Mississippi educators are putting students on pathways to successful futures
Using the 16 National Career Clusters, the MDE and the RCU developed specific pathways that fit Mississippi’s industry needs. Clusters range from Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources to Marketing to Education and Training, with a variety of pathways in any given cluster. Students may show an interest in a general field, or cluster, or in a specific career, or pathway.
To be college and career ready in the 21st century, Mississippi students will have to start thinking about their futures earlier than ever.
“Pathways to Success helps students learn what they don’t want to do just as much as it helps them discover what they do want to do,” said Massey. “If in the eighth grade a student decides to build an iCAP focused on nursing but after taking a course in anatomy and physiology in high school is no longer interested in that field, the student can work with a counselor to update the iCAP to better fit his or her current interests.”
by Kristen Dechert
Pathways to Success, a Mississippi Department of Education initiative supported by the Mississippi State University Research and Curriculum Unit, aims to get students considering their career goals and postsecondary plans in elementary and middle schools. By the end of eighth grade, all Mississippi students will have an individual Career and Academic Plan, or iCAP, in place to assist in planning their courses for high school. “The iCAP planning process is a roadmap to help students identify career choices and select the appropriate postsecondary option to help them reach their career goals, said Jean Massey, associate superintendent of the MDE. To prepare for statewide implementation in the spring of 2012, the MDE hosted regional training meetings around the state. This fall, 20 training sessions were hosted with over 900 participants from 135 school districts attending. Over the course of two days, MDE and RCU personnel gave districts an overview of Pathways to Success, including the postsecondary planning options the program provides students and a number of resources to help districts begin implementing the program in their schools. “We wanted [participants] to understand that there are options to get every single student graduated to a successful future,” said Marilyn Bowen, Professional Learning Center manager at the RCU. Massey agreed. “We have to make high school relevant to career choices,” she said. One key to demonstrating this relevance is by utilizing both CTE and academic classes to help students develop iCAPs and future plans.
“Through teacher mentoring and parent support, Pathways to Success will help students envision the future and to make decisions that turn the vision into reality.”
Rather than using a checklist of specific classes needed to graduate or to be college bound, Pathways to Success makes course selection fit a student’s future goals. “Instead of just focusing on students getting their four English credits, four math, and so on, Pathways to Success gets counselors to say, ‘Let’s talk about
what you want to do after high school, what postsecondary avenue you want to choose, and then work backwards to make sure the classes you take in high school help prepare you,’” said Betsey Smith, curriculum manager at the RCU. Page 18
Mississippi has one of the highest rates in the country of high school graduates going on to postsecondary programs, but only about three out of ten complete these programs because too many are having to be remediated or have deficiencies, said Massey. “We have to break the cycle. We have to help students see the relevance of what they are learning to their future goals, so they retain more from high school and take classes that apply to those goals,” she added.
Many training participants embraced this career-exploration approach to Pathways to Success. At one training session in Starkville, Miss., the over 100 participants were asked to share their views on using the program to help students achieve. One participant said, “We need to get students to realize that what you do in school affects your career and that your career affects your lifestyle.” Another participant noted the importance of parental involvement. “We need to make “Students sure that parents know what ready, not information and options are available to their children and are involved in the choices their children make,” she said.
need to be college and career just college bound.”
Massey also sees parents as a key to student success. “We all want our kids to go to college,” she said. “But parents need to realize it isn’t just about going to college but about getting students to think, ‘Where am I going and what do I need to do to get there?’” A final comment from an attendee summed up the goal of Pathways to Success best: “Students need to be college and career ready, not just college bound.” At the heart of Pathways to Success are Mississippi students, but the program also benefits the state. While teachers and counselors are helping students take classes that meet their needs, they also are preparing students to meet the needs of Mississippi industry. Graduating better prepared students means they can enter the workforce or go on to postsecondary programs more equipped to take on challenges in their fields. Bowen sees this initiative as a way to demonstrate to industries that Mississippi has a commitment to career preparation. “If an industry can see that students are being prepared as 21st-century learners, it may decide to locate here, bringing in jobs and revenue to the state,” she said. Page 19