Career Pathways

Most colleges with programs in advanced technologies experience high demand for their graduates but struggle to attract well-prepared applicants. The problem is twofold: Too few high school graduates are aware of the broad range of career opportunities available in advanced technologies, and too many of the students who do apply to technology programs are weak in math and communication skills. As a result, American employers must increasingly look to other countries for high-quality workers.

One of the major goals of OP-TEC is to increase our nation’s supply of technicians in optics and photonics by improving the secondary-to-postsecondary “pipeline” of highly motivated, well-qualified students.

OP-TEC proposes to accomplish this goal by developing Career Pathways—coherent, articulated sequences of rigorous academic and career/technical courses that commence in the ninth grade and lead to associate degrees, baccalaureate degrees (and beyond), industry-recognized certificates, and/or licensure.

Career Pathways are an extension of Tech Prep, a successful national initiative designed to connect high schools with community and technical colleges through early career guidance, articulation agreements, 4+2 curriculum frameworks, and contextual teaching. Career Pathways build on the best practices of Tech Prep but call for new 4+2 curriculum frameworks, dual credit, advanced skills, and work-based learning, among other features. CORD, the chief administrative organization of OP-TEC, has been the nation’s leader in Tech Prep and Career Pathways. Drawing on CORD’s knowledge and experience, and with the assistance of its college and business partners, OP-TEC will build Career Pathway curriculum models and practices for photonics technology and technologies that are enabled by photonics.

---

Career Pathways: Education with a Purpose

 

Author:  Dan Hull
Principal Investigator, Director
OP-TEC: National Center for Optics and Photonics Education

 

Preview: Preview Chapter 1 of Career Pathways: Education with a Purpose now using Adobe Acrobat Reader.