Education DCL: EAGER: Career Kickstart: High School Pathway to a Thriving Cybersecurity Career

要求具备网络安全相关技能的空缺职位数量持续增长，而雇主却难以找到熟练的员工。随着网络劳动力需求的上升，人才储备有限；只有15%的高中开设网络安全课程（cybersupply.org）。尽管多个组织已经制定了网络安全标准、课程和教师培训，但实施高等教育和行业认可的全国性解决方案仍然是一项挑战。Career Kickstart （CK）项目旨在将大学先修课程（AP）模式扩展到职业和技术教育领域。与AP课程一样，CK课程将为学生提供获得大学学分的机会，并为所有学生提供课程框架、专业学习机会和教学资源，以支持高质量的教学和大学水平的工作。该项目正在支持发展CK网络安全途径的基础工作（第一阶段），这将导致全国认可的途径，因此所有学生-不仅仅是那些在学校有资源启动网络项目的学生-离开高中时都有动力和技能去追求高级培训，认证和网络安全职业。该项目推进了职业和技术教育领域的知识，特别是为高中网络安全课程开发高质量资源。与设计AP课程和考试类似，CK课程由大学教职员工和咨询委员会中经验丰富的教师精心设计。行业专家也参与其中，以确保该计划与劳动力需求保持一致。CK项目正在利用咨询委员会来完善项目的设计、课程作业和评估、教师准备模式和整套资源，以确保易于实施。通过三次面对面的会议，该小组正在创建并快速原型化该途径的关键学习目标（LOs），学生必须掌握并在评估中展示才能获得大学学分。这包括符合网络安全入门级工作需求的LOs。此外，项目团队正在原型和试点CK专业发展-一种遵循其他AP培训的培训模式，并建立一个强大的教师社区。这为专业学习提供了一个有效、可扩展、可持续和动态的蓝图。为了评估第一阶段的维度，CK团队正在利用一系列工具，包括调查（行业，委员会成员，教师，学生和管理人员），对高中生和大学生进行的评估，以及课堂观察。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The number of open positions requesting cybersecurity-related skills continues to grow, while employers struggle to find skilled workers. As the cyber workforce demand rises, the talent pipeline is limited; only 15% of high schools offer a cybersecurity course (cybersupply.org). Though multiple organizations have developed cybersecurity standards, curricula, and teacher training, implementing national-scale solutions that are acknowledged by higher education and industry remains a challenge. The Career Kickstart (CK) project aspires to expand the Advanced Placement (AP) model to the career and technical education space. Like AP courses, CK courses will offer opportunities for students to earn college credit and will provide a course framework, professional learning opportunities, and instructional resources that support high-quality teaching and college-level work for all students. The project is supporting the groundwork (Phase I) for developing the CK Cybersecurity Pathway, which leads to a nationally recognized pathway, so all students – not just those who attend schools with the resources to launch a cyber program - leave high school with the motivation and skills to pursue advanced training, certification, and a career in cybersecurity. The project advances knowledge within the career and technical education space – specifically in developing high-quality resources for high school cybersecurity coursework. Similar to designing AP courses and exams, the CK program is crafted by college faculty and experienced teachers who serve on an Advisory Committee. Industry experts are also involved to ensure the program is aligned to workforce needs. The CK project is utilizing the Advisory Committee to refine the program’s design, the coursework and assessments, the teacher preparation model, and the suite of resources to ensure easy implementation. Through three in-person sessions, the group is creating and rapidly prototyping the pathway’s key learning objectives (LOs) a student must master and demonstrate in an assessment to obtain college credit. This includes LOs aligned to meet the needs of cybersecurity entry-level jobs. In addition, the project team is prototyping and piloting CK professional development – a training model that follows other AP trainings and builds a strong teacher community. This is yielding a blueprint for professional learning that’s effective, scalable, sustainable, and dynamic. To evaluate dimensions of Phase I, the CK team is utilizing a range of tools including surveys (industry, committee members, teachers, students, and administrators), assessments administered both to high school students and college students, and classroom observations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.