Career Clusters, A Bridge Between Education and Career Planning

!±8± Career Clusters, A Bridge Between Education and Career Planning

Since 1960s, career cluster resources have been used as career exploration and planning tools in schools, learning communities, and organizations across the nation. Career Clusters is a system that matches educational and career planning.

Step 1: Identifying Career Cluster Interest Areas

Career clusters are groups of similar occupations and industries. When teachers, counselors, and parents work with teens, college students, and adults, the first step is to complete career cluster assessment. The assessment identifies the highest career cluster areas. Career assessments show teens, college students, and adults rankings from one of the following 16 Interests Areas or Clusters:

1. Agriculture, Food, & Natural Resources

2. Architecture & Construction

3. Arts, A/V Technology & Communication

4. Business, Management & Administration

5. Education & Training

6. Finance

7. Government & Public Administration

8. Health Science

9. Hospitality & Tourism

10. Human Services

11. Information Technology

12. Law, Public Safety & Security

13. Manufacturing

14. Marketing, Sales & Service

15. Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics

16. Transportation, Distribution & Logistics

Step 2: Exploring Career Clusters and Related Careers

After pinpointing the highest career clusters, teens, college students, and adults explore the different careers and create education plans. Career cluster tools used in career and educational planning include:

LISA: A comprehensive career cluster database Models Brochures Pathways High school plan of study Interest and Skills Areas Crosswalks

After completing a career cluster assessment, teens, college students, and adults look at web sites, career models, brochures, pathways, and high school plans. One of the most unique comprehensive career cluster resources is the Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA), an Internet program. LISA lets you explore career clusters, careers, abilities, training requirements, and more. There are 3 steps in the LISA program:

STEP 1: Click here to select a Career Cluster

STEP 2: Click here to select a Career Group

STEP 3: Explore Occupations within this Career Group

In Step 1, when you choose a career cluster, you will see a description of the cluster. When you select a career group in Step 2, you see different careers. Finally, in Step 3, you see a wealth of information:

Job descriptions Educational and training requirements Crosswalks, for example ONET, DOT, GOE, and other codes Abilities Knowledge Skills Tasks Work Values Labor Market Information

Even though LISA is an awesome program, in classroom or workshop settings, you need printed materials. When using printed materials, the career model is the best place to start. Models provide excellent overviews listing the cluster definitions, sample careers, pathways, knowledge, and skills. Visual models show career clusters, the cluster subgroups, and related careers. Models are an excellent way to introduce career clusters.

For presentations, workshops, and group discussions, the career cluster brochures provide additional information. Adults and teens read about the different careers that are available in each career cluster. Teachers, counselors, and parents use the brochures to solidify adults' and teens' potential career or educational decisions. The brochures cover topics such as:

Definition of career clusters Careers Career pathways Employment outlooks Skills Credentials

Teachers, counselors, and parents use career pathways for more detailed information. The career pathways are subgroups or areas of concentration within career clusters. Each pathway contains career groups. The career groups have similar academic skills, technical skills, educational requirements, and training requirements. Career pathways are plans of study that outline required secondary courses, post secondary courses, and related careers. The career pathways are essential tools that teachers, counselors, parents, and other adults use to give educational planning advice.

Several web sites feature High School Plans of Study. These study plans show required, elective, and suggested courses for each grade level. The school plans also match the career clusters to related careers, career pathways, and post-secondary options. Teachers, counselors, and parents find that these school plans are guides for selecting the right high school courses to match potential careers. Beyond high school, the Utah System for Higher Education has created a College Major Guide. Parents, teachers, and counselors can use the guide to match college majors to Certificate and Degree Programs.

Additional Resources for Counselors and Teachers

For planning curriculum and educational programs, there are detailed Knowledge and Skills Charts and Cluster Crosswalks. The knowledge and Skills expand upon the information listed on the career cluster models. For each knowledge and skill area, there are performance elements and measurement criteria. Crosswalks show the relationships between career clusters and other career models:

Career clusters build a bridge between education and career planning. Different types of career cluster resources are available: videos, web sites, booklets, brochures, activity sheets, and workbooks. Teachers, counselors, and parents use career cluster resources to successfully complete career and educational planning.

