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While we expect LEAs to strive to provide paid internship opportunities for all students, Innovation Career Pathway designees are not required to offer paid internships to students.
Innovation Career Pathways must incorporate at least two yearlong-equivalent, college-level courses that may include dual enrollment, AP, IB, PLTW or articulated college credit opportunities. Both Early College and Innovation Career Pathways are intended to provide access to post-secondary education.
Pathways must start no later than in 10th grade, and MyCAP must start no later than 9th grade.
It is possible for an LEA to have a portfolio of multiple types of High Quality College and Career Pathways within a school. An applicant can propose a wall-to-wall Early College or Innovation Career Pathway (one in which all students are enrolled); most applicants submit proposals for one or more sector-based pathway programs that serve a cohort of students.
Yes. Students can and should get credit toward graduation for summer internship experiences, provided they happen in the summer before senior year. Student participation in the 100 hour career immersion Internship or Capstone experience must be documented as a course with a local SIMS course code. Each secondary institution can make their own decisions around offering summer courses, and should then follow DESE procedure and work with district data staff for documenting course-coded summer courses.
Yes.
Yes. For Innovation Career Pathways, the college level coursework may be fulfilled through AP, International Baccalaureate, Project Lead the Way, dual enrollment, or other college level coursework.
The 4 required courses (full-year or the equivalent) do not need to be offered across four years, and can be clustered in two or three years. Districts are encouraged to have a strong scope and sequence plan across all four years of high school that is also designed to allow multiple points of entry for students.
No. Innovation Career Pathways are designed for a different purpose and have different attributes and a separate designation process from Chapter 74.
No. However, it is important to resolve any issues related to collective bargaining during the pathway planning process.
DESE only accepts applications for designation in the specified industry sectors. Schools may independently develop pathways in non-identified industry sectors.
While there is no enrollment minimum/maximum from each school, partners should consider cohort size with respect to cost-effectiveness and sustainability.
For purposes of Innovation Career Pathways, there is no MassCore carve-out as there is in Ch. 74. All Innovation Career Pathway students should complete the MassCore graduation requirements.
Chapter 74 opportunities are to provide students career and academic experiences including mastery of demonstrated tasks related to specific occupations. A list of the current Chapter 74 programs is available on the DESE website. Innovation Career Pathways are related to broad industry sectors.
Programs should be designed to reach populations that are in need, including students with disabilities. Programs should take care in coordinating students’ IEPs and transition plans within program services. Students with cognitive or intellectual disabilities who may not be on track to a high school diploma should still be able to participate in program services.
Innovation Career Pathways programs prioritize students underrepresented in higher education and high skill/high demand industries – low-income students, students of color, English language learners, students with disabilities and potential first-generation college-goers. The program should be designed and structured to recruit these students and eliminate barriers to their participation. An analysis of the demographics of the school’s pathway(s) should reveal that enrollment in the designated Innovation Career Pathway(s) “mirrors” the demographics of the overall school population.
This is a reference to at least two yearlong-equivalent courses that are aligned with, and relate to, the industry sector that defines the pathway. The technical course intensity is not the same as the technical courses required for Chapter 74 programs that align to specific occupation competencies demonstrating applied task mastery. The ICP courses should provide students with applied knowledge and skills related to the industry and prepare students for workplace experiences and/or further studies related to the sector.
My Career and Academic Plan (MyCAP) is a student-centered, multi-year planning tool designed to provide students with ongoing opportunities to plan for their academic, personal/social, and career success. Because the primary author of MyCAP is the student, with guidance from at least one identified caring adult in the school setting and in consultation with parents/guardians, students are empowered to seek out learning opportunities that align with their individual career interests and self-defined goals. For Innovation Career Pathways designees, MyCAP is required for students beginning in 9th grade; moreover, MyCAP training for educators/administrators is required through a series of DESE-facilitated workshops. For more information about MyCAP, please refer to this website.
Yes, students with disabilities are included. Applicants are asked to describe how they will be recruiting and supporting under-represented students, such as SWD. For programs seeking to effectively support students with disabilities in the context of ICP and postsecondary pathways more broadly, consider reaching out to the MA Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment initiative.
Naviance is an online platform (one of several) that can facilitate the MyCAP process and serve as documentation of students’ MyCAP activities and progress by using the MyCAP SIMS code. Note – the MyCAP code is entirely separate from any course codes and doesn’t need a grade or credits, even if it is taught as part of a pathway course.
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