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Wizard Question 6
I am looking for any programs, especially ones providing some research
base, that address career exploration or career awareness for elementary
aged students. I especially want to know if anyone has a career exploration
portfolio or career plan they use to help young children become aware of
the work opportunities of the future. If you know of anyone who might provide
some information I would appreciate your sending that information my way.
Connie Herman
STW Wizard Strategies
Wizard Strategy 1
You might refer this person to Project Gold at the U of M.
Project GOLD Overview
PROJECT GOLD (Girls On-Line with Disabilities) is a club for girls grades
4-8 with physical, sensory, and/or other medical disabilities and an interest
in Mathematics, Science, Technology, and/or Computers. Activities are geared
to the interests of the club members. During the workshops, girls work in
small groups on scientific and mathematical problems often using computers
and other technologies. Sessions are led by CLUB faculty and staff, with
occasional guest presenters. Girls work in small groups with female college
students who are also interested in mathematics, science and/or technology.
Women with disabilities account for only 5.9% of all people who work,
making them one of the most underemployed segments of the population. To
change this, we must encourage girls and young women with disabilities from
an early age to pursue their interests in science, mathematics, and computers,
and to continue these interests through college and into careers.
Groups supporting this project include the National Science Foundation,
the University of Minnesota-General College, the Parent Advocacy Coalition
for Education Rights (PACER), the Minneapolis Public Schools, the St. Paul
Public Schools, and the State of Minnesota.
To contact Project GOLD write to
- Project GOLD
- 128 Pleasant Street SE
- Minneapolis MN 55455
- Phone: (612)625-3398
- Email: gold@tc.umn.edu
- Internet: http://www.disserv.stu.umn.edu/gold
Strategy 2
In my son's elementary school, all grades are involved in Junior Achievement,
beginning in Kindergarten. We have found that it is directed to the developmental
level of the students and has been very beneficial for our 3rd grade son.
Junior Achievement is a national program - I bet more information could
be found somewhere on the Internet.
Also, School-to-Work Outreach Project at the Institute on Community Integration,
University of Minnesota, recognized an elementary school site in Milwaukee
Wisconsin that I think might have some good information for this person
(see following overview).
Career Immersion Program
Silver Spring Elementary School - Wisconsin
Population Served
Silver Spring Elementary School serves 380 students between the ages
of 3 and 13. Of all the students, 75% are persons without disabilities,
15% are students identified with specific learning disabilities, and 10%
have a speech and/or language impairment.
Model/Practice/Strategy Description
The Career Immersion program introduces the world of work to students
at an early age, helping to create a clear link between school and work.
The program's primary activities involve hands-on, school-based learning.
All of the students enrolled at Silver Spring Elementary School participate
in the Career Immersion program. Students participate in two program components,
classroom business and in-school employment, and are guided by business
and community partners.
Classroom businesses serve as the entrepreneurial focal point to improve
student learning, promote self-esteem,increase vocabulary, and offer business
like opportunities. Each classroom is an independently operated business.
Business and community partners of Silver Spring Elementary School share
similar goals and want to participate in school-to-work activities. These
partners serve as liaisons in each of the classrooms sharing their business
expertise and assisting teachers as mentors, teachers, and business advisors.
The partners volunteer in the school's tutoring program, participate in
Career Week and other career speaker days, provide resources for field trips
and in-services, and serve as the sites for field trips. The partnerships
are maintained through regular monthly meetings, whereby both school and
business problems and solutions are discussed.
For more information, read the entire profile on the School-to-Work Outreach
Website at: http://ici.umn.edu/schooltowork/immersion.html or
contact Elcendia Nord, Principal at Silver Spring Elementary School, 5131
North Green Bay Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53209 and phone (414)228-8630.
Strategy 3
The following are additional resources you may find useful in this area:
Internet Resource Sites
- Interesting
Places for Kids. Links to many, many sites for kids of all ages as well as family members. (thestarport.org/Browse/forKids/)
- Spokane Public Schools - Career Centers Page where third to fifth grade girls to meet scientists; elementary students meet a chemist, geologist and a physicist and learn about their careers; experiments are given to try with a parent or teacher. (www.spokaneschools.org/studentservices/career.stm)
- Community
Involvement in K-12 Career Education by Bettina Lankard Brown (1996) Just as "it takes a village to raise a child," the support of the whole community helps prepare children for the complex choices they must make in a changing world. This Digest looks at how career educators and counselors involve business, community agencies, churches, and others in assisting students with the process of shaping their life careers. (www.ericdigests.org/1997-3/k-12.html)
Other Resources
The following descriptions were taken from model demonstration sites
in South Dakota. They may prove to be additional resource sites:
Model Demonstration Sites
- 1) Wall School District, Wall, South Dakota
Description: A Class A school composed of 146 high school students, 89
middle school students, 137 elementary students, 4 rural schools with 65
K-8 students. The Wall School District employs 47 staff members.
