Matias, Z. B., Maddy-Bernstein, C., & Harkin, G. (1999). Zeroing In On Students' Needs: The 1998 Exemplary Career Guidance and Counseling Programs (MDS-1233). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California.

APPENDIX B
1998 HONORABLE MENTION PROGRAMS

Oostburg Career Guidance Workbound Program
Ray Byerly, Guidance Counselor
Tom O'Brien, Program Coordinator
Oostburg High School
450 New York Avenue
Oostburg, WI 53070
(920) 564-2346
Fax: (920) 564-6138

Oostburg High School serves over 300 students a year of which a third participate in the Career Guidance Workbound Program. The program is a cooperative effort between the high school and the business community of Sheboygan County. Its mission is to prepare students for lifelong learning by providing them with skills for identifying, exploring, and evaluating careers that will enhance the quality of their lives.

Students in the sophomore level apply for and are interviewed prior to participation in the Workbound Program during their junior and senior years. The program provides students with a wide range of activities to help them understand all their career options and to identify those that interest them the most. They develop a Personal Individual Plan (PIP) to aid in their transition from high school to life. Students develop their PIPs with guidance from a support committee consisting of a member of their family, an educator of their choice, and a business person from the student's area of interest. This core group meets bimonthly to review the student's progress on their PIP. In addition to the PIP meetings, students engage in other work-based learning activities such as job shadowing, development of a career portfolio, job interviews, goal setting, summer work experiences, and internships in their field of interest.

As part of its commitment, the school pays for the salary of the Workbound coordinator and makes school facilities available for use during PIP meetings. The guidance counselor coordinates the school-based career guidance and counseling activities with the Workbound coordinator. The business community, which initiated the whole partnership, shoulders the salary of the Workbound trainer and makes their businesses available for the various work-based activities such as job shadowing, internships, and summer work experiences, as well as provides a presence in the PIP meetings. Students' families, local educators, business representatives, and others from the community commit their time and resources to this program.

This program is innovative in the way it brings together the critical people in a student's life: a family member, an educator, and a business person. Over time, this core group brings coordination, consistency, and individualization to a student's career exploration and preparation.

Grand Junction Student Services
Kerry Youngblood, Executive Director
Tilman M. Bishop Unified Technical Education Campus
2508 Blichman Avenue
Grand Junction, CO 81505
(970) 255-2670
Fax: (970) 255-2650

The Tilman M. Bishop Unified Technical Education Campus (UTEC) is a secondary and postsecondary school offering technical education connecting students directly to work and/or higher education. The school provides skills training to students whose ages range from 16 to 60+. The program annually serves about 500 students from the six area high schools and from the college/adult population of western Colorado.

The goals of the Student Services Program are to build student enrollment in UTEC programs and to provide support and transitional assistance to students and staff. To meet these goals, the program (1) provides developmentally appropriate transitional services, activities, and resources to all students and (2) helps students understand the realities of work and careers. Services provided include orientation to school through visits, tours, mailings, and responses to inquiries; career counseling; enrollment management, including guidance for admissions and enrollments and assessment of academic skills, aptitudes, and interest; transition planning, career exploration and planning, and job search skill building; and support to faculty, staff, and various school and community advisory committees.

Polson High School Career Development Program
Sherry Jones, School Counselor and Career Development Program Team Leader
Polson High School
111 4th Avenue East
Polson, MT 59860
(406) 883-6315
Fax: (406) 883-6330

Beginning in 1993, Polson High School, a public school for grades 9-12, has developed and implemented a comprehensive career development program using an interdisciplinary approach that includes career pathways, job shadowing, portfolios, and service learning. The program purpose is to make education more relevant to the students, link education to the world of work, and prepare students for the 21st century.

Polson's interdisciplinary approach, called Students Aligning Interests, Learning and Studies (SAILS) involves career pathways, job shadowing for students, service learning, and job shadowing for educators. The school's curriculum is designed around programs of study of major career fields aligned with students' interests and aptitudes. Through SAILS Pathways, which is integrated into the English curriculum, students select courses leading towards identified academic and personal goals and culminates in an education/career plan. SAILS Job Shadowing matches sophomore students with an employee of a business, nonprofit organization, agency, or industry. The SAILS Serve Community program for grades 9-12 promotes personal, social, and academic growth through civic responsibility. This voluntary program encourages a partnership between the school and community that includes business representatives becoming mentors for Polson students in a service learning project. SAILS Job Shadowing for Educators provides a link to the community, impresses upon educators the current state of job demands, and incorporates workplace relevancy in the classroom.

Students develop a career development portfolio as part of the Get a Life program, a personal planning portfolio project of the National Occupational Information Coordinating Council and the American School Counselor Association. This portfolio is a personalized career planning journal designed to guide the career development process of students in grades 5-12. Students in the middle school begin this process with assistance from their school counselors. The portfolios follow the student from grade to grade and are eventually housed in the high school career center where students continue to add new information about themselves and their accomplishments.

During the 1997-1998 school year, seniors developed a performance portfolio to demonstrate their skills, competencies, and accomplishments. This portfolio serves as evidence of the student's competencies and achievements and supports the student's application to postsecondary schools and for employment.

Matias, Z. B., Maddy-Bernstein, C., & Harkin, G. (1999). Zeroing In On Students' Needs: The 1998 Exemplary Career Guidance and Counseling Programs (MDS-1233). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California.