Career Development and Postsecondary Readiness (9-12)

Although postsecondary readiness is something schools and school counselors should foster throughout elementary and middle school, high school is where the rubber meets the road for college and career readiness. School counselors recognize students of all backgrounds possess unique interests, abilities and goals that come together to lead to exciting future opportunities, such as qualifying for and succeeding in their chosen field.

School counselors play a critical role in students’ career development by introducing them to colleges and careers and providing learning and experiential opportunities for students to acquire behaviors and skills for postsecondary readiness. Learn how you can implement a comprehensive school counseling program that helps students understand the connection between school and postsecondary opportunities, explore their interests, abilities, specific career clusters and postsecondary plans and make a successful transition to postsecondary education and the world of work. Collaborating with students, families, educational staff and the community, school counselors work to ensure all high school students select their best postsecondary path. 

Learning objectives:
After attending this workshop, you should be able to:

• Identify the key components for an effective comprehensive high school college and career readiness program
• Describe the school counselor's role in career development at the high school level
• Articulate the connection between school and the world of work to high school students
• Have meaningful college and career conversations with students using the ASCA Career Conversations Starters and High School Career Conversations.
• Use the ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors to determine students’ postsecondary-readiness needs and inform lesson plans
• Brainstorm ways to collaborate with administrators, teachers, staff and decision makers to create a postsecondary-readiness culture
• Identify ways to work with teachers to integrate college and career education into the curricula
• Collaborate with community resources, local businesses and industries so students are exposed to local career possibilities and opportunities
• Discuss specific college and career readiness implementation strategies for high school students
• Use data as part of an effective college and career readiness program
• Identify gaps in college and career access and the use of such data to address both intentional and unintentional biases related to college and career counseling
• Recognize and support essential developmental factors key to future successes, such as self-efficacy, motivation and perseverance

Schedule: Full day training; 0.6 CEUs available to attendees

Cost: $3,750* for full day

To bring this professional development workshop to your district, email Jennifer Walsh.