Outstanding Practices Featured at Site Conference Visit
- Career Clusters
- Portfolios
- Career Exploration
- Applied Academics
- School-To-Work Activities
Contact Person(s) at the Site: Mary Williams at (605)279-2156 or Fax:
(605)279-2613
- 2) Lake Area Multi-District, Watertown, South Dakota
Description: Watertown High School includes grades 9-12 with a student
enrollment of 1,450. Lake Area Multi-District is a cooperative vocational
technical school. it has an enrollment of 525 students. Its member school
districts include Castlewood, Florence, Grant-Deuel, Hamilin, Henry, South
Shore, Watertown, and Waverly.
Outstanding Practices Featured at Site Conference Visit
- Teacher Externships
- School-To-Work Registered Apprenticeships
- School/Business Partnerships
- K-6 Career Cluster Curriculum
- Articulation
Contact Person(s) at the Site: Dodie Bemis at Phone: (605)882-5284 or
FAX: (605) 882-6347.
Other school sites that can serve as resources:
(http://www.mhs-pa.org/)
Milton Hershey School, Hershey, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1909 by
Milton and Catherine Hershey. Having no children of their own, they dedicated
their lives and fortune to children in need, providing a quality educational
and residential program.
The Mission of Milton Hershey School is . . . to nurture and educate
needy boys and girls.The School offers a secure, nurturing environment in
which children of character and ability from diverse backgrounds can learn
and develop the skills necessary to prepare them for meaningful,productive,
and successful lives. Each enrolled student is provided a no-cost education,
housing in student homes in a family setting, meals, clothing as needed,
and assistance with medical and dental care. A combination of a nurturing
community environment, an excellent scholastic program including vocational
education and guidance for each student, and a focus on development of interpersonal
skills and good work habits prepares graduates to enter society as well
educated, skilled, responsible citizens, whether they choose to pursue higher
education or enter the workplace. Thus, the vision and legacy of Milton
and Catherine Hershey continues.
- Elementary School - The First Step
All Milton Hershey School students, kindergarten to grade twelve, are
involved in experiences to prepare them for work and education beyond high
school. Practical, age-appropriate experiences(exploratory and preparatory
curriculum) broaden each student's understanding of work, his or heroin
occupational interests, and the acquisition of skills to secure employment.
Elementary students at Milton Hershey learn about jobs people do. They
become aware of the world of work ad begin to explore different types of
occupations that someday they might want to try. They learn what it takes
to perform a job from professionals and workers who visit their classroom
throughout the school year. They go on field trips with their teachers to
job sites to discover such occupations as book publishing, culinary cooking,
piloting an airplane, managing a grocery store, and driving a bus. Each
of the visits to job sites ties to a curriculum unit planned by the teacher.
Through classroom projects - such as caring for a school garden, creating
their own mini-businesses to learn entrepreneurship, and testing water samples
to discover minerals - students learn from hands-on experience. Each project
helps them develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills. A"Career
Day" for fifth graders exposes students to many different kinds of
occupations.
- Contact: Milton Hershey School
- Office of Admissions
- P.O. Box 830
- Hershey, PA 17033
Educational Programs That Work - 1995
Career Awareness
Program (Project CAP) (http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EPTW/eptw15/eptw15b.html)
A program for infusing career awareness into the regular curriculum,
emphasizing the relationship between careers and basic academic skills.
Approved by PEP for students in grades K-6.
Project CAP is designed to complement the basic skills curriculum of
the school while introducing students to the wide variety of ways in which
people work. At the same time, students are able to grow in awareness of
themselves in relation to the world of work. Project CAP student materials
at each grade level consist of 32 different lessons and learning activity
packets. Each learning activity packet contains an academic skill and a
career script or story that presents the required tools, tasks, education
or training, and economic rewards as well as the concept that work is a
way of life. For example, with one packet, fourth grade students learn about
the job of a land surveyor and practice a metric measurement skill as part
of their math program. The skills range from those in reading and mathematics,
to those in science, social studies, and language arts. Packets may be completed
in as little as twenty minutes or may be expanded to cover a longer unit
of time depending upon the lesson and the individual teacher's plan.
