School Counselors Role in Tech Prep and Work Based Learning

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School Counselors Role in Tech Prep and Work
Based Learning

• Carol Jurgens
• Director - Tech Prep/WBL
• Nebraska Department of Education
• cjurgens_at_nde.state.ne.us
• www.nde.state.ne.us/TECHPREP/WBL
• 402-471-0948

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Raising Our SightsNo High School Senior Left
Behindwww.woodrow.org

• In the agricultural age,
• postsecondary education was a
• pipe dream for most Americans.
• In the industrial age
• it was the birthright of only a few.
• By the space age,
• it became common for many.
• Today, it is just common sense for all.
• National Commission on the HS Senior Year
• October 2001

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Raising Our SightsNo High School Senior Left
BehindRecommendations

• Triple-A Program
• Improve Alignment
• P-16 System
• Raise Achievement
• College-Prep-Like Curriculum
• Provide More (and more rigorous) Alternatives
• Capstone /Research Project, Internship, Service
  Learning
• Preparation in HS that readies students for
  postsecondary education, work, life

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Raising Our SightsNo High School Senior Left
BehindBroad Definition of Postsecondary Education

• 2 and 4 year colleges
• Technical institutions
• Corporate training programs
• Apprenticeship training
• Adult education
• Distance learning opportunities
• Some programs offer degrees or certificates
  others do not

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Postsecondary success hinges on two factors
Academic skills and Commitment that comes
from Career Direction

• Getting Real Helping Teens Find Their Future
  Kenneth Gray, Penn State University

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Tech Prep Essential Elements

• Partnerships
• Secondary/Postsecondary Schools
• Employers
• Families/Community Leaders
• Process of Teaching and Learning
• Addresses a variety of learning styles
• Promotes high achievement for all students
• Integrates practical applications into academics

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Tech PrepEssential Elements

• Curriculum Structure
• Primarily grades 9-14
• Keeps student choices and career/educational
  options open
• Prepares students for critical thinking and
  lifelong learning
• Organized around career fields/clusters

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Counselors A Critical Tech Prep Partner

• Leader - Promote Awareness/Involvement/Support
• S/PS Administrators
• S/PS Faculty
• Employers
• Students
• Parents
• Critical Player
• Creation of S/PS Articulated Sequence of Courses
• Dissemination/Explanation of Process/Information

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Counselor Roles in Tech Prep and WBL

• Role 1
• Promoting a Tentative
• Career Direction while in 8th Grade
• Role 2
• Developing S/PS Plans for All Students
• Role 3
• Verifying Tentative Career Direction

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Counselor Role 1Promoting a Tentative Career
Direction while in 8th grade

• Individual Career Plans (ICP)
• Career Portfolios
• Career Academies/SLC
• Career Fields/Clusters

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Promoting Career Direction

• Grades K-5
• Promoting Self- and Career Awareness
• Grades 6-8
• Encouraging Career Exploration
• Grades 9-12
• Assisting Students in Career Exploration/Preparat
  ion/Application

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Career Cluster Definition

• A grouping of occupations
• and broad industries
• based on commonalities.

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Career Cluster . . .

• PARTNERS
• Schools
• Educators
• Guidance Counselors
• Employers Industry Groups
• Parents
• Students

• BENEFITS
• Clusters provide a communication and organization
  tool
• Clusters allows partners to work from a common
  framework for career development

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US DOE/OVAE16 Career Clusters

• Agriculture Natural Resources
• Architecture Construction
• Arts, Audio Video Technology Communications
• Business Administration
• Education Training
• Finance
• Government Public Administration

• Health Science
• Hospitality Tourism
• Human Services
• Information Technology
• Law Public Safety
• Manufacturing
• Retail/Wholesale Sales Service
• Scientific Research Engineering
• Transportation, Distribution, Logistics

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Career Cluster Framework

• Cluster Foundation
• A core set of standards that are broad and
  introductory.
• The academic and technical knowledge and skills
  necessary to pursue career opportunities within
  the cluster.
• Pathways
• A pathway is more defined leading to specialties
  within the career cluster.
• Career Specialties
• Specialization may include certification,
  degrees, or licenses.

