Career Connected Pathways Stories of Impact
A five-year U.S. Department of Education , Education Innovation Research (EIR) grant, in partnership with the Center for the Future of Arizona, 12 high schools, and 7 community colleges, aims to understand what motivates or influences student behaviors to participate in dual enrollment and computer science courses – more broadly, what empowers students to take action and deepen engagement with career planning (ECAP) through the implementation of a Distributed Advising Approach. A Distributed Advising Approach is intended to facilitate deeper collaboration between K12 schools and community colleges by enabling systems change through three levers – 1) Student Voice, 2) Career Connected Toolkit, and 3) Co-Advising Framework.
Students Were Asked
- How do students experience career planning (I feel)?
- What do students need to deepen engagement with career planning (I want)?
- How can adults help students get what they need to feel prepared for life after high school (I can)?
of tenth graders aspire to continue their education right after high school; 48% actually do. Why?
Every student deserves to leave high school with hope, a plan, and a future they are excited about. It’s not just about what’s offered. It’s about what’s experienced – and who gets the invitation to step into it.”
— Izael, 11th grader
The Impact
We’ve captured what’s possible when students lead their own career planning in a Stories of Impact series titled Acts of Hope: How small changes led to big impacts. These stories show how, when students practice hopeful thinking, trusting relationships grow, personal agency strengthens, and systems evolve to support what students want most – to leave high school with “hope, a plan, and a future they’re excited about.”
Key Takeaways
- Let students lead!
- The purpose of HS is to surface every student’s hidden potential – NOT claim a career identity.
- Hope is contagious.
New Ideas. New Ways of Working Together.
Partnership Results — Amphitheater High School and Pima Community College
There are about 35 CTE teachers across the district at three high schools. The Computer Science teacher has actively connected with sister schools to raise awareness of his program. Counselors and the CTE team are deepening their understanding of what matters to students through one-on-one conversations, building a foundation of trust. MyFutureAZ now includes a connection feature for parents that alerts families to students’ interests to prompt conversations at home. Students are increasingly driving the adult support they need to pursue career goals. The district is exploring ways to boost student participation in competitions and conferences – such as CTSOs, FBLA, industry speed-dates, and workshops – helping students build essential professional and communication skills.
of students agree they have gained a deeper understanding of their career interests.
86%
of students agree they have a deeper understanding of the steps they need to take to pursue the career they want.
76%
of students plan to continue their education after high school, whether through a degree, industry certificate, apprenticeship, or military service.
Stories of Impact Case Study
Career
Planning
“It’s not just about what’s offered. It’s about what’s experienced – and who gets the invitation to step into it.”
How do students experience career planning?
Simply offering programs is not enough to deepen student engagement.
Students highlighted the need for personal connections. Students emphasized the importance of relationships with teachers and counselors who ask about their interests and collaborate with them on their goals, early exposure to career options and real-world learning opportunities such as expanded CTE courses, internships, job shadows, industry certifications, and guidance. Many students felt they needed help understanding how different opportunities fit into a larger plan and where they might “fit in”. Students want adults to “connect with them more on what they want to do rather than almost telling them what they need to do to be successful” and access to opportunities. Dual Enrollment was seen as a valuable way for students to “get a foot in the door to their future quicker” and to make college more affordable. Immersive hands-on learning experiences excite students’ idea of what’s possible and fuel deeper engagement with career planning.
What do students need to deepen engagement with career planning?
The grant project enabled a variety of impactful immersive learning and storytelling activities focused on career planning for mixed grade-level students enrolled in two sections of the Intro to Computer Science CTE course. These activities provided multiple opportunities for students to practice hopeful thinking – Hope = Goal + Pathway Thinking + Agency Thinking – and included Pitch the Path a student-driven design challenge, a college financial literacy Industry Speed Date, and Technology at Disney Parks Workshop.
Across these immersive experiences, students describe a significant positive shift in their preparedness and outlook on their future. Students felt wonder and excitement, demonstrated critical skills sought after in workforce – active listening, courage and risk taking, understanding their strengths, storytelling, public speaking – and practiced a variety of actions that advance their career planning story that include explore career opportunities matched to your interests, enroll in CTE and Dual Enrollment courses, develop or revise their college and career plan, map out course transferability.
“I think I learned more self-leadership skills and digital skills. I learned about how we can use imagination, innovation, and creativity in everything.” Amphi HS Student
How can adults help students get what they need to feel prepared for life after high school?
The school’s leadership team restructured how students were experiencing career planning by being more mindful of the language and visuals used to present opportunities to students. Amphi HS and its staff became more proactive in creating and providing resources and experiences that sparked collaborations across the system fostering systemic changes.
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Career Planning
Immersive Learning
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The Speed Date was beautiful. Now we have students and some members of our admin team who maybe weren’t knowledgeable about what the Computer Science teacher was doing are now coming to him asking questions about how to get students more involved.”
— HS CTE Instructional Coach
“The EIR project seems to have created targeted and meaningful collaboration with high school partners to address specific student needs. I have had the pleasure of meeting with the students through the Speed Dates and seeing how excited they are to ask us their questions and seeing their interest is a huge win!” – High School CTE Instructional Coach
The adults involved reported that the grant “forced us in a good way to really get to know our students well,” leading to stronger relationships built on trust and empowerment. A CTE coach expressed pride in seeing a teacher’s confidence grow as he became a recognized resource for students, parents, and administrators.
A stronger, brighter future.
As a district CTE Team we are working together in new ways to design immersive learning experiences across the middle school-high school levels at all three high schools. The planning has sparked conversation with our CTE Director, spread from the Director to other CTE Teachers across Amphi HS and the district which grows opportunities for students.
Students have deepened their understanding of what they want, designed clearer post-high school plans and built stronger adult relationships which powered their self-confidence, sense of hope, and excitement for their future.
Students and adults have surfaced a path of shared responsibility for student success that has sparked, grown, and spread deeper engagement with career planning by operationalizing a Distributed Advising Approach that makes sure more students have a better understanding of what’s possible after high school.
Students are actively seeking out things that interest them – Of the 933 12th grade respondents representing the twelve partner high schools, an overwhelming majority of 86% agree they have gained a deeper understanding of their career interests. 86% agree they have a deeper understanding of the steps they need to take to pursue the career they want. 76% indicated they plan to continue their education right after high school pursuing an associate or bachelor’s degree, obtaining an industry certificate, participating in an apprenticeship or joining the armed services.
of students agree they have gained a deeper understanding of their career interests.
76%
of students plan to continue their education after high school, whether through a degree, industry certificate, apprenticeship, or military service.
Finding people to help them when they need it – 89% agree they have one adult in their life who makes them excited about their future. They are building a community around them – 92% agree I have a great future ahead of me and know I will find a good job in the future.
Students are building a community around them. Students shared these immersive career planning experiences helped them “see the options right in front of my eyes” and “this experience helped me discover my interests and find a career I really like” as well as “this encouraged me to talk to my counselor about college as a real option.” Leaving high school better prepared for what’s next!
of students agree they have one adult in their life who makes them excited about their future.
92%
of students agree they have a great future ahead of them.
Spark. Grow. Spread. Hope.
