a career, and success in the global marketplace. All industry sectors include entrepreneurship and marketing, and therefore students in the Marketing, Sales, and Services sector have a variety of career options.

Public Services

A public service is one that is provided by government to its citizens, either directly or through the financing of another entity to provide that service. Careers in public service are unique because they center on challenging issues that define the public agenda and involve the provision of vital services to the public—from local to international levels. Public service professions offer many career opportunities, including the following career pathways: Public Safety, Emergency Response, and Legal Practices. Students engage in an instructional program that integrates academic and technical preparation and focuses on career awareness, career exploration, skill preparation in the industry, and preparation for postsecondary education and training. Knowledge and skills are learned and applied within a sequential, standards-based pathway program that integrates classroom, laboratory, and project- and work-based instruction. Standards in this sector are designed to prepare students for technical training, postsecondary education, and entry-level employment.

Transportation

This sector is designed to provide a foundation in transportation services for all industrial technology education students in California. There are eight focus areas that fall under the Transportation sector, each with different career opportunities. The focus areas are On-Road; Off-Road; Stationary; Rail; Water/Sea; Air; Space; and Small Engines and Specialty Equipment.

The pathways in the Transportation sector emphasize real-world, occupationally relevant experiences of significant scope and depth in three areas: Operations, Structural Repair and Refinishing, and Systems Diagnostics, Service, and Repair. The standards are designed to integrate academic and technical preparation and focus on career awareness, career exploration, and skill preparation in the three pathways. Integral components include classroom, laboratory, and hands-on contextual learning; project- and work-based instruction; and leadership development. The standards in this sector prepare students for continued training, postsecondary education, and entry to a career.