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Wisconsin Career Readiness Standards

Community of Practice

Skills for Success:

The Why Behind Wisconsin's Career Readiness Standards

Module 7:

Integrating WCRS into Academic Courses

Welcome to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s Career Readiness Community of Practice! In this seventh module, titled, “Integrating WCRS into Academic Courses”, we’re going to continue our work to bridge connections between the WCRS on paper, and what it could look like being put into practice within your educational context.

To make the most of this learning experience, we encourage you to engage actively by taking notes and reflecting on how the content applies to your unique context. Pause the video whenever you need to process the information or dive deeper into the provided resources. If you’re able, consider collaborating with colleagues or teams for richer discussions and shared insights. Finally, don’t forget to follow up with your regional CESA for additional support.

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Objectives

Build Understanding of the WCRS and Social-Emotional Development

�Examine the Integration of WCRS into Academic Content

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Wisconsin Career Readiness Standards

Helps us Conceptualize Wisconsin’s Vision For What Students Should KNOW and BE ABLE TO DOTo Prepare for a Future of Success

Wisconsin Career Readiness Standards (WCRS)
Career Ready	Learning Ready	Life Ready
Career Awareness (KNOW)	Academic Skills	Self-Awareness, Management, & Responsibility
Career Exploration (EXPLORE)	Critical Thinking and Problem Solving	Interpersonal Communication & Collaboration
Career Planning (PLAN)	Innovation Mindset & Skills	Global Competence
Career Preparation (GO) Postsecondary Education & Training Preparation (GO)	Technology Skills	Responsive Leadership
K5 12 grade Integrated across all subject areas, as a part of ACP activities, and/or into Career Pathways (WBL, IRCs, DE)

"Let’s quickly review what the Wisconsin Career Readiness Standards, or WCRS, are. These standards are designed to ensure that all students graduate with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for success in their future careers, lifelong learning, and personal growth."

"The WCRS are divided into three key strands: Career Ready, Learning Ready, and Life Ready. Each strand focuses on different aspects of student development. The Career Ready strand includes standards that help students explore career options, develop plans, and prepare for future careers through real-world experiences. The Learning Ready strand emphasizes the academic and critical thinking skills needed to succeed in education and future careers. Finally, the Life Ready strand focuses on the social-emotional competencies, leadership, and interpersonal skills that students need to navigate personal and professional challenges throughout their lives."

"Together, these three strands provide a comprehensive framework to ensure that students are well-prepared for whatever path they choose after graduation."

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Our WCRS Priorities

Specific & Intentional Career-Specific Knowledge & Skills

(i.e., knowledge of career pathways, financial literacy, use of excel spreadsheets)

Social & Emotional Skills, Knowledge, & Dispositions for

Effective Application

(i.e., emotional regulation, social awareness, cultural humility, communication)

"As we look at how the Wisconsin Career Readiness Standards are designed, it’s important to recognize that there are two key priorities for student outcomes. The first priority focuses on ensuring that students develop Specific and Intentional Career-Specific Knowledge and Skills. This includes practical knowledge, like understanding career pathways, financial literacy, or even technical skills such as using Excel spreadsheets. These skills are vital for preparing students to succeed in specific career contexts."

"However, the second priority is equally important. For students to effectively apply these career-specific skills, they must also develop Social and Emotional Skills, Knowledge, and Dispositions. This includes competencies like emotional regulation, social awareness, cultural humility, and strong communication skills. These are the soft skills that help students navigate the complexities of the workplace and apply their technical knowledge in real-world settings."

"In other words, career readiness isn’t just about what students know—it’s about ensuring they have the social-emotional competencies to use that knowledge effectively. The WCRS help bridge this gap by prioritizing both career-specific knowledge and the SEL skills necessary for applying that knowledge successfully. This dual focus helps our students become not just ready for work, but ready for life."

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SEL Powers Employability Skills

Communication

Collaboration

Critical Thinking

Adaptability

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The Acquisition of WCRS-Related Outcomes

While the WCRS provides us with a vision of ideal student outcomes, we have to ask ourselves,

how does this acquisition process occur?

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Surface, Deep, and Transfer Learning�

Prior Knowledge

Surface Learning

Deep Learning

Transfer

(Hattie, 2023)

Build Understanding of New Topic

Make Meaningful Connections To Expand Understanding

Apply Understanding to New Contexts

"To truly prepare students for their future careers, we need to ensure they aren’t just receiving surface-level knowledge. John Hattie’s research on surface, deep, and transfer learning helps us understand the different levels of learning that students need to reach in order to be successful."

"Surface learning is the foundational level where students are exposed to new information and begin to understand the basics. This might include learning career terminology or basic career-related tasks. While surface learning is necessary, it’s not enough on its own."

"Next, we have deep learning, where students start to apply their understanding in more meaningful ways. In this stage, students don’t just memorize career facts—they begin to analyze and critically think about career options, connecting what they’ve learned to real-world situations."

"Finally, transfer learning is the highest level, where students take the skills and knowledge they’ve gained and apply them to new, unfamiliar contexts. For example, they might use their understanding of financial literacy to make decisions in a completely different professional setting, or use their communication skills to navigate a new workplace culture. This is where students become truly career-ready, as they can adapt and apply their learning in various settings."

"It’s essential that we guide our students through these levels of learning—ensuring they’re not just retaining information, but developing the critical thinking and adaptability needed for success beyond the classroom."

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Surface, Deep, and Transfer Learning

Prior Knowledge

Surface Learning

Deep Learning

Transfer

LEARNING PRIORITY:

WCRS.CAR.2.B: Compare the effect of personal income and student loan debt on financial goals.

