Common standards in ELA and mathematics have been developed and adopted in all but four states.  Just this week, proposed common standards have been released for career and technical education by the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium.  Now begin efforts to get this framework adopted in states across the country. 

The standards are organized into 16 "career clusters" including:

• Agriculture, Food & National Resources
• Architecture & Construction
• Arts, A/V Technology & Communications
• Business Management & Administration
• Education & Training
• Finance
• Government & Public Administration
• Health Science
• Hospitality & Tourism
• Human Services
• Information Technology
• Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security
• Manufacturing
• Marketing
• Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
• Transportation, Distribution & Logistics

Each of these "career clusters" is further organized into subsets of "career pathways."  According to an Education Week article published today regarding this proposed set of standards:

Career and technical education has been sparking a lot of thought in recent years, as the old vocational education is being phased out in favor of more rigorous alternatives that seek to give students the demanding academics they need, but do it through a more hands-on, career-oriented lens. Programs like ConnectEd in California aim for this blend, arguing that it keeps students engaged while giving them all the training they need to pursue an array of options, from associate degrees and certificates to a four-year college path.

The entire document of "Common Career Technical Core" standards can be downloaded by clicking here.

I have previously posted about this trend.  I strongly believe greater emphasis on practical application of rigorous curriculum through career preparation concentrations will better serve so many fledgling young people (in particular), as well as our country as a whole.  Students must be allowed to go beyond primarily 'knowing' to much more 'understanding' and 'doing' towards a perceivably tangible goal other than the mere promise of yet more schooling.  So many young adults crave this.