This applies to California districts. Aeries sets each course’s level from its State Course Code: Introductory, Concentrator or Capstone. On the Career Pathways Management page, students in a pathway are listed by participation level as follows.
Participants (Introductory) are students who have taken, or are taking, only the Introductory course (or any single course) in the pathway. Students who have completed a Concentrator or Capstone course are not on this list.
Participants (Level 2) are students who have taken, or are taking, the Concentrator course. If Require Introductory Course is selected for the pathway, the student must also have completed the Introductory course (or be taking it now). Students who have completed the Capstone course are not on this list.
Participants (Completer) are students who have taken, or are taking, the Capstone course and have completed the Concentrator course (and the Introductory course, if it is required). If the pathway has only Capstone-level courses, the Capstone course alone qualifies. The CDE also requires a C- or better in the Capstone course. Aeries doesn’t check this grade; on the Career Pathways Management page, a D in a Capstone course or an F in any pathway course is shown in red so you can review it before marking the student.
A student appears on a list only when the course for that level is in the current school year (on the student’s current schedule or this year’s transcript). Only students marked Participants (Completer) for the year are reported to CALPADS in the SCTE file.
Students must follow the course sequence in a pathway. Courses don’t have to be taken in consecutive years, but a student who completed a higher-level course in an earlier year than a lower-level course is left off the lists. Due to State reporting requirements, LEAs will be unable to pass the validations for certification if students complete the courses out of order.
Common questions
If a student only takes the Capstone course in a multi-year Career Pathway, are they reported as a Completer?
No. A Completer must have completed the Concentrator course before the Capstone course. The only exception is a pathway that has only Capstone-level courses.
If a student only takes the Concentrator course, are they Participants (Level 2)?
It depends on the pathway. If Require Introductory Course is selected, a student who has only the Concentrator course is not listed as Participants (Level 2). If it is not selected, the student is listed as Participants (Level 2).
If a student is only taking Introductory courses, is the student reported to CALPADS as in the Career Pathway?
No. Only students marked Participants (Completer) for the academic year, at their current school, are included in the SCTE file; Participants (Introductory) and Participants (Level 2) are not. The pathway code must also be mapped to a CALPADS pathway code. Introductory coursework is still reported to CALPADS through the student’s transcript (HIS) in the SCSC file.