Emerging Practices with Promise
Submitted By: Todd Haag, West End Corridor Consortium
Turning passions into paychecks: career pathways for all students, including ESL
- Type of Practice: Seamless Transitions
- Targeted Population: Adult Basic Education Students, Adult Secondary Education Students, Adults with Disabilities, Apprenticeship Program Participants, Associate Degree Students, CTE Student, English Language Learners, First-time Students, High School Diploma Students, High School Equivalency Students, Returning Students, Teachers, Faculty and Staff, 4 Year College Transfer Students, Citizenship Students, Vocational Certificate Students, K12 to CC Transitioning Students, State &/or Industry Certification Students
- Program Area(s): Adults with Disabilities, Apprenticeship, Pre-Apprenticeship , Training to Support Child School Success , Workforce Re-entry , Adult Basic & Secondary Education, Career Technical Education , English as a Second Language & Citizenship
- Consortia Involved:
West End Corridor/Chaffey Regional AE Consortium: Chaffey Community College District, Chaffey Joint Union High School District, Chino Valley Unified School District, Fontana Unified School District, Upland Unified School District
The Challenge
If a student knows where he/she is and here he/she wants to go – and most important of all, how to get there – it’s safe to assume that it is more likely this student will complete his/her ultimate career goals – career certification and employment.
The West End Corridor Consortium, as a guiding principle, is committed to providing workforce counseling to all students – with a particular focus on new students enrolling in any AEBG program. To achieve this goal, teachers, counselors and most importantly, students, are using the bilingual electronic career portfolio Career Cruising as part of a blended approach that involves individual, group and web-based career counseling and career pathway development. Full, effective and measurable implementation is the challenge.
The Solution
Electronic career portfolios provide interest inventories, skills assessments, career research and career roadmaps for careers in California as well as any region in the United States. Thus, student skills and passions have been matched to career pathways; students have combined their academic efforts with career certification programs that lead to employment. All of these electronic career portfolios are worth examining, but it appears only one provides career planning and pathways in both English and Spanish – thus accommodating most of the adult students in California. Each student (including ESL) has developed a career pathway that is memorialized as a trackable electronic career portfolio.
Outcomes
Teachers and counselors have access to the portfolio and can assess progress and/or the need for intervention. Managers are able to identify career interests, progress, quality and timing of interventions and ultimate outcomes. From the manager’s point of view resources can be adjusted to accommodate student needs and marketing trends.
The Data
Although currently not linked to interim data collection/reporting systems, the ultimate vision is that Career Cruising student and management information will network with data collection/analytic systems. Thus, quantitative data will be complemented by qualitative data to create a significantly more informed picture of student and program success.
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