K-8 Career Literacy
K-8 CAREER LITERACY
Download K-8 Standards Career Literacy Teacher Professional Development K-8 Curricular Resources K-8 Media Resources Contact
What is K-8 Career Literacy?
Arizona Career Literacy is a K-8 educational process aimed at providing students with scaffolded, age-appropriate opportunities that will enable them to make informed decisions about their futures.
This process is iterative as students gain guided exposure to the world around them. Arizona's career literacy initiative starts foundationally in career awareness with Kindergarten to 4th grade students and develops into career exploration for 5th-8th graders.
Our program standards aim to develop essential professional skills, gain workplace exposures, explore passions and interests as related to career fields.
Goals of Arizona K-8 Career Literacy
ADE CTE Career literacy prepares students to be prepared to navigate their high school experience through a career focus lens.
- Develop and release K-8 standards based on the high school AZ Professional Skills with strategies for educators
- Equip 8th grade students with knowledge to advocate for the CTE skills training needed in high school that will help them build a career pathway plan
- Provide career awareness exposures and activities tied to standards for K-4th grade students
- Scaffolded career explorations lessons tied to standards for 5th-8th grade students
- Practice Professional (Soft) Skills in an educational setting
Spotlight on Career Literacy
- Manufacturing Month Career Exploration
- Elementary Teacher STEM PD - Hands-On Learning
- Elementary Career Discovery Corner in School Library
- Career Exploration “What Problem do you want to solve?”
K-8 Career Literacy Curricular Resources
- Arizona Career Literacy Standards were developed in 2019. They are a valuable resource that offers classroom strategies, activities, and essential questions for grades K-8. Click here for information on how the standards were developed.
Area Specific Curricular Resources | |||
Committed to building systems of college and career pathways for Arizona students. CFA's Pathways team offers services to support the launch and scaling of career exploration programs in a variety of settings. Free, interactive lessons aligned to Arizona Career Literacy Standards.
Career exploration and discovery tool for Arizona middle school students. My Future AZ provides visibility of local high school CTE courses to enable students to make informed choices about high school career. Click here: Middle School Quick Guide
Professional skill building events and competitions for Middle School Students. Click here: CTSO Events Calendar
Free career development program for middle and high school students.
Providing teachers with industry and STEM professional connections. An online resource from Maricopa County School Superintendents Office. Free to all teachers and professionals in Arizona.
K-12 Career Exploration Courses
Digital literacy and career exploration lessons tied to the AZ Career Literacy Standards (Grades 5-8). For more information, contact [email protected]
The mission of ABEC is to sustain collaboration between business and education leaders, focused on increasing measurable outcomes for every student. ABEC's Career Exploration & Development (ACED) program provides the foundation and proven strategies to engage business AND education in creating meaningful career exploration programs. ABEC and Yuma Unified School District Career Development Collaboration
ACTE’s Classroom Connection offers actionable strategies for real-world connections to education and careers.
A great resource to help educators determine the student's needs based on the corresponding ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors.
- Middle School Career Conversations "When thinking of your future, are there any skills you would like to further develop?" - English ~ Spanish
- Elementary School Career Conversations "If you woke up tomorrow and were an adult, what career would you like to have?" - English ~ Spanish
Career Literacy Teacher Professional Development
Arizona Pathways to Prosperity support services include working with your team to develop a strategy for implementation, trainings and professional development, site-based coaching, and connecting the Possible Futures Career Exploration Curriculum to your local labor market and state or district standards and policies. Contact us here: [email protected]
Certification Partners offers flexible training options designed to equip teachers with the tools, preparation, and support necessary to effectively implement the ICT digital technology literacy courses in their own schools and classrooms. Contact Erik Barrantes at [email protected] for more information on the ICT Teacher Training Program.
Hands-on teacher PD for elementary educators to learn how to write STEM lessons and build a STEM community. Materials for success, such as STEM lessons aligned to AZ Standards are included. Contact Colleen Howard at [email protected] for more information.
Career Literacy Media Resources
- The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) - has developed a podcast series dedicated to middle school career exploration. Go to www.acteonline.org/why-cte/middle-school-cte/middle-school-podcasts-and-webinars/ and scroll to find:
- Podcast:
- "Preparing Middle School Students for High School Choices"
- Webinars:
- "Career Exploration in MIddle School Webinar - CTSO's and Work-based Learning"
- "Career Exploration in Middle School Webinar
- "Career Exploration and Employability Skills"
- Podcast:
- Discovery Education - Giving educators innovative ways to design and deliver engaging learning experiences every day.
- Teacher Video about the Educator Pro Connect (EPC) platform STEM Pro Live - A live broadcast with STEM professionals sharing about their career and workplace. Students learn about their career journey and Q/A sessions from students and teachers in classrooms.
- Perkins Resource Network
- "Stop asking What do you want to be when you grow up?" - Jaime Casap
- "Connecting Educators with Business Professionals for Student Success" - Educator Pro Connect - Teacher Video
- ACTE - "Student Career Development Series"
Contact Information:
Susan Farretta
CTE Career Development Program Specialist
Arizona Department of Education
Career and Technical Education
Email: [email protected]
Desk: (602) 542-5540
