Career and Technical Education’s purpose of the exploratory program is to emphasize the development of personal skills and to introduce students to technology and technological careers. Students are assigned one exploratory course each nine weeks in the sixth and, possibly 7th grades. Some students in the seventh and eighth grades will rotate through four exploratory courses over two years or four semesters.
The Career and Technical Education curriculum is aligned to the Virginia Department of Education’s standards, industry certifications, and task competencies. Emphasis is placed on communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creative thinking, & citizenship (5C’s). Career and Technical Education courses deepen student learning through real-world connections and interdisciplinary content integration. Additionally, our Career and Technical Education's exploratory programs allow basic exploration of career clusters as students begin investigating career opportunities with an emphasis on workplace readiness skills.
Virginia Career and Technical Education State Competencies