WORK IN PROGRESS
at the University of Illinois:
Improving Career Guidance and Counseling Programs Through Professional Development
- The NCRVE Career Development Project
- Professional Development Programs
- Handbook on Best Practices
- For More Information
by Carolyn Maddy-Bernstein and Zipura B. Matias
Career development programs are really about changing the way people think and behave and about changing systems, both of which are difficult.--Cal Crow*
This quoted statement hits at the very heart of questions raised by those who wonder why their efforts to develop or improve programs have failed. Cal Crow, in the cited article, goes on to describe implementing a career development program as akin to starting a peaceful revolution that creates dissonance, causes resistance, and generates a desire to return to the past. Understanding these complexities is important for those who want to begin implementing a comprehensive career development program in schools, school districts, or states.
As used herein, career development refers to a lifelong process which incorporates general education, occupational training, and work, as well as one's social and leisure life. Comprehensive career development programs are programs that address the needs of all students appropriate to their age group (elementary, middle, secondary, or postsecondary). Clearly, meeting these needs is a task that should not be relegated to one person or office but to the whole school and community. While school counselors may be equipped to assist students with many of these needs, counselors should be a member of a total educational team that might consist of teachers, administrators, parents, students, business representatives, and others.
In planning to meet the complex needs of students, teams of educators and their partners need training in understanding why career development programs are needed in schools and how they may improve overall outcomes for students. If their training is to be effective, it should be part of an on-going professional development program and not a "one-shot" workshop that provides information but rarely leads to real change. It should also assist educators who frequently seek information about exemplary programs only to find the information they receive does not help them learn how to actually replicate or adapt model programs. Good professional development is designed to assist participants to go beyond the information stage. It is also based on the assumptions that professional development programs:
- should be planned collaboratively by those who will participate in and facilitate the implementation of the work;
- require substantial time and other resources; and
- should be driven by a coherent long-term plan (U.S. Department of Education, 1998).
The NCRVE Career Development Project
The National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE) embarks this year on a project to help selected states implement comprehensive career development programs. The project draws on the experiences of and lessons learned from exemplary career guidance and counseling programs named by NCRVE and the U.S. Department of Education Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE). The exemplary program search process, conducted in cooperation with the Association of Career and Technical Education (formerly the American Vocational Association) and the state guidance and counseling supervisors for the past four years, has led to the identification and recognition of 23 programs to date. In addition to identifying and recognizing the programs, NCRVE has disseminated information about exemplary programs through development of monographs, journal and newsletter articles, and presentations at national conferences.
The current project seeks to provide assistance to selected urban school districts in implementing comprehensive career development programs. Assistance will primarily be in the form of two core activities: (1) developing and conducting a comprehensive professional development programs targeting teams of school counselors, administrators, parents and others to provide instruction in how to replicate exemplary practices; and (2) producing a handbook on best practices addressing the benefits from comprehensive programs and how others can replicate these programs, and providing contact information for additional assistance and resources.
Professional Development Programs
The professional development activities are being planned and implemented by U.S. Department of Education and NCRVE staff in partnership with the following cooperating organizations:
- The American School Counselor Association;
- The Guidance Division of the Association for Career and Technical Education (formerly AVA);
- The State Supervisors of Guidance and Counseling; and
- The University of Wisconsin Center on Education and Work.
The professional development programs are designed to promote a comprehensive developmental guidance program based on nationally recognized standards (e.g., National Career Development Guidelines, National Standards for School Counseling Programs) as well as good practice, theory and research. The National Career Development Guidelines and the National Standards for School Counseling Programs offer a blueprint for facilitating acquisition and mastery of skills and competencies that will serve the needs of students now and in the future. These standards, coupled with examples/models of best practices from exemplary programs, offer a perfect resource for the professional development program. The entire program emphasis is on how to plan, implement, and maintain comprehensive, developmental guidance programs using strategies based on the best of the identified exemplary programs.
An advisory committee and a focus group of practitioners have guided the project staff in the planning and design of the professional development program. While the project is currently in the planning phase, it appears the program will basically include the following components:
- An assessment of the school district's needs;
- A two-day workshop that results in an action plan and time-line;
- On-going assistance during the implementation of the plan; and
- A follow-up workshop six to nine months after the initial workshop.
The workshops will be hands-on and process-oriented. They will provide participants ample time to work together as a team and make plans for their school improvement effort, as well as consult with staff from the recognized exemplary programs who will serve as presenters and resource people during the workshops.
The workshops will feature the best of the best, with a structure that will encourage participants to develop an action plan based on a comprehensive developmental guidance model incorporating basic components of exemplary practices, and participant interaction, discussion and question/answers.
Three urban school districts are targeted as sites of the professional development programs. Negotiations with the Miami-Dade and Baton Rouge sites are ongoing. A third site is under consideration and will be named as soon as negotiations are finalized. While individual sites will decide their team composition, it is envisioned the teams will consist of teachers, counselors, administrators and other appropriate personnel.
The workshops will be held from July to September for one-and-a-half to two days each depending on the needs of the school district. Representatives from recognized programs will be present to illustrate successful implementation of various aspects of comprehensive programs. Past workshops have shown that representatives of exemplary programs are more credible to other practitioners and their presentations are always very well received.
Interviews with each school's team will be held two to three months prior to the on-site workshop to determine their needs. The information gathered from the needs assessment will help program staff tailor the workshop to specific needs of the teams. A follow-up workshop will take place in six to nine months from the initial workshop to learn from the successes of participants and to address issues that arise in the implementation. Project staff will contact teams after the workshops to facilitate their further planning and implementation. They will also be given names of resource people, including practitioners who have successfully implemented similar programs, to contact for assistance as they implement their plan.
Handbook on Best Practices
A handbook to address the benefits from comprehensive career development programs, how others can replicate these programs, and contact information for additional assistance and resources will be produced. This handbook is designed for use during the workshops and as a stand-alone document. n
For More Information
For more information about this project, contact Carolyn Maddy-Bernstein (maddyber@uiuc.edu) and Zipura B. Matias (z-burac@uiuc.edu) at NCRVE University of Illinois, 345 Education Building, 1310 South Sixth Street, Champaign, IL 61820, (217) 333-0807.
Carolyn Maddy-Bernstein is the director of the NCRVE Office of Student Services at the NCRVE University of Illinois Site.
Zipura B. Matias is the co-director of the NCRVE Office of Student Services at the NCRVE University of Illinois Site.
* Cal Crow, Local leadership in implementing comprehensive career development programs, in J. Lester (Ed.), From pilot to practice: Strengthening career development programs (Washington, DC: National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee, 1992).