Career and Technical Education

Preparing for College and Careers addresses the knowledge, skills, and behaviors all students need to be prepared for success in college, career, and life. The focus of the course is the impact of today’s choices on tomorrow’s possibilities. Topics include twenty-first century life and career skills; higher order thinking, communication, leadership, and management processes; exploration of personal aptitudes, interests, values, and goals; examining multiple life roles and responsibilities as individuals and family members, planning and building employability skills; transferring school skills to life and work, and managing personal resources. This course includes reviewing the 16 national career clusters and Indiana’s College and Career Pathways, in- depth investigation of one or more pathways, reviewing graduation plans, developing career plans, and developing personal and career portfolios. A project-based approach, including computer and technology applications, cooperative ventures between school and community, simulations, and real life experiences.

This course is made up of the Business and Family Consumer Sciences rotation of the 8th grade year.  Grades from both rotations will be averaged together to determine the final grade.  Parents have the opportunity to accept the grade for high school credit if the grade is a “C-” or higher.  Middle schools provide additional information about this process during the 8th grade year.

Middle level FACS prepares students to begin their journey toward becoming independent, productive citizens. The middle school curriculum includes standards for five units of study that are essential for ALL students: Life and Careers, Financial Literacy, Nutrition and Wellness, Human Development, and Relationships. Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS), Middle Level prepares students to acquire personal skills and plan ways to transfer those skills to the workplace; investigate and assume appropriate individual and family roles; understand and apply concepts of balancing work and family; and acquire skills and attitudes that lead them to contribute to the good of the community and society. FACS curriculum includes acquisition of problem-solving, decision-making, higher-order thinking, communication, literacy, and numerical skills in applied community, work, and family contexts.  Students complete a rotation in both 6th and 7th grade.

Business and Information Technology, Middle Level provides concepts and applications that facilitate the development of competencies required for success in all academic areas and in real-world contexts. The curriculum relates closely to understandings and competencies students will need as their world expands and as they develop career interests. The four broad areas included in this curriculum are technology, career exploration, personal financial responsibility, and basic business (business communications, marketing, and entrepreneurship). The domains and standards for each area provide many opportunities to engage students in learning essential business content and in applying technology as a tool. This approach is in keeping with the National Education Technology Standards (NETS) approach, which places heavy emphasis on integrating technology into the curriculum.  Students complete a rotation of this course in 6th and 7th grade.

Engineering and Technology Education, Middle Level provides students with hands-on, problem-based learning opportunities to develop, produce, use, and assess products related to engineering and technology. Students additionally develop individual and teamwork skills to participate in society and the workplace. The four domains included in these standards are general engineering and technology concepts, engineering design and development, producing and using technology, and technology careers. Activities should focus on content related to engineering and technology as a body of knowledge, using resources and actions to: (1) apply engineering design, (2) use processes to produce artifacts and systems, (3) used devices tools and systems safely and appropriately, (4) and assess impacts on society and the environment.  Activities include; Tech Town USA, USA Rockets, and VEX Robotics during rotations in all three years of middle school.