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 before entering the ninth grade. 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 middle-grade years are vital to the ICP process because the ICP document is initiated during this time. The document cannot be developed without specific and organized activities during the sixth through eighth grades to provide meaning.
The following pages focus on 12 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 12 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 to address the 12 key topics for that building's middle grades. Each individual's completion of an ICP document is the culminating activity. The 12 key topics should be addressed through one or more of the following avenues during the sixth through eighth grades:
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 a 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.