Get Involved
Mission Statement
SkillsUSA Massachusetts, provides opportunities for members to develop individually and improve teamwork, leadership and professional skills through a focus on education, commitment to service, and participation in competitive experiences.
​
SkillsUSA Massachusetts, located at 250 Foundry Street, South Easton, MA is a state association of SkillsUSA, a national organization serving more than 300,000 high school and college students and professional members who are enrolled in training programs in technical, skilled, and service occupations, including health occupations. In Massachusetts we serve more than 33,000 students, teacher and administrators within 51 high school and college programs.
​
SkillsUSA prepares America’s high performance workers. It provides quality education experiences for students in leadership, teamwork, citizenship and character development. It builds and reinforces self-confidence, work attitudes and communications skills. It emphasizes total quality at work, high ethical standards, superior work skills, life-long education and pride in the dignity of work. SkillsUSA also promotes understanding of the free enterprise system and involvement in community service activities.
​
SkillsUSA Massachusetts programs include local and state competitions in which students demonstrate occupational and leadership skills. During the annual State Leadership & Skills Conference, more than 2,500 students compete in 86 occupational and leadership skill areas. Gold medalists from our state proceed to join more than 4,000 students to compete in the annual national-level SkillsUSA Championships.
​
The SkillsUSA Framework, which impacts the lives of America’s future workforce through the development of personal, workplace, and technical skills grounded in academics, reveals how career and technical education programs and SkillsUSA are relevant in today’s economy. Pillars of the Framework include; innovative programming, quality instruction, and industry partnerships focused on preparing students to succeed at work and in life.
​
Career Essentials: Experiences
Replaces Professional Development Program (PDP)
Working together in teams, understanding leadership, communicating clearly and demonstrating integrity are required in any career. However, these skills aren’t easy to teach — until now. SkillsUSA Career Essentials: Experiences is the next generation of employability skill-building curricula developed for today’s students. SkillsUSA Career Essentials: Experiences is everything you need to give your students what they need to be career-ready.
While SkillsUSA Career Essentials: Foundations develops an awareness level of learning, SkillsUSA Career Essentials: Experiences takes your students to the next level of demonstration within the SkillsUSA learning continuum. It prepares students for the transition to the workforce or higher education through authentic project-based experiences. The online curriculum empowers teachers with high-quality skill development resources and advances the impact of the SkillsUSA Framework.
SkillsUSA Career Essentials: Experiences has 15 project-based learning experiences that contextualize the essential elements of the SkillsUSA Framework in real-work situations. There are nine fundamental experiences that can be completed within one academic year but can be extended or shortened to meet local needs. In addition, the curriculum has five advanced experiences and a capstone experience that can be completed within an academic year.
Each experience spans two to three weeks and includes a 30-minute, instructor-led entry experience. This is followed by student-led, individual or group project modules to provide just-in-time, bite-sized learning. Instructors have the flexibility to adapt each experience to the local context.
All of the resources are delivered digitally through an e-learning site that provides:
-
24/7 access to students and instructors on computers, tablets or smartphones
-
Turnkey tools and resources for instructors
-
A built-in grading and badging system
-
A learning community for instructors to share best practices and additional tools and resources