ASCL and Chicago Public Schools Education-To-Careers (ETC) have introduced a Career Readiness program to all 10th-, 11th-, and 12th-grade students who attend the Chicago Public Schools. The curriculum focuses on five "soft skills" modules that teach skills necessary for obtaining and maintaining employment. The five modules are Self Exploration, Interpersonal, Communication, Career Preparation, and On the Job Skills.

Within each module are several class-period lessons with hundreds of activities and videos related to improving employee soft skills. The curriculum can be accessed through the ASCL website or, if your school does not have the technology to use online curriculum, hardcopies can be provided along with the soft skills videos on CDs.

ASCL will train all Career and Technical Education Instructors who participate with ETC; however, the intent of this program is to provide all Chicago Public High School teachers with training and access to the Career Readiness Curriculum. Currently, ETC has selected sixty high school sites for the 2004-05 school year, with the goal of training the remaining Chicago Public High schools during the 2005-06 school year. ASCL and the Chicago Public Schools are pleased to offer this program to all high school and community college districts across the United States in May of 2005.

If you are interested in the Career Readiness Program, please contact Marc McCulloch (ASCL Educational Services, Inc.) or Ivy Bouillerce (Chicago Public Schools, Director of Career Readiness Project).

To browse the Career Readiness curriculum in Demo mode and access sample lessons, log in using:

username: demo
password: career