Resources:

American Careers Career Paths, Career Communications, 6701 W. 64th St., Overland, KS 66202, 800-669-7795

Career Click, Illinois Department of Employment Security,33 South State Street, Chicago, IL 60603, (312) 793-5700

CIP Code Index by Career Cluster, Adult & Postsecondary CTE Division, Bureau of Career and Technical Education, 333 Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17126, (717) 772-0814

Cluster and Career Videos, Career One Stop, U.S. Department of Labor, Frances Perkins Building, 200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20210, 866-4-USA-DOL

College Major Guide Utah System for Higher Education, Board of Regents Building, The Gateway, 60 South 400 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84101-1284, (801) 321-7100

Find Careers (Videos), iSeek Solutions, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, Wells Fargo Place, 30 7th St. E., Suite 350, St. Paul, MN 55101-7804

High School Plans of Study, New Hampshire Department of Education, 101 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301-3860, (603) 271-3494
Introduction to Career Clusters, Career Education, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, P.O. Box 543
Blacklick, OH 43004-0544,

Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA), customized Internet version of OSCAR, a product of the Texas Workforce Commission/Career Development Resources, TWC/CDR, Austin, TX 78753

Maryland Career Clusters, Maryland State Department of Education 200 West Baltimore Street Baltimore, MD 21201,

Rhodes Island's Career Clusters, Rhode Island's Career Resource Network, 1511 Pontiac Avenue, Cranston, RI 02920, 401-462-8790

School to Career Clusters, State of Connecticut, Department of Labor, Job Bank, 645 South Main Street, Middletown, CT 06457, (860)754-5000

States' Career Clusters Initiative (SCCI), 1500 W. Seventh Avenue, Stillwater, OK 74074
Career Pathway Plans, Career Cluster, Knowledge and Skills Charts

VTECS Cluster Frameworks, VTECS, 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA, 30033,404-679-4501 ext 543

What are Career Clusters? Career Prospects System, New Mexico Career Resource Network, CAREER TECHNICAL AND WORKFORCE EDUCATION BUREAU (CTWEB), Education Building, 300 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe, NM 87501, (505) 827-6512

Career Clusters, A Bridge Between Education and Career Planning

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Can You Keep Your Spouse's Health Insurance After A Divorce?

!±8± Can You Keep Your Spouse's Health Insurance After A Divorce?

HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE AND DIVORCE

There are many health insurance issues that may be overlooked during a divorce, such as:

1. Is the ex-spouse still covered after divorce? For how long?

2. Can one party cancel health insurance coverage during the divorce?

3. What about health insurance coverage for the kids?

It is a common misconception that a spouse will continue to be covered under their ex-spouse's plan after divorce. In fact, the parties need to be advised that as of the date of the decree, the ex-spouse is no longer eligible for coverage.

Any medical treatment incurred, even though the doctor may treat you, will be back-charged at full rate because health insurance coverage ends on the date of divorce. If you need any medical treatment, get it before the divorce is over, because you will have no coverage after that.

Employment lawyer Andrew Rempfer, Esq. was interviewed about the possibility of continuation coverage after the divorce. Mr. Rempfer noted that providing continuing coverage for an ex-spouse is critically important to consider when crafting the divorce decree because an employer sponsored health plan may only provide COBRA coverage, which generally costs 102% of the total premium costs, and expires after 36 months.

Sometimes the party who carries the insurance will spitefully delete the soon to be ex spouse from the company insurance plan, prior to the decree of divorce. If the spouse who cancels the insurance works for an employer with more than twenty full time employees, then the employer could be violating state and federal laws for allowing the employee to remove a spouse from an employer health plan prior to the decree of divorce.

Mr. Rempfer commented that, "under state laws, IRS Code Section 125, and ERISA, an employer cannot allow an employee to make changes (including canceling coverage) unless there is a COBRA 'qualifying event'. A COBRA qualifying event includes the end of the marriage by entry of the divorce decree, or legal separation. "In other words," Mr. Rempfer noted "the employer cannot remove the spouse from the employer-sponsored health plan until after the divorce or legal separation is finalized." Failing to comply with this could render the Plan in violation of ERISA and COBRA.

If a spouse does cancel insurance coverage during divorce, and the other spouse, relying upon such coverage, incurs medical costs, it may be argued that the medical debt incurred, if incurred prior to a signed divorce decree because one spouse canceled coverage, the debt should be the cancelling spouse's sole debt. Any medical costs incurred after divorce, even if one spouse believes there was coverage, would be that person's sole debt.

Pursuant to state law, parents must provide health insurance coverage for their children after divorce. Consequently, Mr. Rempfer noted, it is critical that the Court's divorce decree clearly set forth who bears responsibility for continuing health care coverage for any children. In a perfect world, the child would stay on an employer-sponsored health plan, and thus not be subject to COBRA. In reality, if geography or other unique family dynamics may make this impractical. In that event, there may be no choice but to seek COBRA, and those extra costs associated with COBRA should be addressed in the divorce decree.

Can You Keep Your Spouse's Health Insurance After A Divorce?

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