The Consortium provides secondary school administration and staff with training, information concerning available resource materials, and support needed for successful development and implementation of Programs of Study.

Program of Study

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Programs of study are organized around the national Career Clusters framework.  The Career Cluster framework provides an organizational tool and curricular tool which are used to develop model personal plans of study.  Because the foundational knowledge and skills of the Career Clusters framework straddle secondary and postsecondary education, the framework assists institutions seeking to strengthen transitions from secondary to postsecondary education by making curriculum efficient, effective, and streamlined.

Reading through the entire Perkins Act, there are not references to “career clusters.”  Similarly, reading through the States’ Career Cluster Initiative information, references to the Perkins Act or “programs of study” are infrequent.  In much of the recent Career Clusters Initiative materials that do refer to programs of study, the term represents sequence of courses that forms the basis of a plan of study.  Missouri, however, has chosen to define a program of study as representing not only a sequence of courses, but also all of the supporting institutional activities accompanying a sequence of courses that establishes a streamlined, rigorous, non-duplicative transition to postsecondary education or training.  The program of study is designed to help the student more effectively institute a personal plan and at the school maintain a process of continuous improvement around the plan.

Programs of study and personal plans of study are related but not the same.  A program of study is a collaborative effort among schools and colleges to seamlessly coordinate classroom instruction, student guidance, career and technical student organizations, career development and community participation for a particular Career Cluster or Career Pathway.  A program of study provides a seamless system of career exploration, preparation, and skill upgrades linked to academic credits and credentials, available with multiple entry and exit points spanning middle school, high school, postsecondary institutions, adult education, and workplace education.  Programs of study are implemented at the local level and are not a program per se, but a systemic framework for a new way of doing business in our high schools, colleges, and universities.  Missouri has chosen the Career Clusters framework to organize and implement its programs of study.  A student’s personal plan of study should reflect a program of study, but it should also be individualized for that student’s career interests.  The school clubs and community activities incorporated into a personal plan of study can give students practical experience to hone skills learned in the classroom and to develop personal qualities such as leadership and teamwork.

Implementation of a program of study is built upon a curriculum that addresses the Career Cluster knowledge and skills and Career Pathway knowledge and skills, as well as national and state academic standards.  Standards-based curricula will move education away from narrow job-specific preparation toward a broader and more durable technical instruction while it expands, enhances and reinforces academic content.

Career Clusters provide the framework for these standards-based, rigorous studies for all students within programs of study.  Local course content is aligned horizontally to knowledge and skills.  The horizontal alignment is in essence a gap analysis between course content and knowledge and skills information.  Particular attention is then paid to how the ‘gaps’ in the curriculum should be addressed.  Following the gap analysis, a vertical alignment must occur between secondary and postsecondary coursework.  This alignment, when implementing curricular changes at both levels and through articulation or dual credit arrangements, will provide students a seamless transition into postsecondary education.  The model personal plan of study can be created after alignments are conducted and a plan for curriculum adjustment is in place.

Once the model personal plan of study is ready, the supporting institutional activities should include guidance and career counseling for students, instructor professional development, career and technical student organization activities, work-based learning opportunities and changes within the school system to aid implementation of the program of study.  Details on the components expected in a program of study can be obtained from Missouri’s Perkins Transition Plan.