ADVANCING CAREER AND INTEREST EXPLORATION

• Moving from "Elective" to "Effective" Courses
• No Need To Differentiate Students

                While exposing students to a different set of topics and concerns than those presented in traditional courses, offering career exploration opportunities in school does not have to incite fear and anxiety among parents, teachers, and students. Indeed, as the examples below will illustrate, a school's traditional programs, activities, and curricula do not even have to change with the inclusion of career and interest exploration. In many cases, exploration actually adds cohesion to often-disconnected traditional academic courses and motivates students to learn and reflect more. The programs below have sought to include career and interest exploration in their curricula in one of two ways. Some have opted to integrate career concepts and ideas into mandatory courses so that all students can have the same opportunity to explore and reflect before high school graduation. Other programs have redefined "elective" courses and streamlined mandatory courses so that students now make course selections, including their elective courses, that support an overall plan or focus for their lives. All of these successful initiatives operate under the philosophy that there is no need to differentiate students when offering them the opportunity to explore their interests and ambitions.

Moving from "Elective" to "Effective" Courses

                The majority of the reformers interviewed for this project resisted the tendency to offer career and interest exploration or instruction to their students as part of an "either/or" school agenda. No longer are these schools structured so that either a student takes the traditional, college prep track or commits to a school-to-work or vocational track. Instead, these effective initiatives have integrated their career exploration components into the mainstream in one of two ways. Some schools utilize required courses such as social studies, economics, or civics and government to promote school-to-work ideas and themes and incorporate career-oriented activities and materials. This way, all students receive the same career information and school-to-work ideas and teaching methods. Other schools tightly schedule students' academic courses so school-to-work courses, while still officially considered electives, can be taken without sacrificing the academic or traditional courses that students need for acceptance into selective four-year postsecondary institutions. In both cases, school-to-work ideas and teaching principles have a better opportunity to become a necessary part of the educational experience of all students.

Incorporate Career Exploration into Required Classes
            Richfield High School in Minnesota sends about 75% of its students to postsecondary institutions. Even though the school was one of the first in the state to incorporate school-to-work and Minnesota Graduation Standards into its classes, the school's student services coordinator admitted that the school still functioned under "a traditional line of courses." Richfield has been able to incorporate career/interest exploration into its mainstream through service learning--a statewide, comprehensive graduation standard that requires students to find a need in the community upon which to center a research project (find original sources, perform a survey, and so on). In addition, the school's 9 ^th grade social studies classes are embedded with school-to-work principles and offer students a career investigation component. Students in Richfield High School are required to complete "9 ^th grade projects," which are considered a "no-track elective." In these projects, students work with guidance counselors to develop career portfolios that are assessed by social studies teachers, counselors, and vocational education teachers. The counselors then use the portfolios to keep track of student interests throughout high school.

                The New Visions program in New York State is considered an "elective" in the sense that the brightest and most motivated seniors can apply to the program only if they have met their academic requirements for graduation and college admissions. The program, designed explicitly for students who want to go to four-year college and have a general idea of their career area, allows students to use the extra credits they have available to them in the 12 ^th grade to further "refine their career choices." Except for the required physics, mathematics, and foreign language that they take in the morning at their home school, students take the remainder of their classes at the worksite. Although senior English and social studies are interdisciplinary courses taken at the worksite, the state mandates that these courses meet the state standards for their disciplines. One New Visions coordinator has redesigned senior English so that it is now considered an AP equivalent or English honors.[32] Students in this program no longer have to "elect" participating in the New Visions program over taking advanced placement English at their home high schools.

                The coordinator in this program feels that maintaining the "honors" designation on courses and acceptable performance on the AP exam are critical to colleges' understanding the program. Although some may consider AP courses to be elective in the same vein as band or competitive sports, these courses are clearly not elective to many of the students that the New Visions program targets. The coordinator said that her interest in the "AP" designation might make her appear to be an elitist among some of her colleagues but that the needs and demands of the community have forced her to react differently. Clearly, this program offers an option for students that is not the "either/or" scenario often presented to students who are interested in career exposure. Students enrolled in the program have received early admissions to Cornell University and the State University of New York at Binghamton. In 1993, the first year of the program, students attended Cornell, Penn State, and Mary Mount Colleges. Two students in the 1997 class have been wait-listed at Johns Hopkins and Duke University.

                A similar type of reform is taking place in the Kingswood Regional High School in New Hampshire, a school that sends 50% of its students to four-year colleges and 25% to two-year schools. Kingswood allows honors students to take advantage of vocational-type classes as electives and not lose their class standing for doing so. All vocational or career exploration courses at Kingswood can be taken at the honors level. Students agree to do extra work beyond that required in a standard vocational course, are held to higher standards, and are put on the honors 4.5-grade scale. The courses taken under this plan read "honors level" on the student's transcript. Thus, school-to-work courses have become more of an option for all students, especially those with college aspirations.

