College and Career Planning

School Counselor’s Role on Career Development

  • Providing and advocating for individual pre-K through postsecondary students’ college and career awareness through exploration and postsecondary planning and decision making, which supports students’ right to choose from the wide array of options after completing secondary education

  • Providing lessons and experiential opportunities for students to

    • Be introduced to careers and the world of work in lower elementary grades

    • Engage in the “life roles including learner and worker”

    • Acquire behaviors and skills for career readiness

    • Identify their interests, abilities, specific career clusters and post-secondary plans (ACPP and ACP)

    • Establish the transition from school to postsecondary education and/or the world of work

  • Advising students on multiple postsecondary pathways (e.g., college, career-specific credentials and certifications, apprenticeships, military, service-year programs, full-time employment with a family-supporting wage) and connecting students to early college programs

  • Working with teachers to integrate career education learning in the curricula

  • Providing opportunities for all students to develop the mindsets and behaviors necessary to learn work-related skills, resilience, perseverance, an understanding of lifelong learning as a part of long-term career success, a positive attitude toward learning and a strong work ethic