Step to college. Moving from the high school career academy through the 4-year university.

This study addresses the question "Do school-to-work programs, as embodied by career academies, facilitate postsecondary education?" The author conceptualizes postsecondary education as a series of steps through the university and examines the high school career academy's influence on entrance into, route through, and outcomes from a 4-year university. Data are drawn from applicant and student records at a comprehensive, urban university for all individuals originating from a single district's high schools. The findings suggest that students from career academies have higher academic achievement upon leaving high school, less need for remediation in English at the university, and a 4-percentage-point increase in graduation from the university than students who are not from academies. These findings suggest that school-to-work programs could facilitate positive outcomes in postsecondary education. However, the continued high rates of remediation and the low rates of graduation, even for students from career academics, suggest that their influence might not be enough to ensure success in postsecondary education. This analysis therefore suggests that further research should identify program components that increase postsecondary education and determine how these components can be institutionalized and built on in subsequent reforms.     

School counseling practices related to postsecondary STEM participation

This qualitative exploratory cross-case analysis analyzed the beliefs and practices of high school counselors related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) academic advisement, postsecondary planning, and career participation. Interviews were conducted with high school counselors (N = 13) who were purposively sampled to represent a diversity of schools in terms of demographic variables. Findings indicated that high school counselors perceived that (a) sociocultural factors influenced student preparation for STEM, career planning, and decision making; (b) students’ STEM-related career goals and academic behaviors were sometimes misaligned, and academic advisement often mediated this tension; and (c) their professional STEM knowledge, beliefs, and practices were influenced by professional preparation, workplace characteristics, and their academic experiences. Implications include the need for early, sustained high school STEM counseling and academic advisement; accessible professional development in STEM preparation and careers to promote multiple pathways and reduce school counselor bias; and encouraging family involvement in STEM career decision making.     

Financing Children's Futures: Economic Strategies for Postsecondary Education Among Middle‐Income Families

This paper, based on three waves of qualitative data with middle‐income families outside of Philadelphia, explores how families deal with the challenge of financing postsecondary education over time. Because of economic setbacks, these families adopt a variety of financial maneuvers to support their young adult children's postsecondary educational plans. In particular, families are driven to sacrifice familial savings accounts and retirement funds, take on significant student loan burdens, and downgrade children's college plans to cheaper, often less prestigious, options. These results highlight the financial vulnerability of families in the middle of the income distribution and the complicated relationship between family economics and postsecondary educational plans for children.     

Career Development and School Success in Adolescents: The Role of Career Interventions

Using longitudinal survey data, the present study examined the effect of participation on career development skills in 6 career education experiences and school success among South Korean adolescents (2,473 young men, 2,132 young women; mean age = 15.86 years). Regression analyses indicated that students who participated in career education programs in school once or twice over a 2‐year period had the highest scores in both career development skills and school success. In contrast, there was no relationship between career education, career development skills, and school success for students who participated in career education programs only once or not at all. Results support the influence of career education interventions on students' career development skills and school success. This study provides accountability information on the effectiveness of career education interventions at South Korean secondary schools. The authors offer suggestions about more effective career interventions that can be applied in South Korean high schools.     

Young Women's Work Values and Role Salience in Grade 11: Are There Changes Three Years Later?

Eleventh graders participated in a longitudinal study of career decision making in which they completed a series of career‐related inventories and follow‐up interviews. There was little change in work‐related values between the 2 administrations of the Values Scale (G.W. Fitzsimmons, D. Macnab, & C. Casserly, 1985); however, greater variation occurred on the Salience Inventory (G. W. Fitzsimmons et al., 1985), particularly Role Value Implementation. Role salience seems less stable than values, perhaps reflecting the transition from high school to postsecondary education or the world of work. Implications for D. E. Super's (1981, 1990, 1994, 1995) theory of career development and applications to career counseling are outlined.     

Rural Appalachian High School Students’ College‐Going and STEMM Perceptions

The authors examined perceptions of key social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) variables related to college‐going and science, technology, engineering, math, and medical (STEMM) careers in 10th and 11th graders (N = 892) attending 3 rural Appalachian high schools. The authors examined differences in perceptions related to gender, prospective 1st‐generation college student status, and the presence or absence of aspirations to pursue a STEMM career. Young women and young men scored similarly on all but 1 dependent variable, college‐going self‐efficacy (young women scored higher). Students who had STEMM career aspirations had higher scores on every measure than those who did not. Results suggest examining a 3rd prospective 1st‐generation college student status group—students who are unsure of their parents’ education level—as a distinct group in future research. By examining the college‐going and STEMM attitudes of rural Appalachian high school students, this study advances the literature and informs practitioners on reducing educational and vocational inequalities in this region.     

