COMMON CAREER TECHNICAL CORE 

• The Common Career Technical Core (CCTC) initiative is being coordinated by the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium. 
• The CCTC was developed to align with the Common Core State Standards in English and Math, while also including industry expectations for the 16 Career Clusters.
• The development of the CCTC was a multi-step process that incorporated input from approximately 3,500 individuals representing K-12 education, business and industry and higher education from across the nation.
• 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.
•  Individual states have the option of adopting some or all of the 16 career clusters. 42 states, D.C, and Palau have chosen to adopt some or all of the standards. Illinois has adopted all of the 16 Career Clusters, which means the standards for each cluster will also be adopted. Each Career Cluster contains career pathways and more specifically programs of study.
• The CCTC also includes an overarching set of Career Ready Practices that apply to all programs of study. The Career Ready Practices include 12 statements that address the knowledge, skills and dispositions that are important to becoming career ready.
• CCTC allows for consistency and a standard benchmark for students in CTE programs, regardless of where they live or which delivery system (public high school, career academy, technical center, community college) they use.
• The CCTC only applies to CTE students, but the practices are relevant for all students and compliment the Common Core by more clearly illustrating what it means to be career ready.

For more information and/or to download the Common Career Technical Core, visit: www.careertech.org/CCTC