Making Meaningful Connections Via Post-Secondary Planning

Sarah Switala, Director, STEM-X, Poudre School District

Why are we doing this? When will we ever use this? When students ask these questions, it really is worth considering.  As adults, it is hard to expend time and energy on things we do not perceive as meaningful.  The same goes for students, especially at the secondary level. How can we support students in making meaning when it comes to post-secondary planning?

 With high school graduation rates in the United States hovering at 85 percent and even lower for some demographic groups, we must be intentional about getting all students across the stage to collect their diplomas.  Further, we need to build a bridge and prepare all students for their next steps.  One way to make the high school experience meaningful is to help students make connections between what they are studying in high school and real-world applications. We need to answer students’ when and why questions.

ICAP, along with Software: Creates Meaning.  

Graduating students on time, literate, and with options is the mission of the Poudre School District in Northern Colorado.  One way the district is meeting this objective is by uniformly implementing a post-secondary planning curriculum. The goal is for each student to emerge from high school with an actionable Individual Career and Academic Plan (ICAP).  Beyond that, students will understand the evolution of their plan and will actively engage in its creation. Having actionable next steps is beneficial for all students.  However, the process of intentionally developing an individual career and academic plan can be even more important to supporting students at risk of not graduating.

Poudre School Districts create and host students' digital ICAP portfolios using Xello's college and career exploration software. Xello has lessons that are developmentally appropriate for students in Grades 6–12.  Students participate in interest inventories, learn high school course sequences, and build an understanding of how course content is connected to college majors and careers. Students become aware of career clusters and how their skills, interests, temperaments, and strengths might make them a good fit for careers within a cluster.  Xello incorporates information from the bureau of labor satistics and makes it easily digestible so students can understand which careers are in demand.  This type of self-knowledge and increased understanding of the world of work creates a connection between how classroom experiences translate to real-world applications. Post-secondary planning that is personally meaningful helps motivate students to graduate and assists them in making decisions about post-secondary plans, whether workforce, military, apprenticeships, or college.

“We use Xello’s college and career exploration software to create and host students’ digital Individual Career and Academic Plan (ICAP) portfolios. Based on it, students can work with our work-based learning coordinators to connect with relevant work experiences, internships, and even apprenticeships while in high school.”

Educators can use Xello student data to identify and guide students in pursuing AP or concurrent enrollment classes, bridging the gap to post-secondary education while fostering students' confidence and potentially saving them tuition dollars.  Using data, educators can identify and advise students who are typically underrepresented in higher education to begin taking AP and concurrent enrollment classes while in high school to intentionally combat issues of equity with regard to access to higher education.

Exploring an Academic Opportunities

As it should, the systematic implementation of a comprehensive college and career exploration plan takes several years.  It is critical to develop in-house expertise at each site to support implementation and management. As college and career exploration is one of the three domains of school counseling, per the american school counselor association, counselors often serve as building-level experts.  Counselors engage in professional development and, importantly, are granted time to become familiar with the software.  

Teachers are provided with professional development, focusing on how the process of post-secondary planning helps students make meaning of the daily work they engage with in the classroom. This helps to answer the teachers’ “why,” thus increasing buy-in. Teachers are given time to become familiar with the Xello.  They even have the option to engage as a student would and participate in the various career exploration features.  As teacher involvement with Xello throughout the year is intermittent, it is critical to provide timely and easily accessible lesson plans, reference guides, and/or video tutorials.

Xello lessons take approximately 30 minutes each.  In our district, we found that the schools with a dedicated lesson time and setting experienced the most success with implementing and sustaining progress on the Xello platform.

 Beyond investment at the educator and student level, we foster the engagement of other stakeholders, including parents, community members, and employers.  Having a common post-secondary planning vocabulary helps advance constructive conversations in a variety of settings. Our district offers work-based learning and advertises local opportunities on Xello.  Based on their individual career and academic plans, students can work with our work-based learning coordinators to connect with relevant work experiences, internships, and even apprenticeships while in high school.  Students earn elective credits toward graduation, build knowledge and skills, and earn income.  Oftentimes, work-based learning experiences lead students to in-demand careers with excellent compensation and benefits.  The need to earn money for the family can sometimes drive students away from high school, so the opportunity for work-based learning helps some at-risk students continue enrollment through graduation. 

 As experience informs future decision-making, the process of building individual careers and academic plans on Xello helps our students understand the why, when, and what’s next. Students who connect their classroom experiences to real-world applications are more likely to see the value in exploring a variety of academic opportunities and to persist in their education.  Our deepest hope is that every student will walk across the graduation stage and collect their diploma with confidence, knowing their next steps.