In 1989, Ohio's State Board of Education was empowered by legislation in Senate Bill 140 to prepare a plan of action for accelerating the modernization of vocational education. This bill offered unique opportunities to improve vocational and career education's responsiveness to the challenges of the 1990's and beyond.
The resulting document, Ohio's Future at Work, outlined specific imperatives and goals that are key to the career development of students. A focus on lifelong learning needs and the provision of career-focused education for all students are two primary imperatives for students.
A crucial emphasis in Ohio's Future at Work is the development of an individual career plan (ICP) by students before they enter then ninth grade. The lCP is a learning process for students that actually begins in kindergarten and continues through the eighth grade, at which time students initiate an ICP document. The ICP process and document help students identify and explore their initial career goals. In their ICP document, eighth-grade students identify the educational plan needed to achieve those goals both at the secondary level and beyond. High school students have additional opportunities to explore and verify their educational and career goals and to formally review, revise, and add to their ICP document annually.
The high school years are vital to the ICP process because it is then that students validate or change the tentative career goals they have established. Career development activities help them refine their ICPs into working documents that provide meaning to their secondary education adn preparation for their postsecondary choices.
The following pages focus on twelve key topics, all necessary for a middle-grade student to consider before developing an lCP. Each topic is defined and has one to three learner goals assigned to it. Following each learner goal are numerous indicators to further define the goal. Furthermore, activities are suggested to help students master the learner goals for each key topic.
To assure that all twelve topics are addressed requires each middle-grade and high school building in each school district to form a career planning team. This team should include representation from the following groups:
The career planning team at the local level will determine the best delivery system for educators in that building to address the twelve key topics. Review and revision of the individual's ICP is the culminating activity. The twelve key topics should be addressed through one or more of the following avenues:
Parental involvement is also an important factor in students' mastery of the learner goals. Activities that facilitate parental involvement have been starred (*) on the following pages.
Other issues that are key to the successful completion of the ICP process and document are
Implementation of the ICP process and document and career-focused education should be the expectation of all middle-school staff and students. An annual motivational event with a speaker and/or assembly for all students is suggested to increase involvement in and commitment to this process.
Current research shows that middle-grade students are at a critical turning point. They have strong need for affirmation in order to reinforce their self-esteem. They also need exploratory and experiential approaches to their subject content. The ICP process should include activities to reflect these needs.