STANDARD:

WCRS.CAR.2: Career Exploration (EXPLORE)

EXPLORE multiple career and educational choices to evaluate how they compare and contrast to personal interests and skills.

"Let’s take a look at a specific learning intention from the Career Ready strand: WCRS.CAR.2.B. This standard asks students to compare the effect of personal income and student loan debt on financial goals. We’ll walk through how this learning intention can be addressed at the surface, deep, and transfer levels of learning."

Surface Learning: "At the surface level, students are introduced to the basic concepts of personal income, student loans, and financial goals. They might learn definitions or calculate basic income and loan repayment amounts. In this phase, students are primarily focused on understanding key terms and learning how to calculate simple financial relationships. For example, students could be asked to calculate monthly loan payments based on an average salary."

Deep Learning: "Once students have a foundational understanding, we can move into deep learning. At this stage, students begin to analyze the relationship between income and student loan debt in more complex ways. They might compare different scenarios—like taking out a larger loan versus attending a more affordable college—and assess the long-term impact on their financial goals. This encourages students to apply critical thinking skills as they weigh the pros and cons of different financial decisions. Here, they might develop a budget based on a hypothetical salary and loan amount, and analyze how different levels of debt would impact future savings."

Transfer Learning: "Finally, transfer learning occurs when students take the knowledge and skills they’ve developed and apply them to new and varied contexts. In this case, students might look at how their understanding of income and debt can apply to real-life situations outside the classroom. They could research actual job salaries and loan repayment plans and then project how their personal career and financial choices could affect their financial future. This could extend into setting long-term financial goals based on different career paths, or exploring alternative methods of paying for education, like scholarships or work-study programs."

"This progression from surface to deep to transfer learning ensures that students aren’t just learning financial terms—they’re applying these skills in meaningful, real-world contexts that prepare them for future financial decisions."

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The Acquisition of WCRS-Related Social-Emotional Dispositions

"Social-emotional competencies are a critical part of career readiness. These skills don’t just appear overnight—they are built gradually over time. We’ll use a ladder heuristic to illustrate this process."

"The ladder starts with simple knowledge—understanding basic concepts. From there, students build complex knowledge, applying what they’ve learned in familiar contexts. They then move into simple execution, where they begin performing simple tasks in familiar environments with support. As they gain confidence, they develop complex execution—the ability to generalize skills and knowledge across different situations, including those that may not be as familiar or comfortable. Finally, they reach mastery, where these skills become second nature, helping them succeed independently. When students have developed dispositions, it means that they’ve internalized the skills and knowledge they’ve gained, and that information and practice has helped them develop a core part of who they are. Whether that disposition is respectful, or gracious, or accountable, the student has identified enough with it that it really starts to define how they show up and respond to the world around them. This is true career readiness!"

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Quote

“The Wisconsin Career Readiness Standards (WCRS) provide the framework for educators to integrate career-readiness skills across all content areas and at every grade level from K-12.”

(Wisconsin Standards for Career Readiness, Page 5)

"This quote from the Wisconsin Career Readiness Standards encapsulates a critical idea—the WCRS are not standalone or isolated skills. They are designed to be integrated across all content areas and at every grade level, K-12."

"What we’ve explored so far—whether through the social-emotional learning ladder or the progression from surface to deep to transfer learning—shows us that meaningful, long-lasting student development happens when we weave these career-readiness skills into every academic experience."

"The WCRS provide the framework to do just that, offering a way to ensure that every student, regardless of the subject area, gains the essential skills they need for success in life and work. Integration is key—it’s the bridge between academic learning and real-world application."

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Integrating WCRS Into the Core

Strategies for Integration:

Embedding WCRS in core disciplines
Intentionally designing K-12 learning progressions to push students toward deeper learning using the intersection of core content and WCRS over time

Discipline-

Specific Learning

WCRS-Driven Career Learning

WCRS-Driven SEL Learning

"One of the most effective ways to deliver the WCRS is through academic integration. By embedding career readiness into core academic content, we can ensure that students are not only learning essential skills in math, science, or English but also gaining career-ready knowledge and dispositions. By integrating the WCRS into the core, we also ensure more equitable access to the WCRS and the essential outcomes we hope for students in the area of career readiness, life readiness, and learning readiness. By applying and facilitating career-connected learning within authentic and real-world contexts, it also enhances discipline-specific learning by creating a more meaningful and authentic context for students to engage in their learning journeys. Perhaps the most effective learning for students, then, becomes the intentional intersection of discipline-specific learning, WCRS-driven career learning, and WCRS-driven SEL learning.

"This integration can be achieved in a variety of ways. For example, WCRS can be naturally aligned with your existing academic standards—making it easier to incorporate them into lesson planning. You can also explore cross-curricular opportunities, where career readiness skills are integrated across subjects, creating richer and more connected learning experiences for students."

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Discussion Question

How can we engage curriculum directors and core academic teachers to break down silos and ensure that career readiness is integrated into all subject areas, not just career and technical education? What steps can we take to foster collaboration across departments to make career readiness a school-wide priority?

As we wrap up Module 7, we invite you to take some time to reflect on the discussion question presented on this slide. How can we engage curriculum directors and core academic teachers to break down silos and ensure that career readiness is integrated into all subject areas, not just career and technical education? What steps can we take to foster collaboration across departments and make career readiness a school-wide priority?

We recommend pausing here to reflect on this individually or as a team. Consider the challenges and opportunities within your own context and think about actionable steps you can take to create a more unified approach to career readiness.

Thank you for joining us for Module 7 of the WCRS series. We encourage you to join us next for Module 8, where we’ll explore how AI-integration tools can support the implementation of the Wisconsin Career Readiness Standards within academic systems. We look forward to continuing this journey with you!"