                To graduate from high school in Maryland, every student must take Technology Education--a hybrid vocational course that evolved from an industrial arts course. Students take this course from a technical education teacher instead of an academic teacher. In the process, "teams of kids across all learning levels" work together--something that exemplifies the future workplace activities of all students.

A Better Use of Electives
            As competition for acceptance into postsecondary institutions increases, the use of and meaning behind "elective" courses has changed drastically. Many school-to-work coordinators mentioned that colleges, once basing their admission decisions solely on students' first 11 years in school, now look more carefully into senior course selections, grades, and community service activities. Many students fail to realize this and do not take advantage of the elective courses available to them, instead taking "fluff" classes during their senior year. Acceptance to college can be threatened if college admissions officers do not see a rationale and focus in the course choices made by students during their high school career. Many school-to-work programs are capitalizing on this change in admissions philosophy and promote career exploration classes as a way to give students direction and keep them on a traditional college track. To do this, schools have to work closely with students in the planning of courses, extracurricular activities, and work experiences.

                Winnacunnet High School in New Hampshire requires all students to adhere to a regimented course of study beginning in the early years. Given that all students are required to stay on a highly structured academic track, students have ample time to take career courses as electives in grades 11 and 12. With the Winnacunnet system, students have strong academic backgrounds and enough exposure to career possibilities to develop knowledgeable ideas about what they want to do after high school. In addition, the career-related courses they choose make sense for their interest and aptitudes. Unlike other schools that focus on career development, Winnacunnet maintains AP courses as a central part of its curriculum. Not only does this eliminate parent opposition, but allows the reform effort in the school to maintain its integrity as one that stresses student focus. Students are not locked into anything.

                The school-to-work coordinator at Kingswood Regional High School in New Hampshire said that his responsibility is to ensure that students make good use of the eight elective credits (out of 32 total credits) available to them during their three years in high school. The Kingswood program does not force students to make career decisions by placing them into clusters or paths but, rather, concentrates on communication and raising student awareness by using elective credits to open up different opportunities. College offerings and college requirements are a focal point of the internships and career development activities. The school takes advantage of its technology by offering students the use of a software package called CHOICES on CD-ROM that gives students a clear and comprehensive road map for the future. Using CHOICES, students pick a field in which they are interested, find colleges that have programs in that field, and go the internet to college and professional websites to learn their requirements. CHOICES and the career-oriented courses that support it integrate career interests with academic requirements so students know what they are up against when they do choose a career path or cluster.[33]

                In addition to internships and job shadows, Kingswood schedules frequent visits from community members for the entire student population. Students also spend days at college campuses and get assistance in understanding how their personality fits into jobs/careers. The school-to-work coordinator noted that the biggest success in his program occurs when kids try something and decide that is not what they want. Career exploration before college saves the student, his parents, and college faculty members much time, effort, money, and frustration.

                Syracuse University in New York recently criticized for focusing too heavily on research and neglecting student interests and needs, is attempting to integrate a unique career exploration activity into the curriculum for all students. Freshman students, working under the leadership of faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences, are directed to write an "essay of aspiration."[34] This essay will be used to advise students throughout their college career and may eventually become part of the admissions process and an "electronic portfolio." The document will follow students across the entire campus/university as students learn through their courses and college experiences to self-assess their needs and change direction by taking a conscious inventory. Although the university still has a long way to go to achieve complete faculty buy-in, the program, started in the School of Education and piloted within the College of Arts and Sciences, is supported by services such as Academic Advising, Career Counseling, and the Exploratory Student Program.

                In addition, the College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University is initiating a Center for Undergraduate Research and Innovative Learning that will allow students to pursue hands-on experiences and apply their knowledge and skills to real-world situations. A major component of the center is its Undergraduate Research Program, designed to link students with the research projects of interested faculty. Although voluntary and elective at this point, many involved in the center feel that giving students and faculty an opportunity to work together in career-related yet academically focused activities will influence students and curriculum in a school-to-work direction.

                These two creative yet logical techniques for moving career exploration into the mainstream offer two important benefits for college students. First, the system and the staff are given an opportunity to work out any kinks that exist in the school-to-work system and make the necessary cultural and logistical changes without causing students to suffer in the process. In other words, students can benefit from the career and interest exploration activities and the school-to-work experience without jeopardizing their current or future learning opportunities. Moreover, parental and student resistance is minimized if not completely avoided since students no longer have the same monumental choices to make and risks to take. By integrating elements of school-to-work into the system in this way, most individuals and institutions can grow to see its benefits in the same way they have grown to demand a "well-rounded education" that includes extracurricular activities such as band, sports, and community service.