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Career Specialties
CAREER CLUSTER FRAMEWORK
Cluster Pathways

Cluster Foundation Core Knowledge and Skills
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Cluster Foundation Core Knowledge Skills
Categories

• Academic Foundations
• Communications
• Problem Solving and Critical Thinking
• Ethics and Legal Responsibilities
• Information Technology Applications
• Employability and Career Development
• Safety, Health and Environmental
• Systems
• Leadership and Teamwork
• Technical Skills

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"Our 16 broad career clusters will help students
enhance the link between the knowledge they
acquire in school and the skills they need to
pursue their dreams.  Without limiting
students, career clusters help them focus on an
area of interest or a possible career path."
Richard W. Riley, U.S. Secretary of Education
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"Career clusters assist counselors in
individualizing students' education plans to
help students achieve career goals."Nancy
FlemingAssistant SuperintendentDavid (UT)
School District
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Arts, A/V Technology Communications

• Cluster Pathways
• Audio and Video Technologies
• Printing Technologies
• Visual Arts
• Performing Arts
• Journalism and Broadcasting
• Telecommunications Technologies

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Arts, Audio-Video Technology, and
CommunicationsCore Foundation Skills, Pathways,
Specialties
                                                
                                                  
                              
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DRAFT, 3/08/00
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Career Development - Learning Sequence
                                                
                                                  
                                               
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IMPORTANT QUESTIONS . . .

• Is career preparation part of your schools
  mission statement?
• Does each student have an ICP based on their
  interests and goals?
• In which career clusters do you provide
  curriculum opportunities for students?
• . . . At the school site?
• . . . At the work site?

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Counselor Role 2Developing a S/PS Plan for
All Students

• Counselors
• Faculty Advisor System
• Career Mentors
• Local/Regional Tech Prep Coordinators
• Parents/Students

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Tech Prep Articulation

• Begin with the END in mind
• Course Sequence
• Academic Technical Courses
• 4 2 2 2 4 2 2
• Advanced Placement
• Dual Credit

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Academy of Information Technology Suggested
Framework for a 4 2 Curriculum
Secondary
Postsecondary
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IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. . .

• How do choices in high school and college
  affect students futures?
• Are we educating to meet labor market demand?
• Should we be?
• Is it fair not to?

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Are We Educating to Meet Labor Market Demand?

• In the New Millennium Year 2000 . . .
• Only 20 of all jobs require a 4 year degree.
• gt 65 are high skilled jobs that require 1-3
  years of technical training beyond high school.
• By the Year 2005 . . .
• 1 of every 3 college graduates will NOT find
  college-level employment.
• 1 of every 2 college graduates preparing for the
  professions will NOT find employment in their
  field of study.
• Community Colleges . . the New Graduate School
• 30 of full-time students have a bachelors
  degree -
• - Reverse Transfer
• Students seeking the technical skills demanded in
  todays labor market.
• Getting Real Dr. Kenneth Gray Corwin Press -
  2000

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Worker Dearth

• Means . . . .
• Severely limited workforce pool
• Skills Gap workers do not have skills needed to
  do the job.
• Result . . . .
• A nation, a state, a community, or a companys
  competitive advantage depends on the quality of
  its workforce development system.
• Worker Dearth is the most critical issue facing
  businesses in the early 21st century.

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Labor Market Misunderstanding 1 . . .
High-Tech Careers Require a University Degree

• Most jobs now require
• Need to be a self-learner
• Need to be a problem solver
• Level of basic literacy skills
• Despite rising skills standards
• 40 of all jobs and
• 43 of job openings
• will require only minimal OTJ training through
  the year 2006.
• Only 25 of technical employment currently
  requires a university degree.

• Appropriate training
• for the majority of high-tech, high wage jobs is
  provided by
• pre-bachelors degree postsecondary technical
  education
• the military
• employers
• Only 2 of Microsofts workforce are 4-year
  college-educated computer programmers

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Labor Market Misunderstanding 2 . . .
A University Degree Guarantees Access to
Professional Occupations and High Wages

• REALITY. . .
• Only university graduates that find commensurate
  employment make 50 more than high school
  graduates.
• REALITY . . .
• University degree is like a ticket on an oversold
  airline flight some will get on the plane
  some will not and will join the ranks of the
  underemployed.
• REALITY . . .
• 1960 - only 1 in 7 failed to find college-level
  work
• Today - at best - 1 in 3 are failing to find
  college-level work/in the professions its closer
  to 1 in 2.

• ASSUMPTION . . .
• University degree is a 1st class ticket to
  professional or managerial jobs and high wages.
• Getting Real Dr. Kenneth Gray Corwin Press -
  2000

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Where HS Seniors Expect to be Employed
Source U.S. Department of Education
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Job Outlook for University Graduates in 2006
Source National Center for Educational Statistics
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Labor Market Misunderstanding 3 . . .
Career Planning is Worthless Because People
Change Jobs All the Time Anyway

• Misunderstanding stems from confusing JOBS with
  CAREERS
• - they are not the same things.
• Career a series of related jobs over time.
• Changing JOBS is common, changing CAREERS is not
  . . .
• Holding multiple JOBS is expected and is often
  characteristic of a very successful wage earnings
  history.
• Pursuing multiple CAREERS is more often a sign of
  a troubled work history and below average
  earnings.
• Teens have two choices
• Let fate and the labor market decide their future
  . . . OR . . .
• Be proactive and plan for success often defined
  as getting high-skill/high-wage work.

