Career Ready Practices

The Common Career Technical Core (CCTC) is a state-led initiative to establish a set of rigorous, high-quality standards for Career Technical Education (CTE) that states can adopt voluntarily. The initiative is being coordinated by the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc), which represents the state and territory heads of secondary, postsecondary and adult CTE across the nation. Forty-two states, the District of Columbia and Palau supported the development stage of the CCTC.

The CCTC includes a set of standards for each of the 16 Career Clusters® and their corresponding Career Pathways that define what students should know and be able to do after completing instruction in a program of study. The CCTC also includes an overarching set of Career Ready Practices that apply to all programs of study. The Career Ready Practices include12 statements that address the knowledge, skills and dispositions that are important to becoming career ready.

The Career Ready Practices component of the CCTC provides a framework for the developmental experiences necessary to becoming career ready; experiences that can be “practiced” using many different approaches in a variety of settings. A student refines these practices throughout their full continuum of learning: through their journey in school, college, the workforce and when they return to advance their education.

Each Career Ready Practice includes an overarching statement along with a more detailed description. Below are the 12 overarching statements:

• Act as a responsible and contributing citizen and employee.
• Apply appropriate academic and technical skills.
• Attend to personal health and financial well-being.
• Communicate clearly and effectively and with reason.
• Consider the environmental, social and economic impacts of decisions.
• Demonstrate creativity and innovation.
• Employ valid and reliable research strategies.
• Utilize critical thinking to make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
• Model integrity, ethical leadership and effective management.
• Plan education and career paths aligned to personal goals.
• Use technology to enhance productivity.
• Work productively in teams while using cultural global competence.

The Career Ready Practices are intended to establish goals for CTE programs, yet the practices are relevant for all students.

Learn more about Career Ready Practices or share information with our brief overview sheet.