Knowledge & Skills

The National Career Clusters™ Knowledge and Skills statements are a comprehensive collection of industry-validated expectations of what students should know and be able to do after completing instruction in a career program area. These statements reflect the expectations of postsecondary education and business and industry for entering into a career in a given area—and are used to guide curriculum development, assessment, and program planning.

The latest Knowledge and Skills statements are available for all careers in the 16 Career Clusters™—and are organized into Career Pathways. Depending on the Career Cluster, the number of pathways for a given Career Cluster™ can vary from two to seven. The Knowledge and Skills for each of the 16 Career Clusters™ are available here for downloading. Also available here are 79 Knowledge and Skills Charts with the Knowledge and Skills common to careers in each Career Pathway.

Click on the Career Cluster™ at the bottom of this page to access/download the relevant PDF and Excel files for each. Use the PDF files for reference and the Excel files to customize where appropriate.

• 2008 and 2006 Knowledge and Skills Background

  The 2008 Knowledge and Skills statements incorporate some content updates recommended by a few of the Career Cluster™ National Advisory Committees after the 2006 version was released. They also have been revised for a more consistent look and feel in terms of breadth, depth of knowledge, and formatting across all 16 Career Clusters™.

  Also in 2008, those knowledge and skills that are essential in any employment situation have been organized into a set of “Essential Knowledge and Skills.” These essential skills are the starting point and should be contextualized within any Career Pathway and plan of study.

• Name and Career Pathway Changes

  The names of two Career Clusters™ have been changed in the 2008 version: The Marketing, Sales and Service Career Cluster™ is now “Marketing”, and the comma was deleted from Business Management & Administration. There are also some pathway title changes and/or consolidations in the Business Management & Administration, Finance, Marketing, and Information Technology clusters. And the number of Career Pathways was reduced from 81 to 79.

• 2012 Revisions Underway

  Currently, the Knowledge and Skills are undergoing revision. Subject matter experts that would like to provide input into the standards may send an e-mail to ccrevisions@careerclusters.org.

Knowledge and Skill Statements by Career Clusters™ area

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