Students participating in the program are significantly more aware of
careers than comparable nonparticipating students as measured by a project-developed
and validated criterion-referenced test of knowledge of occupations and
the training/education required to enter them.
Project CAP requires no special staff or facility. Teachers at potential
adopting sites are required to attend a four- to six-hour training session
and to purchase materials.
Start-up cost is approximately $130 to cover materials and supplies for
a class of 25 students, plus a one-time training expense to cover travel,
per diem, and a $200 honorarium.
In addition to training and materials, follow-up consultation is available
upon request.
- Contact : Lena Sparkman, Coordinator, Project Career Awareness Program,
Boston Mountain Educational Cooperative, P. O. Box 13, Greenland, AR 72737.
Phone: (501) 443-3336.
Career Education
Responsive to Every Student (CERES) http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EPTW/eptw15/eptw15c.html
A comprehensive career education program that enhances instructional
time and prepares students for employment trends of the future, for grade
K-12. Approved by JDRP for all students grades K-12.
Career Education Responsive to Every Student (CERES) is a comprehensive
career education infusion program for grades K-12. The program purpose is
to provide students with the basic academic and employability skills necessary
for competent, productive performance both in school and after leaving school.
The program is tailored to the developmental ages of students at the different
grade levels. The objectives are that students will: (1) identify and practice
responsible work habits, (2) acquire knowledge of diverse occupations (training
preparation and job duties),and (3) apply basic skills to career decisions
and actions (job-seeking and job-retention).
CERES enhances instructional time and makes education more efficient.
CERES prepares students for the employment trend of the future. CERES is
easy to use. The materials are self-contained and do not require extensive
supplementary resources. They are flexible and may be used by any teacher,
with students of various abilities and at various levels, ranging from an
individual classroom or school to district-wide use.
CERES includes systematic, institutional management procedures to enhance
and strengthen the involvement of local business and community groups.
CERES is a low-cost program to implement. Training costs include training
materials ($10 per workshop participant),consultant fee ($600 per day),
and presenter travel and per diem expenses. Program implementation (instructional,management,
and evaluation) materials are available at cost. CERES materials are appropriate
for all students including special education and at-risk youth. Local Educational
Agencies should provide release time for training.
The program's activities are easily transportable since they can be implemented
without disrupting existing programs. The program can be adopted by individual
teachers, schools, or districts. One day of training is required to get
the program started. One day of follow-up in service is advised. Services
Awareness material is available at no cost. Staff are available for out-of-state
awareness, training, and follow-up sessions.
- Contact: Barbara Baer, Program Co-Director, c/o C.E.R.E.S., Suite 1B,
3641 Mitchell Road, Ceres,CA 95307. Phone: (209) 537-5618 or FAX: (209)
883-0593.
Center for
Educational Development - CED/Career Guidance Project (http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EPTW/eptw15/eptw15f.html)
A K-12 infusion model designed to develop knowledge and skills in self-awareness
and career exploration. Approved by JDRP for students of all abilities grades
4-12, teachers, administrators, counselors, and community members. This
program is also available for and has been used in grades K-3.
An interdistrict organization that coordinates and delivers a variety
of career education services to all county schools. CED has several major
components; direct services to students; services to school staffs who need
help in planning or implementing career education activities; selection
and maintenance of up-to-date career education media and materials for use
by all county school staffs; coordination of community resources, such as
volunteer aides, speakers, and work experience/exposure sites; conduct parent
discussion groups; and a variety of other services, such as career education
implementation unit development and services to special education teachers.
The approach to career education in Pima County is often referred to as
"infusion," that is, the continued demonstration of the relationships
between academic subjects and particular occupation or the world of work
as a whole. Infusion redirects the focus and intent of school subjects without
changing subject content. For example, addition may be taught by totaling
prices on restaurant checks in a simulated coffee shop instead of by adding
numbers on blank paper. Elementary level activities focus on self-awareness
and an introduction to career areas. Activities in grades 7-9 focus on a
wider study of careers and use of decision-making skills. Activities at
the high school level are aimed at giving students career exploration and
uses of academic skills in various careers.
- Contact: Don Lawhead, Director, Center for Educational Development,
622 North 7th Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85705. Phone: (602) 791-3791, FAX: (602)
791-9753.
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