Overview & Description
Overview
The Career Technical Education (CTE) Model Curriculum Standards (MCS) publication is organized for use as a complete document or for access to individual industry sectors and pathways. The document aligns with the Standards for Career Ready Practice and establishes curricular guidance for high quality CTE programs.
Description
The Arts, Media, and Entertainment (AME) CTE industry sector prepares students for occupations in creative industries. The work in this sector is highly technical and project based. AME programs teach essential workplace skills, train students on industry-standard technology, and emulate professional environments to create authentic learning experiences for students.
The 2023 CTE AME MCS integrate the Standards for Career Ready Practice[^1] into Anchor Standards, establish Interdisciplinary Standards for cross-curricular learning, and organize Pathway Standards into unique Focus Areas to effectively align CTE learning with occupation-specific skills and competencies.
They are designed to provide students with knowledge and understanding that will prepare them for work and/or other post-secondary or vocational training in creative careers and industries.
1. Anchor Standards
The twelve Anchor Standards (1.0-12.0) build on the California Standards for Career Ready Practice and are common across all industry sectors. The Anchor Standards emphasize the importance of 21st century skills, essential workplace skills and literacy. These standards emphasize the importance of 21st century skills, essential workplace skills, and literacy. They are at the core of CTE instruction and are embedded in every level of a CTE pathway.
2. Interdisciplinary Standards
The four (13.0-16.0) Interdisciplinary Standards address universal skills that apply to all pathways in an industry sector. They build on the universal Anchor Standards and Standards for Career Ready Practice to help lay a foundation for CTE students. These standards serve as prerequisite and corequisite learning for Pathway Standards and outline the importance of industry-specific transferable skills including business and marketing, legal responsibility, media production, and project management.
3. Pathway Standards
Pathway Standards (17.0-20.0) align with career-specific skills and competencies and build on the Anchor Standards and Interdisciplinary Standards to incorporate technical skills. Pathway standards are organized by occupation-specific Focus Areas in some industry sectors. Pathway standards ensure students leave high school with a general knowledge that will allow them to specialize in a specific industry after high school.
AME Pathway Standards are organized in three Pathways and eight Focus Areas:
- Media Production Pathway
- Animation, Visual Effects, and Games
- Film and Television Production
- Digital Communications
- Performance, Music, and Live Events Pathway
- Stage and Event Technology
- Dance and Theatre
- Music and Recording Arts
- Design, Visual and Graphic Arts Pathway
- Design
- Studio Arts
- Animation, Visual Effects, and Games
Implementation
The MCS is a guidance document for CTE educators and is designed to outline industry aligned learning objectives that will prepare students for careers. Local Education Agencies (LEAs) have autonomy to select unique names, themes, and content for CTE pathway courses in alignment with the MCS.
Pathways may be divided into Focus Areas to support occupational alignment and work-readiness. CTE programs should align with the pathway and/or focus area standards that are relevant to their target occupations.
Educators have autonomy to address standards at varying levels of depth, incorporate multiple standards in a single lesson, or build units around single standards. Educators can address standards through a variety of instructional strategies including direct instruction, project-based instruction, work-based learning, and workplace simulation.
The MCS are designed to be meaningful, manageable, and measurable, and to support a competency-based or standards-based educational model. They are organized sequentially and are designed to provide a career-readiness framework that sets goals for achievement that familiarize students with what to expect in a workplace.
Anchor and Interdisciplinary Standards (1.0-16.0) are specific to essential workplace skills, are at the core of all pathways, and should be prioritized in introductory and concentrator courses. Since all pathways address these standards, it is possible to create integrated courses to simulate professional environments.
Anchor and Interdisciplinary Standards can also create more flexibility in articulation and course sequencing. Since they transfer seamlessly across pathways and focus areas, they provide a solid foundation for Middle School CTE and other introductory programs to align with multiple high school pathways.
Pathway Standards (17.0-20.0) are specific to technical skill development and professional practice. They are designed to support students in preparing for entry-level work in a specific industry. Pathway completers should demonstrate proficiency specific to a Focus Area in sectors that provide Focus Area guidance.
The pathway standards are organized in four general categories to ensure students gain experience building skills, applying skills to industry-specific projects and environments, exploring careers, and evaluating possibilities with advanced technology and impact. Pathway Standards are mapped directly to registered pre-apprenticeship (Pre-RAP) to make it a seamless transition for CTE pathways to register as Pre-RAP programs.
Pathway Descriptions
Pathway Descriptions provide an overview of the pathway. These can be utilized to provide an overview for AME introductory courses articulating with any concentrator focus area course within the pathway.
Focus Area Descriptions
Focus Area Descriptions provide an overview of the focus area, specific to occupations within a pathway. These can be utilized to provide an overview for AME concentrator and capstone courses.
Occupational Alignment to O-Net-SOC Codes
The O*NET Program is a federal career database and the nation’s primary source of occupational information. It is regularly updated to provide workforce information and economic data. O-Net-SOC Codes are referenced for alignment to registered apprenticeship and for the purposes of career research. The occupations listed in each focus area include relevant O-Net-SOC codes in the federal database.
Sample Aligned Course Titles
Local Education Agencies (LEAs) have autonomy to emphasize a specific career focus, medium, or technical skill set in their CTE pathways. The sample course titles listed under each focus area help LEAs understand which types of courses align with the focus area (pathway) standards.
Career Readiness Processes
Career Readiness Processes ensure students receive a well-rounded CTE education that does not limit coursework and class time to activities such as individual projects, rehearsal, and lecture. Career Readiness Processes include:
Connecting: Relating to careers and applications across industries.
Applying: Applying academic, creative, and technological knowledge to professional projects.
Creating: Conceiving, developing, and refining new creative ideas and work.
Producing: Realizing and presenting creative ideas and work in an industry-specific environment.
Guidance for High Quality Pathway Sequencing Tables
Each Pathway Focus Area is accompanied by a Guidance for High Quality Pathway Sequencing Table that is organized by Career Readiness Processes. These tables are designed to assist with course outline development and sequencing of Anchor, Interdisciplinary, and Pathway Standards in a 300-hour (minimum) pathway. AME Guidance for High Quality Pathway Sequencing tables also support alignment to the Artistic Processes outlined in the 2019 California Arts Standards and help ensure AME courses that receive both academic credit and career technical education credit are adequately preparing students for post-secondary and careers.[^2]