According to a 2016 YouthTruth survey on College and Career Readiness, over 50 percent of high school seniors and recent graduates perceive that no one in their high school helped them discover their career interests or helped them think about career options. That means that at least half of America’s young people are making decisions about postsecondary education and training and work after high school with very little understanding about what career options might be a good fit for them. CareerSmart Schools was derived from the challenge we face that, in most American middle and high school classrooms, there are very few career conversations happening (except for in the school counseling office or in a Career & Technical Education program).

With CareerSmart, every educator, school counselor, and administrator in your school or district will have access to easy-to-use information that will support them in implementing career readiness content and Career Connected Learning experiences for every student. As a result: your colleagues will feel more confident and comfortable in delivering Career Connected Learning opportunities, your students will feel more inspired and empowered, and your graduates will have a greater sense of where they’re heading and how to get there.

CareerSmart Schools is designed to be used in concert with any of the widely used career exploration online systems, including YouScience, Kuder, Xello, and Naviance. CareerSmart Schools does not duplicate the core functions of those systems; rather, it complements them by providing educators a comprehensive set of resources, including career information resources, lesson plans, activity plans, and how-to guides that are easy-to-use with no special technical training needed.

There are seven sections of resources included in the base subscription.

1. Getting Started with Career Connected Learning: We introduce key components of establishing a solid foundation for use of the CareerSmart platform, as well as initial steps in getting started with Career Connected Learning.
2. Making the Case for Career Connected Learning: We provide compelling information through useful videos, ready-to-show PowerPoints, talking points, and infographics to help you make the case for Career Connected Learning. This section also contains our Think Tank Guides, which are simple-to-implement learning experiences for small groups of educators, helping them engage in constructive dialogue and learning around career readiness topics.
3. Learning About Careers: Access to quick-start Career Exploration lesson plans and our Career Focus Kits, which are curated packets of information on career fields derived from secondary content areas and CTE pathways.
4. Workplace Success Skills: Help your school or district define workplace success skills and assess student preparedness through rubrics, lessons, and activities.
5. Career Connected Learning Activities: Help provide Career Connected Learning experiences for your students’ utilizing guides for planning classroom and school-based activities, such as mock interviews, resume writing, and guest speakers; career-related events, like career fairs and career-focused expos; and outside off campus learning experiences, such as job shadows and other experiential learning opportunities.
6. Engaging Business and Industry Partners: Access guides and resources to not only successfully engage with business and industry partners, but also to create and manage meaningful advisory committees. In addition, there are resources speaking directly to partners on how they can engage with and advocate for your programs and be contributing advisory committee members.
7. Pathways Resources: Gain the confidence that you and your team need to address all of the important design decisions that need to be made in creating or updating a career pathways system, scaled to fit your needs.

Developing new pathway programs or navigating a shift to Career Connected Learning for all students is a heavy lift and it helps to have ongoing advice and support. That’s why each subscription to CareerSmart Schools is accompanied by additional resources. These resources include: new user orientation webinars, monthly user community webinars, and customer support.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to make Career Connected Learning available for your students, visit https://nc3t.com/careersmart-schools/.

JoLynn Fletcher is the CareerSmart Schools Product Manager of the National Center for College and Career (NC3T) (www.nc3t.com). She plays a key role in the development and ongoing management of the new CareerSmart Schools platform, as well as provides excellent customer service to our CareerSmart Classrooms platform users. JoLynn has five years of experience in education ranging from work in secondary to postsecondary. Most recently, she worked for the Rapid City Area School District where she played an integral role in the development and implementation of the RCAS Academies & Pathways model. In addition to her experience with developing relevant and meaningful career-connected learning opportunities for students, she also has a background in building mutually beneficial relationships with community, business, and postsecondary partners.