Two weeks ago, 2000 high school students participated in the Dallas ISD Districtwide College Fair, an event which included information to prepare students for college as well as information to prepare interested students in workforce careers. The Career Education and Workforce Partnerships division of the Dallas Independent School District sponsored various “career clusters”, providing information about various careers available for students to pursue. The Dallas division of Marek Brothers Systems represented the Architecture & Construction industry and sponsored a booth for that cluster. Two of their former workforce development trainees who are now supervisors in the company shared the benefits of the Marek workforce 
development program to the participants. Harold Curry, Safety Manager for Marek Brothers in Dallas, provided photos taken at the event for this blog post.
“Career clusters” were defined by the US Department of Education’s Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006 (Perkins IV), which requires high schools and universities to offer “programs of study responsive to current or emerging occupational opportunities” , and provides some federal funding for these programs. There are 16 defined career clusters, which are “broad groupings of occupations and industries based on related disciplines, including recommended sequences of coursework organized into programs of study within each cluster”.
The Career Education and Workforce Partnerships (CEWP) department of the Dallas ISD was created in response to this act, and endeavors to prepare students for college and/or workforce careers. Sometimes referred to as Career and Technical Education (CTE), the CEWP offers classes through the Dallas ISD and the Dallas County Community College District.
Anyone who attended this event is invited to post comments on the event’s website. (see "Did you go?")
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