Helping students to find career path important part of redesign plan

By Hank Bounds
State Superintendent of Education
June 12, 2006

The question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is asked to children from the time they are very young. In fact, for many kids, it is easier to answer when they are seven than when they are 17. Many students do not fully understand the range of career options that exist or how to prepare for them.

That is why one of the goals of the Redesigning Education for the 21 st Century Workforce in Mississippi program is to provide a high-tech career development program with a strong emphasis in applied learning and science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The plan incorporates strategies for helping students to explore careers and find the one that is best for them.

Under the plan, assessing students' aptitude and interests will begin in the seventh grade, with the instructor working closely with the counselor to ensure that students are beginning to develop realistic career goals. Certainly, parents will be involved in this process and fully apprised of the importance of course selection as it relates to career pathways and how Carnegie units are earned toward high school completion.

Teachers will also play a key role in this. Teachers at the seventh, eighth and ninth grade levels will be trained to work with students as they develop skills for making realistic career decisions. Each seventh grade student will explore career possibilities with a teacher on a daily basis. In eighth grade, teachers will work with students and parents to develop a plan of study for ninth grade and explore the options available online and through dual-credit courses.

At the ninth grade level, students will be guided toward choosing a career cluster and a pathway with a specific plan of student that leads to lifelong learning. A career pathway is a broad category that encompasses numerous occupations sharing a common theme. This broad theme gives students a context for connecting what they are learning across a wide spectrum of academic subject areas.

Career pathways are designed to expand options and opportunities for all students. They provide a map to reinforce academic learning by demonstrating direct application of classroom learning to the world of work. By enabling students to gain a practical understanding of the broad range of career, occupational and educational options that are open to them, students gain a better understanding of their own interests and potential. With help from teachers and counselors, students can make well-informed decisions about their career goals and design a plan and course of study to meet those goals.

In some states, the career pathways concept is developed as Career Academies, which are usually schools-within-schools and focused on a specific career area. According the National Center for Dropout Prevention, studies have found that enrollment in a career academy significantly decreased the dropout rate of at-risk students.

By beginning to explore and discover both their own talents and the career possibilities available at an early age, students today will be much better prepared to decide what they want to be when they grow up. In addition, they will be much better prepared to make those dreams come true.

(Contact: Caron Blanton, APR, Director of Communications, 601-359-3706 .)