Career Ready PA

​Two pieces of evidence were required for each benchmark at grades 5, 8, and 11. There were no career plan and portfolio requirements.

Effective 2018-19 and beyond, there are career plan and portfolio requirements.

• Grade 5 Benchmark — 6 pieces of evidence between grades K-5
• Grade 8 Benchmark — 6 pieces of evidence between grades 6-8, including individualized career plan
• Grade 11 Benchmark — 8 pieces of evidence between grades 9-11, including 2 pieces of evidence that demonstrate career plan implementation

The four Career Education and Work standards (strands) must be addressed at least once in the benchmark pieces of evidence:

• Career Awareness and Preparation
• Career Acquisition
• Career Retention and Advancement
• Entrepreneurship

​The LEA to whom accountability is attributed is responsible for the PIMS reporting.  The LEA delivering the direct instruction is responsible to collect and record the evidence.

The benchmarks are established to meet federal accountability. LEAs report only the students who meet the benchmark at each grade band. Meeting the benchmark is measured by accumulating six artifacts at the completion of grade 5; six at the completion of grade 8; and eight at the completion of grade 11.

The requirement to meet the benchmark is not cumulative; however, the evidence portfolio collection is cumulative.  Evidence portfolio collection begins with the 2017-18 grade band; the total pieces of evidence can vary depending upon the student’s grade at the start of collection.  Students can meet the grade band benchmark even if the portfolio is not complete for each grade band.  A student who begins the portfolio collection in 2017-18 in the K-3 grade band should have 20 pieces of evidence by 2026.

The "minimum two per year" language is included as a guideline for districts to make decisions in the cases of extended absenteeism, transfer, external placement, home or online education, or other enrollment issues.  An LEA providing instruction to a student is responsible for collecting two pieces of evidence for each full or mostly full year the student receives instruction, and one piece of evidence for any partial year of instruction. 

Enrollment prior to January 1st constitutes full year enrollment; enrollment after January 1st constitutes partial year enrollment. If artifacts follow a transfer student to a receiving district, they should be included in the student's portfolio, but students should not complete assignments from earlier grade bands.

​The terms “piece of evidence” and “artifact” are interchangeable.

No, the evidence should be collected only at the current grade band. No student should retroactively complete assignments from an earlier grade band or discontinuous enrollment; however, an individualized career plan is a requirement and should be completed and counted as a grade 9-11 artifact if it was not done in grades 6-8.

A student may meet or fail to meet the benchmark at the end of any grade span independent of his/her performance in previous grade spans. 

Two pieces of evidence per year are required at each level:  K-3, grade 4, and grade 5. 

Two pieces of evidence per year are recommended at the 6-11 grade level. 

Students may exceed the minimum and apply that to the benchmark requirement for the grade band.

​Acceptable evidence must demonstrate student engagement. Lesson plans or curriculum maps would not be sufficient evidence, nor would simply recording a score or student attendance.  An artifact, demonstrating successful completion of a standards-based curricular activity, must be produced. The original work is not the only acceptable artifact. Digital pictures, video recordings, or scoring rubrics are examples of acceptable artifacts that may be used in the portfolio as evidence rather than a performance-based task itself. 

​The standard by which the school entity evaluates evidence should parallel best practices used to determine mastery on a locally-graded assignment. Participation alone does not demonstrate sufficient evidence of successful completion.

​State assessments and grades are not evidence of meaningful student engagement in learning.

​Rubrics and certificates may be used, but they must detail learning criteria aligned to the Career Education and Work standards, as evidence of the student’s engagement in the learning project or assignment.

The portfolio belongs to the student upon graduation.

The LEA does not have an obligation to keep the student portfolio beyond graduation.

​Evidence should be individualized to meet student needs and learning styles and can be adapted for specific student populations.  Special education students can include meeting transition or life-skills acquisition goals as evidence.  The IEP or transition plan itself is not acceptable evidence, but progress monitoring data and any artifacts generated in student work toward the completion of the goals are acceptable.

• Career plan
• Digital pictures, profiles, performances w/career focus
• Rubric that scores a project aligned to CEW standards
• Career inventory
• Grades K-5 "I" statements with supporting reflection
• Research report related to CEW standards
• Written reflection or journals (from a job shadow, career fair, etc.)
• Interview notes from work-based learning experiences
• Business Plan outline for an Entrepreneurship activity
• Budget related to a career readiness activity
• PA NOCTI CEW Test Code 8298/Career Skills #1100, and Workplace Success Skills #1350.
• Certificate with a summary of project criteria related to a CEW standard; includes an LEA signature
• Award or certificate from a CEW related event, e.g., FBLA Job Interview contestant, FFA
• IEP Transition Goals
  

• Lesson Plans
• Curriculum Maps
• Attendance or participation sign-in sheets from a career event
• I-statements without a supporting reflection
• Grade for a project
• Generic certificate without a summary of project criteria related to a CEW standard and student and teacher signatures
• State assessments
  

School entities must report student-level data (Grades 5, 8, and 11) for the Career Readiness Indicator in PIMS using the Student Fact Template for Career Standards Benchmark. As with other data collections, school entities can upload student data for this indicator throughout the school year, up until the last collection period (typically late May or early June).

• Enter "Y" in Field 10 of the template if the student meets the criteria.
• Enter "N" in Field 10 of the template if the student does not meet all the criteria.

The denominator will be calculated as the total number of 5th, 8th, and/or 11th grade students pulled from the May 31st enrollment snapshot.

Partial Year Reporting:  One piece of evidence would qualify as a "Y" for meeting the criteria.

Full Year:  Two pieces of evidence would qualify as a "Y" for meeting the criteria.

Portfolio date begins with the date of enrollment.

(See question 6 in the Benchmark and Reporting section.)

Full-time CTCs report the benchmark into PIMS; partial day CTCs are required to work with the sending districts on evidence collection.

Local intermediate units will be providing training and assistance for evidence collection and reporting.

​Chapter 339 is a Federal regulation promulgating grant funding. Not all LEAs are required to file a 339 plan; however, 339 establishes a Federal guideline for a Comprehensive K-12 Guidance Plan. In response, the State Board of Education mandated Career Education and Work Standards for all public schools in 2006. The Indicator measures the implementation of the CEW Standards and thus applies to all public-school entities.