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21st CENTURY LIFE AND CAREERS
21st Century Life and Careers Home

Applicable Statutes and Regulations

Standard 9: 21st Century Life and Careers
Five-Credit Graduation Requirement for
21st Century Life and Careers or Career and Technical Education
N.J.A.C. 6A:8-5.1(a)2i1

Standard 9 Graduation Requirement

N.J.A.C. 6A:8-5.1 requires that students complete five credits in 21st century life and careers or career and technical education, as follows:

(a) District boards of education shall develop, adopt, and implement local graduation requirements, for a State-endorsed diploma, that prepare students for success in post-secondary degree programs, careers, and civic life in the 21st century according to N.J.A.C. 6A:8-3.1(c)2 and that include the following:

  1. Participation in a local program of study of not fewer than 120 credits in courses designed to meet all of the Core Curriculum Content Standards, including, but not limited to, the following credits:

    x. At least five credits in 21st century life and careers, or career-technical education;
    http://www.nj.gov/education/code/current/title6a/chap8.pdf

Districts may employ a variety of strategies to enable students to satisfy the five-credit graduation requirement for 21st Century Life and Careers or Career and Technical Education.

The following may satisfy the five-credit graduation requirement:

  • Business Courses
  • Career and Technical Education Courses
  • Career Education Courses 
  • Cooperative Education Experiences
  • Family and Consumer Sciences Courses
  • Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) Courses
  • Structured Learning Experiences/Cooperative Education Experiences
  • Technology Education/Industrial Arts Courses