Family assets,postsecondary education,and students with disabilities: Building on progress and overcoming challenges

Students with disabilities are increasingly enrolling and participating in two-year, four-year, and other institutions of higher education. Federal policies and initiatives addressing the educational needs of students and adults with disabilities provided impetus for these increases. For example, mandates within the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) have resulted in K-12 public schools increasingly preparing students for postsecondary education. Nonetheless, students with disabilities continue to face financial challenges as well as low educational expectations in their pursuit of postsecondary education. Family assets may provide a framework for addressing these challenges and provide specific implications for policy as well as educational practice.     

Expanding the pathway to postsecondary success: how recuperative back-on-track schools are making a difference

Districts and states that have begun to get traction in improving their graduation rates are pursuing a reform agenda that includes both the redesign of failing high schools and the development of multiple alternative pathways that help young people get back on track to graduation and to postsecondary education. Unlike traditional alternative education, new back-on-track models assume that challenge, not remediation, will make the most difference, especially for youth who are over age for grade and far behind in accumulating the credits they need. The goal is for students to make up for lost time by accelerating their learning so that they can complete high school and move successfully to postsecondary education and careers. Although these small schools do not in themselves constitute a replacement or transformation strategy for large low-performing high schools, they are a necessary part of a comprehensive approach to turning such schools around.     

Infusing Career Development to Strengthen Middle School English Language Arts Curricula

An approach is presented for strengthening middle school standards‐based English language arts (ELA) classroom instruction by infusing theory‐ and research‐supported career development constructs and practices. Over an 8‐week period, 90 urban 7th graders participated in an integrated ELA–career development curriculum. Career agency emerged as an important construct for students. It was related to key markers of ELA achievement (i.e., standardized test scores, grades, and positive change in 6th‐ to 7th‐grade test scores) and elaborated on in nuanced ways by students in their written narratives. Four themes related to career agency were identified in student writings: time perspective, challenges of self‐direction, career development, and social and emotional development. Advantages for students and schools related to synergy, scale, and sustainability are discussed.     

Student perceptions of progress in a postsecondary residential program for adults with learning disabilities

In recent years, residential postsecondary schools have been created to help adults who have completed high school, but need more assistance to make the transition to college or a career. The purpose of this study is to understand the subjective experiences of students at one such facility. Using qualitative methodology, 16 adult students were interviewed to identify areas in which they have made progress toward their goal of living independently. Students acknowledged gains in the areas of social and emotional growth, employment training, academic achievement, and independent living skill development. The results suggest that a residential postsecondary intervention is beneficial for adults with learning disabilities.     

College knowledge: a critical component of college and career readiness

Policy has traditionally emphasized the completion of academic requirements as the gateway to postsecondary education. There is, however, growing understanding that youth need to develop a wide range of knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal resources for career success, civic engagement, and lifelong learning. It also is necessary to address the social, informational, and financial barriers to college that many first-generation and low-income youth come up against. Allowing youth to participate in programs that provide access to college campuses and classes, through dual or concurrent enrollment, early college models, or expanded learning opportunities, is an effective way to help students gain college knowledge and see themselves as college students. This article offers an expanded definition of college and career readiness and profiles three programs drawn from a larger review of twenty-three programs designed to support college and career success for students from underrepresented groups.     

From Childhood to Adulthood: A 15‐Year Longitudinal Career Development Study

In 1987, 208 second graders were interviewed about their occupational aspirations and expectations, school likes and dislikes, educational plans, and other variables. They were reinterviewed every 2 years through senior year in high school. A 5‐year post‐high school follow‐up was conducted, and 35 young adults (23 years old) from the original sample completed a detailed questionnaire. Young adults reported significantly less career direction and preparation in high school than they did as seniors in high school. Comparisons between 3 generations within the same families were conducted on educational and occupational achievement. The importance of teachers and parents in children's career development is discussed.     

Rural Latino Youth Career Development: An Application of Social Cognitive Career Theory

This study used social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994 ) to investigate the career development of 9th‐grade students living in 2 rural communities with large numbers of Latino immigrants. Participants (55.3% Latino) responded to measures of vocational skills self‐efficacy, career decision outcome expectations, career aspirations, and barriers to postsecondary education. Contrary to previous findings, results indicated that Latino students in these communities reported higher self‐efficacy beliefs than did White students. Latino students also reported higher perceived barriers, but this did not seem to relate to their career aspirations. Results suggest that school and career counselors should focus on programming that attends to Latino students' self‐efficacy and outcome expectations, as well as efficacy for overcoming barriers. Doing so could prove useful for increasing career achievement among rural Latino youth.     