No Need To Differentiate Students

               Parents are not the only constituency group that fears the integration of career and interest exploration activities into the mainstream curricula. Many of the coordinators that were interviewed in this project were quick to point out that students themselves resist this addition to their traditional academic courseload. Indeed, students often choose not to participate in school-to-work programs and career exploration activities because they fear being identified as "school-to-work students" and being separated from their peers in mainstream or advanced educational programs. A New Visions learning coordinator in New York referred to the students in her program, all high academically achieving students, as "risk takers" and pioneers who decided to pursue and explore their career interests. Furthermore, these students were willing to take the chance that colleges might not value their career exploration experience.

                Cognizant of the risk that many students take to participate in career exploration activities and work-based learning experience, many school-to-work coordinators and state officials avoid student differentiation by creating programs that minimize program distinctions. For example, although North Carolina delineates "college Tech Prep" and "college prep" programs, only two differences actually exist between the programs. Tech Prep students must take four vocational/technical units in one of nine state career pathways; college prep students are free to take any electives they choose. Tech Prep students may take either Geometry/Algebra II or Technical Math whereas college prep students are required to take the Geometry/Algebra II sequence. Surprisingly, a recent review of 1,404 transcripts revealed that, although they are not pushed in that direction, at least 60 to 70% of all college prep completers chose to take at least two vocational/technical courses. Clearly, the distinction between the programs is not as sharp as their program delineation suggests. Furthermore, given that 69 to 70% of schools in the state have converted to block scheduling, students have more optional or elective courses to take and may, in effect, fit into both Tech Prep and college prep categories. Indeed, block scheduling can allow students to graduate with up to 32 units--12 above the 20 units of credit that the state requires.[35] Many in the state also feel that block scheduling helps teachers with their preparation schedules and allows for less lecture time and more active involvement--something that affects all students.

                One staff member at the Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning stated that he did not find it difficult to convince parents of the value of the school-to-work experience when things were put in perspective for them and the separation of their children from other students was minimized. In his view, without school-to-work activities, children are being forced to use their postsecondary years as "career exploration"--something that most parents find unwanted and uneconomical.

                In a recent New Hampshire evaluation, the Moultonborough school-to-work coordinator recalls that her students "didn't even know that they were Tech Prep kids." The North Carolina Director of Instructional Services states that there is "no such thing as a school-to-work student," indicating that the state is setting up its system so that it is "difficult to say, these are school-to-work students and these are not . . . ." A Minnesota official stated that if you "turn a kid into a historian, history will come alive for the kid." Clearly, students do not have to become employed as historians or be considered school-to-work students in a history cluster to reap the benefits of using the real world of history as a learning tool--something that many of the educators interviewed during this project have grown to realize. One school-to-work coordinator placed a clever spin on school-to-work when she described the college-bound as "students that aren't able to make the transition into immediate employment."

                If students feel positive about the opportunities to explore their careers and interests, they are often the best public relations for school-to-work programs. One New Visions program in New York gets students to speak at assemblies and market the program as part of their English course. The 20 students participating in the Academic Internship Program (AIP) at Champlain Valley Union High School in Vermont have proven to be role models for other non-school-to-work students in the school. Not being forced to sacrifice their honors classes and participating in an internship that is, in many ways, similar to the Graduation Challenge requirement of the entire senior student body,[36] these students were baffled when asked about being in a school-to-work program. During a focus group at the school, one AIP student referred to a different school program as school-to-work and did not seem to connect his current activities working in a veterinarian's office with a vocational experience.

               [32] To do this, the New Visions coordinator submitted her curriculum to the home school for approval. In turn, consultants at the home school submitted the curriculum to the State Education Department and the honors designation was accepted.

               [33] The CHOICES program is being used in several New Hampshire schools. In addition, Indiana County in Pennsylvania uses the software for 7 ^th through 12 ^th graders. The county has spent the last part of this year training all teachers and guidance counselors on how to use the software.

               [34] Freshman students have been directed to write out their goals/plans over the year in a freshman technical writing course. The overall plan is to have every student (especially those enrolled in liberal arts programs) graduate and maintain a portfolio so that they can effectively articulate and assess what they do and need to learn to do.

               [35] Of the 20 units of total credit that the state requires, six credits can be elective. Under this scheme, Tech Prep students are still able to enroll in two elective classes. Each school has the authority to increase graduation requirements and required courses.

               [36] Not necessarily considered as such by school faculty, the AIP appears to be an expanded version of Graduation Challenge. It requires students to work 350 hours during the school year (as opposed to 30 hours for Graduation Challenge) as well as register for an applied English course and a seminar class to discuss their workplace experiences.