1. Middle School College and Career Readiness
Dr. Rhonda Williams Dr. Leann Morgan Jessica Garrett Amber Flynn Frenchi Jones Christine Braun
Dana Albers

2. Review of Literature for Middle School Career Programs
Rhonda
Review of Literature for Middle School Career Programs

3. Middle School Career Education
Sixth-through-ninth-grade children have demonstrated very little understanding of how school relates to the real world (Johnson, 2000)
92% of students say they will attend college, only 32% know what classes are required in high school that would allow them to attend college.
Guidance efforts may be most effective with pre- teens (Hughes & Merchur Karp, 2004)
Students with a clearer idea of their career goals are more likely to engage in academic tasks. (Blustein, 2002)
Sixth-through-ninth-grade children have demonstrated very little understanding of how school relates to the real world and seem to have little to no awareness of the skills and knowledge needed for success in the future.(Johnson, 2000)
92% of middle school students say they will attend college, but only 32% know what classes are required in high school that would allow them to attend college.
93% of students say there is “no chance” they will drop out of high school, but 29% of Californians age lack a high school diploma.
Guidance activities directed at junior high school students had the largest effect sizes, indicating that guidance efforts may be most effective with pre-teenage (rather than high school or college) students (Hughes & Merchur Karp, 2004)
If students have a clearer idea of their career goals, they will be more likely to engage in academic tasks. (Blustein, 2002)
Jessica

4. Comprehensive Guidance Intervention
Reported gains in attitudes about the importance of education & higher grades. (Lapan, Gysbers, and Petroski 2001)
Demonstrated gains in domains of student achievement & attitudes relating to education. (Solberg, Close, and Metz, 2001)
Facilitated adolescents’ vocational aspirations for careers that they may have perceived to be inaccessible (Turner, 2005)
Lapan, Gysbers, and Petroski (2001) conducted an extensive evaluation of a systematic guidance model that included clear focus on helping students to connect career planning to personal and educational development. Their analysis revealed those seventh graders (middle school students) who were exposed to this comprehensive guidance intervention reported gains in their attitudes about the importance of education in their lives and also achieved higher grades than did students who did not participate in this intervention.
Using a program that focuses specifically on enhancing students' knowledge of themselves and the world of work, Solberg, Close, and Metz (2001) identified gains in various domains of student achievement and attitudes relating to education.
(Turner, 2005)
The confidence to explore self in relation to the occupational world, the confidence to find career-specific occupational information, and the confidence to engage in intentional, self-directed educational and vocational planning can facilitate adolescents’ vocational aspirations for careers that they may have perceived to be inaccessible
Jessica

5. Academic Implications
Planning, effort, and organization has been associated with eighth grade course completion (Cromwell, 2013)
Curriculum integration provides relevance
Strategies to implement career may include:
Curriculum infusion/integration
Career counseling/information
Assessment
Life skills/personal development: including decision-making skills, time management, study skills, etc.
Work-based learning (Arrington, 2000)
(Cromwell, 2013)
Academic discipline includes the planning, effort, and organization with which students do their work, and it has been associated with eighth grade course completion
(Arrington, 2000 Vol.27)
Curriculum integration can help provide relevance for the students as to how what they are learning now can be related to what they may do in the future
Strategies use to help implement career may include:
Curriculum infusion/integration
Career counseling/information
Assessment
Life skills/personal development: including decision-making skills, time management, study skills, etc.
Work-based learning
Just a s one would not hand a first grader a dictionary and say, “Read” one cannot hand an eighth graders a plan of study and say, “Complete it.” It is much like any other subject – you must learn skills at the current level before you can progress to the next level
Jessica

6. Impact of Social & Emotional Learning
Psychosocial behaviors contribute to college and career readiness (The Forgotten Middle)
Possess academic discipline: planning and organizing, follow-through and action, and sustained effort (An Analysis of College Readiness…)
Teaching organizational and self-management skills – need lessons and modeling (Balfanz, 2012)
Students who set high academic goals, have self- discipline, motivate themselves, manage their stress, and organize their approach to work, learn more and get better grades (Durlak, 2011)
(The Forgotten Middle)
The earlier a student develops important academically related psychosocial behaviors (such as academic discipline) that contribute to college and career readiness, the more likely those behaviors are to become habitual. These are also the same behaviors that are conducive to career success
(An Analysis of College Readiness…)
Possessing Academic Discipline – ability to exhibit capacity in three distinct areas: planning and organizing, follow-through and action, and sustained effort – a student’s academic discipline in eighth grade has a direct impact on his or her GPA in ninth grade
Teaching organizational and self-management skills – need lessons and modeling of study and work skills like time and task management, not taking, assignment completion strategies as well as social skills like working cooperatively with others and resolving conflict
Amber

7. Career Self-Efficacy is Accomplished Through:
Career planning/ exploration
Parent support
Training and assisting parents in providing opportunities to increase career self-efficacy
Reducing the effects of career gender-typing (Turner, 2005)
Increase career exploration across a variety of careers.
Career Self-Efficacy and Perceptions of Parent Support in Adolescent Career Development
Results indicate that career self-efficacy, career planning/ exploration efficacy, and perceived parent support interactively predicted young adolescents’ career interests for all Holland type careers”
Professional school counselors can provide to middle school students counseling interventions that are designed to reduce the effects of career gender-typing and increase career planning/exploration efficacy across a variety of careers. They can train and assist parents in providing opportunities to increase their adolescents’ task-performance-focused career self-efficacy”
Jessica

