U.S. education news has recently focused on the need for college and career readiness for high school graduates.

Schools, both public and private, have taken up the banner in an effort to answer the need for graduating seniors to possess a broad range of skills needed to succeed in the 21st-century workplace. Today’s students must be able to perform, not only in the area of core academic skills but also as related to employability and technical skills and the ability required to apply such skills in a real-world environment.

Policymakers at both the state and national level are increasingly calling for high schools to turn out graduates who are ready for both college and career situations.  This means that graduates must be able to enter college and complete entry-level college requirements without any remedial assistance.  In terms of “career readiness,” the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has defined the term as “the attainment and demonstration of requisite competencies that broadly prepare college graduates for a successful transition into the workplace.”

Global Student Network (GSN), a provider of online K-12 curriculum since 2004, has aligned its course offerings to include not only college-ready curriculum but also competencies identified by the NACE as being associated with career readiness:

  • Critical Thinking/Problem Solving
  • Oral/Written Communications
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • Digital Technology
  • Leadership
  • Professionalism/Work Ethic
  • Career Management
  • Global/Intercultural Fluency

 

GSN has recently expanded its Career and Technical Education (CTE) offerings to include training in the areas of:

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

A compilation of these focus areas are available through seven of GSN’s available curriculum packages:

  • Plato,
  • Accelerate,
  • Odysseyware,
  • Ignitia (a Bible-based curriculum),
  • GradPoint,
  • Apex Learning

 

For more information about CTE options please visit our curriculum option pages. Schools can partner with GSN to provide CTE or a variety of other courses. Click here to learn more about school partnerships.