Academic Skills
Skills including communications, mathematics, science, and basic literary proficiencies necessary for career success and lifelong learning.

Articulation Agreement
A formal document that delineates the agreement between a high school and a college to define the seamless pathway from high school through college. Credit agreements, course requirements and other specific criteria are detailed.

Capstone Course
A structured experience that ties together vocational and academic coursework in a way that is meaningful, experiential, and connected to a career pathway. Generally offered at the 12th grade, a capstone experience could be a structured mentorship, senior project, or summer academy geared to the student’s career interests and yielding a portfolio.

Career Fields
Grouping of occupations from one or more industries that share common skill requirements. Career Fields organize the thousands of career choices for school curriculum implementation.

Career Pathway
A series of academic, technological, and occupational coursework and educational experiences leading to a career specialty.
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College Tech Prep
A competency-based program of combining secondary and post secondary education and occupational experiences. Tech Prep includes a common core of required proficiency in mathematics, science, communications and technologies leading to an associate degree or two-year post secondary certificate.

COMPASS
A student assessment and placement exam, developed by ACT and used by two-year colleges. The exam incorporates math, reading and writing.

Cooperative Learning
A teaching strategy that employs small-group processes and systematic roles for group members to achieve specific learning goals. High level training facilitates effective group roles, relationships and goal attributes.

Crosswalk, Crosswalking
These terms are used in two ways. Crosswalking describes the process of matching the competency requirements of a pathway against the content and requirements of existing courses and creating a curriculum map. Crosswalking also matches teacher skills against the credentials and requirements for teaching specific courses.

DACUM
DACUM stands for Developing A Curriculum, an occupational analysis methodology. The skill profile for Tech Prep Directors defines responsibilities, required knowledge and skills, and future trends and concerns.

Employability Skills

Personal development and leadership abilities essential for productivity and economic self-sufficiency.

Foundation Course
A semester- or year-long course (or structured experience for credit) within a career cluster that provides core and cluster competencies as well as information on professional, technical, and entry-level career pathway opportunities.

Occupational Areas
See Strands.

Pathway
A series of academic, technological, and occupational coursework and other educational experiences leading to a career specialty.

Perkins Performance Measures

Concentrator: A student who meets the following criteria:

• Student had a declared technical major
• Student began no earlier than winter 1998 (from year and term of first enrollment in SE).
• Student accumulated 36 semester (54 quarter) hours as of Autumn 2000 (from course enrollment).

Completer: A student who completes a program.

Strands
The occupational areas within the pathway curriculum.

Technical Competency Profile (TCP)
A listing of the competencies forming the core of a Tech Prep course of study. Outlining skills and knowledge required for the specific competency, the TCP is developed cooperatively by representatives from business, industry and education.  Competencies are identified by competency level, grade level, and depth.

Competency Level:

• Essential (E) - Competency is needed to ensure minimal level of employability. Entry level employees should be able to perform the competency without supervision.
• Recommended (R) - Competency should be included but is not essential for minimal level of employability.

Grade Level:

• (10)  By the end of grade 10
• (12)  By the end of grade 12
• (AD) By the end of the Associate Degree

Depth:

• ( I ) Introduce competency
• (P) Proficient or achievement of the competency without supervision
• (R) Reinforce or add depth.

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