Educating for CareersCA Career Pathways Consortia 2009

Career PathwaysSolving Quiet Dilemmas

in California

New Educational Goals

• College attendance or college success???

• Academic maturity and career maturity

• The forth R = Reality

Career Maturity Defined By the tenth grade all students will have

participated in activities designed to help them identify several career pathways.

In the eleventh and twelfth grades all students will participate in activities that allow them to verify these choices, using the results to develop postsecondary plans.

Parents/society ambivalence regarding career decision making

Parents: • “Do not follow in my footsteps.”• Little involvement in career development.• Supportive of Career exploration efforts of

schools etc.

Parents/society ambivalence regarding career decision making

Old Advice But Bad Advice Given Teens

• Postpone career choices as long as possible - You don’t want to close any doors.

• Do not worry about career/college major indecision - you will decide that in college.

Today’s Teens

• One Way to Win Mentality• College as an entitlement• Experience great deal of apprehension and

confusion regarding career decisions• Focus only on career interests, not reality.

Occupational Skills -Not Degrees- Provide Labor Market Advantage

High Skill/ High Wage

Low Skill/Low Wage

Work Ethics

Academic Skills

Occupational Skills

The fact is that large numbers of CA college graduates leave school as

unsure of what they will do “when they grow up” (except perhaps

continue to go to school) as they were when they started.

How CA Postsecondary Education Systems Address Workforce Development (2007).

CA Postsecondary Education commission

All my life I’ve always wanted

to be somebody, but I see now

I should have been more specific.

Wagner, 1986

Other Ways to Win

Career Verification Activities Preferred by Teens

Job Shadowing 71% Vocational Education

56%

Internships 64% Unpaid employment

51%

Paid employment

61% Guest speakers 36%

Career focused academic class

60% Career interest inventories

17%

Making the Case for Career Pathways

Promoting Student Success

The Fate of 24 Ninth Graders in CA

• 7 drop out (29%)• 5 graduate & go to work (30%); • Dropouts & work bound = 50%

Dropouts

Few are failing academically when they leave.Least likely to be employed.

Most often cited reason for leaving. No connection between school and

work

Career EducationIs it Effective?

• Types: Career pathways, Career majors, cooperative education, internships, job shadowing, school sponsored enterprises, tech prep etc etc etc.

Findings. More likely:to graduate from H.Sto take ACT exams,

go to college, particularly 2ys TechPDK (Oct, 2004)

CTE and At-Risk Students• A combination of 60% academic courses and

40% CTE is the most effective drop-out prevention program in the American high school.

• Career Pathways is a excellent feeder into CTE

Plank, 2002:

Work Bound

• Unemployment rate five times national average unless they take career and technical education in high school.

• Only 9% reported getting help from school with after high school plans.

Special Needs Students

• The right of self determination. “When acting on the basis of skills and

attitudes, individuals have greater ability to take control of their lives and assume the role of successful adults”.

(Council on Exceptional Children, 2005)

The Fate of 24 Ninth Graders

7 drop out (29%)5 graduate & go to work (21%)

12 Enroll in college (50% not 70%) 4 Drop out freshman year

6 Graduate in five years (25%)3 Take “gray collar” jobs, nationally3 Win the one way to win game (13%)

The High Skills/High Wage Workplace

Semi-conductor Manufacturing

Ratio: 1 to 2 to 7Ratio: 1 to 2 to 7

University Graduates Employment 2000-2012

Supply Demand Employed

University Grads 1,439,264 670,000 47%

Only 13% of all jobs will require just a BA degree (Dept of labor projections to 2016).

Career EducationIs it Effective?

• Career maturity as measure by CMI correlates to college freshman GPA and persisting to the sophomore year. (Allen, 2007).

Making the Case for Career Pathways

Economic Development

The High Skills/High Wage Workplace

30%

Ratio 1-3-2-4

What Types of Employees are Expected to Be in Short Supply Over the Next Years?

Source: “2005 Skills Gap Report: A Survey of the American Manufacturing Workforce” by National Association of Manufacturing

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

None

Others

Customer Service

Management & Administration

Sales & Marketing

Unskilled Production

Scientists % Engineers

Skilled production (Technicians)

Economic Development

Technicians, are the key to economic growth. Firms recruit engineers, but look to the local labor market for technicians.

Aerospace Career Technical Positions (partial)• Inspector• Technician, Electronic Research & Calibration • Technician, Industrial Electronic Systems • Technician, Instrumentation Controls • Fabricator, Plastic, Senior • Electrician, Maintenance Industrial • Laboratory Assistant • Mechanic, Heavy Duty Truck • Mechanic, Solid Propellant Development• Operator, Solid Rocket Motor• Tool, Jig and Fixture Builder • Technician, Vacuum Braze Furnace • Technician, Test and Assembly • Technician, Rocket Test "A" • Operator, Solid Rocket Motor "A"”• Operator, Solid Rocket Motor “B• Technician, Primary Standards - Mechanical • Technician, Inertial and Telemetry Systems • Sheet Metal, Journeyman

• Process Camera Technician• Photographer, Technical • Photographer, Still • Photographic Laboratory Processor • Photo Etch Processor • Metalsmith • Metalsmith, Experimental • Mechanic, Plastics • Mechanic, Maintenance • Mechanic, Crane • Mechanic, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration • Machinist, Journeyman • Machine Operator • Machine Tool Repairer & Rebuilder • Inspector, Tooling • Inspector, Radiographic/NDT • Grinder, Tool and Cutter • Firefighter• Fire Service Technician • Electro-Mechanical Bench Fabricator • Chemical Waste Technician

Training Needs from Job Descriptions

• Calibration Technician– “Must have two years of college or trade school in electronics..”

• Test and Assembly Technician– “High school education and/or two years of trade or technical school.

Four years experience as a mechanic in the rocket/aircraft field. Airframe and power plant license.”

• Sheet Metal Journeyman– “High school graduate or equivalent. Possess good working

knowledge of shop mathematics and trigonometry.”

• Maintenance Mechanic– “High school graduate and preferably trade or vocational school

training…”

Non-specific Investments in education beyond literacy

will not

1. Grow the economy

2. Guarantee individual opportunity

M. Porter

To Find out what one is fitted to do and to secure an opportunity to do it, is the key to happiness. John Dewey

One can not choice what one does not know about. Edwin Herr

The Ethical Dilemma

• Institutional goals versus what is good for the client.

• Nutritional lies or reality check.

References• Allen, D. (2008). Career Maturity and College Persistence.

Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Penn State University.

• Gray K. & Herr, E. (2006) Other Ways to Win. 3ed. Corwin Press: Thousand Oaks, CA.

• Gray, K. (2008) Getting Real: Helping Teens Find Their Future. 2nd. Corwin Press: Thousand Oaks CA

• Visher, M., Bhandari, R., & Medrich, M., (2004, October). High school career exploration programs: Do they work? Phi Delta Kappan , 86(2), 135-138.