8. Cost of No Programming Lack of adequate preparation Students do NOT
possess clarity of their interests, abilities, values, and talents
have an understanding of the high school curriculum
possess the foundational components for appropriate career aspirations.
As a result, they may select inappropriate courses that may not lead to a satisfying career pathway.
The effect of three career interventions on educational choices of eighth grade students
“Lack of adequate preparation for making educational decisions in the transition from eighth grade to high school may have two direct effects. One is that students do not possess clarity of their interests, abilities, values, and talents…other effect is that students acquire only a vague or superficial understanding of the high school curriculum…students do not possess the foundational components that would enable them to formulate clear and appropriate career aspirations, which serve as a focal point for education decision making… as a consequence students may select inappropriate courses,..”
Frenchi

9. Middle School Career Readiness Interventions
Rhonda
Middle School Career Readiness Interventions

10. Effective Career Readiness Interventions Include:
School-community collaborative approach
Parent factors- including their expectation and support for taking rigorous curriculum.
Educate students about how to gather, understand, and apply information about self and the world of work
Make sure all students have the opportunity to enroll in, and the support to complete, rigorous courses
Frenchi

11. Interventions That Work:
An early academic plan is a road map to success (ICAP)
Look at students’ proficiency in key subject areas and use that for motivation
Equitable exposure to a wide range of extracurricular and enrichment opportunities
Engagement with school
enrollment in and completion of rigorous courses, especially math
their academic performance in relation to grade-level benchmarks
Equitable exposure to a wide range of extracurricular and enrichment opportunities that build leadership, nurture talents and interests, and increase
Frenchi

12. Using Data to Develop a Career Program
Rhonda
Using Data to Develop a Career Program

13. Using Data
To identify which students and student groups are successfully preparing for college and career — and which are not.
To identify disparities among student groups
To evaluate the disparities between student groups. For example:
- homeless students
- gender ratios of discipline rates
- promotion rates by race
To identify disparities among student groups so you can more effectively reach the students most in need.
Jessica

14. Best Practices for Career Readiness
Rhonda
Best Practices for Career Readiness

15. Real Game Research Dimmit, 2007 Tower, 2010
Students who participated in The Real Game:
scored significantly higher on content knowledge of World of Work
were more confident and aware of future plans
were more aware of the importance of making good decisions about high school academics
differences for the RG participants in the domains of self-efficacy, school engagement, and pro-social behavior
All Teachers were able were able to make curriculum connections to both Math and English
7 out of 9 teachers were able to make connections to Science and Technology and the Arts
Most students mentioned playing The Real Game to their parents at least once (89%)
Most students (87%) agreed that they feel more confident that they can make good decisions about their future careers
86% agreed that they see more clearly how the choices the make today can affect their future
85% of students agreed that they had a better idea of what to expect in adult life
Over half (62%) of the Students agreed that playing The Real Game made them think about trying harder in school
Jessica

16. References
Author, (2008). The Forgotten Middle Ensuring that All Students are on Target for College and Career Readiness before High School. ACT Inc.
An Analysis of College Readiness Indicators in the Middle Grades. (2011, October 19). Retrieved from College Spark Washington:
Arrington, K. (2000 Vol. 27). Middle Grades Career Planning Programs. Journal of Career Development,
Baker, S. B., & Taylor, J. G. (1998). Effects of career education interventions: A meta-analysis. Career Development Quarterly, 46,
Balfanz, R. (2012). Putting Middle Grades Students on the Graduation Path a Policy and Practice Brief. National Middle School Association.
Baker, S. B., & Taylor, J. G. (1998). Effects of career education interventions: A meta-analysis. Career Development Quarterly, 46,
Cromwell, A. M. (2013, May). College Readiness Indicators. Retrieved from Researchnetwork.pearson.com:
Conclusion to course, lecture, et al.

17. References Continued
Durlak, J. W. (2011 Vol. 82). The Impact of Enhancing Students' Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions. Child Development,
Evans, J. H. & Burck, H. D. (1992). The effects of career education interventions on academic achievement: A meta-analysis. Journal of Counseling & Development 71,
Lapan, T. T., Gysbers, N. C., & Petroski, G. F. (2001). Helping seventh graders to be safe and
successful: A statewide study of the impact of comprehensive guidance and counseling programs. Journal of Counseling & Development, 79,
Peterson, G. L. (1999). The effect of three career interventions on educational choices of eigth grade students. Professional School Counseling, Vol. 3 p 34.
Resnick, L. B., & Wirt, J. B. (1996). Linking school and work: Roles for standards and
assessments. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Ting, S. L. (2012). A Preliminary Study of Career Education in Middle School. Journal of Career and Technical Education, Vol. 27 p 84 – 97.
Turner, S. L. (2005 ). Career Self-Efficacy and Perceptions of Parent Support in Adolescnet Career Development. The Career Development Quarterly, Vol 51 p44-55.