Realized Potential or Lost Talent: High School Variables and Bachelor's Degree Completion

This study examined how background and high school variables affected participants in either realizing their potential by completing a bachelor's degree or experiencing lost talent by not completing a bachelor's degree. A sample of participants who had demonstrated above average cognitive ability and had high postsecondary educational goals when in 8th grade was selected from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (national longitudinal data from 1988 to 2000; National Education, 2002). Several background and high school variables had strong effects on degree completion. Results were used to develop the Realized Potential or Lost Talent model. Implications for helping young people in their educational‐career development are included.     

“I Don’t Want to Work in Agriculture!” The Transition from Agricultural Education to the Labor Market in Rural Russia

In Russia, the shift in career incentives from agriculture‐related jobs to other sectors, even among agriculturally educated students, presents two main challenges to rural labor markets. The first relates to the shortage of agricultural employees. The second concerns difficulties in the school‐to‐work transition, characterized by long periods of unemployment. This article addresses these challenges by studying the career incentives of postsecondary agriculturally educated students, based on data from the Altai region, Siberia (N = 474). We use a logit regression to predict the probability of career transition, given the incentives. We examine whether familial background and life expectations are associated with plans to pursue a career in agriculture within a life course context. The results show that students’ career plans with respect to agriculture vary according to both sociofamilial background and views about one’s life course.     

School‐to‐Work Transition of Career and Technical Education Graduates

This study analyzed the career development of career and technical education (CTE) high school graduates during their school‐to‐work transition, specifically their adaptability in the face of barriers. Forty graduates (22 men, 18 women) from working‐class backgrounds participated in baseline surveys at graduation and phenomenological interviews 1 year postgraduation. Primary themes were job loss altered career plans, whereas relevant jobs propelled career development; limited access to college constrained options, whereas college experience expanded options; graduates experienced the loss of education‐related support, and CTE served as a backup plan. Teachers and school counselors emphasized organizational barriers including limited staffing for upper level math courses and inconsistent workplace partnerships.     

Student‐Perceived Mothers’ and Fathers’ Beliefs,Mathematics and English Motivations,and Career Choices

According to Eccles and Jacobs' (1986) parent socialization model, parents’ gendered ability and value beliefs influence girls’ and boys’ interpretations of those beliefs, and hence students’ domain‐specific valuing of tasks and competence beliefs and subsequent career plans. Studies have rarely analyzed how both student‐perceived mothers’ and fathers’ beliefs affect girls’ and boys’ task values, success expectancies, and career plans across domains. This study analyzed survey data of 459 students (262 boys) assessed through Grades 9, 10, and 11 from three coeducational secondary schools in Sydney, Australia. Longitudinal structural equation models revealed gendered value transmission pathways for girls in mathematics. Although mathematics test scores did not vary statistically significantly, girls reported statistically significantly lower mothers’ ability beliefs for them in mathematics than boys at Time 1, which led to their statistically significantly lower mathematics intrinsic value at Time 2 and mathematics‐related career plans at Time 3. Such gendered pathways did not occur in English. Matched same‐gender effects and gendered pathways in parent socialization processes were evident; perceived mothers’ value beliefs were more strongly related to girls’ than boys’ importance values in English. Student‐perceived fathers’ ability beliefs positively predicted boys’, not girls’, importance value in mathematics. Implications for educational practice emphasize the need to target girls’ and boys’ interest when aiming to enhance their mathematical career motivations.     

Computer‐Assisted Career Guidance Systems: A Part of NCDA History

The first computer‐assisted career planning systems were developed in the late 1960s and were based soundly on the best of career development and decision‐making theory. Over the years, this tradition has continued as the technology that delivers these systems’ content has improved dramatically and as they have been universally accepted as effective tools for career guidance practice. Although their widespread use in the United States is currently affected by financial conditions, the potential for using these systems in developing countries as a part of their implementation of career guidance services is promising.     

Promoting Career and College Readiness,Aspirations, and Self‐Efficacy: Curriculum Field Test

To address the need for enhanced career and college readiness, a classroom guidance curriculum was studied using a pretest–posttest nonequivalent groups quasi‐experimental design. Data from 163 ninth‐grade students enrolled in a low‐performing high school were analyzed via hierarchical linear modeling. The analyses indicated a treatment effect on postsecondary education‐going knowledge and career and college readiness self‐efficacy, accounting for 100% of the variance explained by classroom‐level factors and indicating potential for the classroom guidance curriculum. The findings encourage career and professional school counselors to proactively employ similar classroom guidance programs aimed at encouraging high school students to consider postsecondary education opportunities. Future research could focus on component analyses of the curriculum, broadening the target populations, using mixed‐method designs, and additional validity studies of the dependent measures.