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Strategies to Promote Career Direction

• 1 Fostering Career Maturity Direction
• I. ATTITUDES
• Appreciation for the importance of planning
• Willingness to face reality
• II. SKILLS
• Career exploration skills
• Decision-making skills
• III. KNOWLEDGE OF SELF
• Understanding of self in relation to the world of
  work
• 2 Considering All the P.S. Alternatives
• 3 Talking to Parents Business Community

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Five Premises for SuccessGetting Real Dr.
Kenneth Gray Corwin Press - 2000

• STOP counting how many teens go to college . . .
• START counting how many do so
  successfully.
• EVERY high school graduate should have a
  postsecondary plan that has a high probability
  of success.
• Postsecondary success depends on both academic
  skills AND commitment - which come from career
  maturity and direction.

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Five Premises for SuccessGetting Real Dr.
Kenneth Gray Corwin Press - 2000

• By 10th grade, teens should have moved from
  fantasy to identifying career interests
• In grades 11-12, schools should help teens
  verify career interests and help them make
  postsecondary plans based on these interests.
• A REAL plan for postsecondary success includes
  considering ALL the alternatives.

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Counselor Role 3 Verifying Tentative Career
Directions

• Comprehensive Career Counseling
• Effective Legal WBL Experiences
• Nebraska WBL Planning Implementation Guide
• Nebraska WBL Instruction Guide
• WBL Legal Issues Brochures
• Resources www.nde.state.ne.us/TECHPREP/WBL

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Nebraska WBL Planning Implementation Guide

• How to guide for creating effective and legal
  WBL experiences
• Includes sample forms

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Effective WBL Experiences . . .

• Help verify career direction
• Strengthen workplace competencies
• Bring relevance to academic learning
• Develop awareness of new and emerging high-tech,
  high wage jobs
• Clarify postsecondary education plans

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Effective WBL Experiences . . .

• Provide a connection between the work experience
  . . .
• and the school curriculum in a defined fashion.
• Training Agreements
• Training Plans

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Effective WBL Experiences . . .

• Include all aspects of the industry
• Planning
• Management
• Finance
• Technical and Production Skills
• Underlying Principles of Technology
• Labor Issues
• Community Issues
• Health, Safety, Environmental Issues

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WBL Options

• Career Awareness (Group)
• Career Fairs/Day
• Classroom Guest Speakers
• Field Trips
• Career Exploration (Individual)
• Career Guidance/Counseling Services
• Career Interviews
• Job Shadowing
• Research Papers/Projects

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WBL Options

• Career Preparation (School Site)
• Career Academies
• Small Learning Communities
• CTE Classes/Tech Prep
• CTSO Projects/Competition
• Workplace Readiness Class/Activities
• Career Applications (Work Site)
• Apprenticeships
• Cooperative Education
• Service Learning Projects
• WECEP

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K-16 WBL Action Plan

• Sequence
• What WBL options? What grade level?
• Structure
• When will WBL take place? For how long? During
  or after school? Who will coordinate?
• Roles/Responsibilities
• PATES Partners (Parents, Administrators,
  Teachers, Employers, Students)
• Target Date

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WBL Action Plan

• Where are you at right now?
• Who would you need to involve to create a
  district-wide plan?

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Nebraska WBL Instruction Guide

• 50 Learning Activities for Classroom or
  Individual Use . . . E.g.
• Breakdown in Communication
• Fire! Aim! Ready!
• Admirable Attitudes
• Broken Squares
• Label Cans Not People
• The Lifeline

• 9 Assessment Rubrics
• Communication/Literacy
• Organizing Analyzing Information
• Problem Solving
• Using Technology
• Completing Entire Activities
• Acting Professionally
• Interacting with Others
• Understanding All Aspects of the Industry
• Taking Responsibility for Career and Life Choice

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Additional Resources That Support WBL Experiences

• Secondary Schools in a New Millennium -
  Demographic Certainties, Social Realities, 2000
  www.nassp.org
• Breaking Ranks Changing an American
  Institution, NASSP, 1996
• Career Education and Education Reform Time for
  a Rebirth, Phi Delta Kappan, December 2001