Career and Technical Education (Career Tech) gives high school students the chance to get a head start on preparing for college and careers.  

Career Tech provides courses and Pathways consistent with industry standards. Exploratory courses begin in the seventh grade, and subsequent courses teach students specific job readiness and job skills, which can lead to employment and postsecondary education.

Why is Career Tech important?

Oklahoma's Career Tech system significantly contributes to the state's economic development and quality of life. Oklahoma CareerTech is often used as a model for programs across the United States and around the world. 

Career and Technical Education makes education relevant and important. One goal for Career Tech is to put individual students to work to achieve success defined in a number of ways, including earnings and quality of life. A second goal is to provide a skilled labor force to enable Oklahoma to improve its place in the world economy.

Career Tech students of today are Oklahoma’s workforce of tomorrow. “College-ready” and “career-ready” are no longer two separate tracks. Students pursuing non-degree postsecondary education still need college-ready academic skills. Career Tech programs provide a viable pathway to postsecondary or industry-recognized certification and workforce success. 

Certifications

Industry-recognized certifications are credentials that students can earn as a way to distinguish themselves as a qualified and competent worker.

Tulsa Public Schools offers some specific certifications that include:

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Certifications Offered to Tulsa Public Schools Students
 

 

For questions about school-specific Career Technology Education Certification offerings, please contact the individual school site.

Career Clusters

The National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium, which oversees the Career Clusters framework, divides careers into 16 clusters. These clusters are further divided into pathways, which show more specific career areas with similar knowledge and skill requirements. The 16 Career Clusters are as follows:

• Agriculture, food, and natural resources
• Architecture and construction
• Arts, audio/video technology, and communications
• Business management and administration
• Education and training
• Finance
• Government and public administration
• Health science
• Hospitality and tourism
• Human services
• Information technology
• Law, public safety, corrections, and security
• Manufacturing
• Marketing
• Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
• Transportation, distribution, and logistics

Career Tech Divisions

Tulsa Public Schools currently has 5 divisions of Career Tech that our students are able to take classes to better educate themselves and prepare for their careers:

 

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Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS)

Family and Consumer Sciences Education (FCS) helps prepare students for family life, work life, and careers in family and consumer sciences by providing opportunities to develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors needed through character development, creative and critical thinking, interpersonal communication, practical knowledge, and career preparation.

 

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Business, Marketing & Information Technology Education (BMITE)

Careers in the business cluster involve planning, oversight, and organizational tasks needed to run a business.  Careers in the information technology cluster involve working with computer hardware, software, or network systems.  Careers in the marketing cluster involve promoting and selling products and services.

Through Business Professionals of America and DECA, the Career Tech student organizations affiliated with BMITE, students gain necessary skills to compete in the marketplace by accepting the responsibility of success and the challenge of learning.

 

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Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM)

STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. Rather than teach the four disciplines as separate and discrete subjects, STEM integrates them into a cohesive learning paradigm based on real-world applications.

Careers in the STEM cluster involve solving problems through research and design.

 

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Agriculture (Ag)

These programs prepare students for careers in production agriculture, agribusiness and other emerging agricultural-related occupations. The CareerTech student organization affiliated with Agricultural Education is FFA.

 

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Health Careers Education (HCS)

The Health Careers Education division provides leadership to health careers education teachers across the state. Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) is the student organization.