Relevance, The Missing Link - University of Massachusetts Amherst

185 Pages·2005·1.82 MB·English

Relevance, the Missing Link
A Guide for Promoting
Student Success Through
Career-Development Education, Training, and Counseling
ACADEMIC/TECHNICAL
DOMAIN
WORKPLACE PERSONAL/SOCIAL
READINESS DOMAIN
DOMAIN
The 2005 Massachusetts

Career-Development Education Guide

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We must educate today to prepare our youth for
a future unknown to the wisest of men.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
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February 2004
Dear School and Program Administrators, Counselors, and Career Specialists:
As part of our efforts to help students and workers acquire the skills necessary to compete in higher
education and the workplace, the Department of Education and the Department of Workforce
Development have come together to promote and strengthen career development education in the
Commonwealth.
An emerging body of research is showing that when career development education is integrated within
the curriculum learners assume greater responsibility not only for their academic/technical success but
their personal and professional achievement. Thus, through career development education we can
equip our students with 21st century skills and attitudes that are relevant in the classroom, workplace,
home, and community.
A high quality career development education program involves an entire school or organization in
illustrating the connections between education and the world of work. Many educators are already
doing this by demonstrating the relevance of educational standards in the workplace, fostering the
development of team building skills, and highlighting the value of assessment results for career
planning. Yet, to date, across Massachusetts career development education occurs largely in an ad hoc
and uncoordinated manner.
We all want the same things for our students, solid transferable skills that will serve them for a
lifetime. We believe that this mission is captured in the title Relevance, the Missing Link -- for in
guiding students to value education as a means to an end, we supply a critical link to future success.
To that end, we hope that this guide serves you well.
Sincerely,
David P. Driscoll, Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Education
Jane C. Edmonds, Director, Department of Workforce Development
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The reward of a thing well done is to have
done it.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Massachusetts Career Resource Network (MCRN) Advisory Committee has been the
impetus for the development of this Guide. The members, on various committees listed
below, have provided vision, expertise, and commitment in developing not only this Guide,
but its companion website. Special thanks also go to Jeffrey Wheeler, State Director of
Career and Technical Education, for his leadership and support of career development
education for all learners, K-16.
DESIGN TEAM:
David Blustein, PhDProfessor, Lynch School of Education, Boston College
Donna Brown School Counselor, Silver Lake RHS and Immediate Past President,
Massachusetts School Counselor Association
Karen DeCoster Education Specialist, Massachusetts Department of Education, Career and
Technical Education Unit
Theresa Howard, EdD Dean of Cooperative Education and Career Services, Holyoke Community College
Monica Kelley Teacher, Haverhill Public Schools
Keith Love STC Outreach Coordinator, Boston Public Schools
Michael Nakkula, EdD Professor, Risk and Prevention Program, Harvard University
Diana Robbins Vocational Director, Newton North High School
Patricia Spradley STC Director, Springfield Public Schools
REVISION GROUP:
Jay Carey, PhD Director, National Center for School Counseling Outcome Research, University
of Massachusetts, Amherst
Ann Hughes-Thomas Education Specialist, Massachusetts Department of Education, Career and
Technical Education Unit
Lawrence Litwack, EdDProfessor Emeritus of Counseling Psychology, School of Education,
Northeastern University
Peter Maloy Program Coordinator, Massachusetts Career Information System,
Massachusetts Office of Employment and Training
John McDonough Director, Massachusetts Career Center for Technical Education
Joel Nitzberg Senior Faculty and Coordinator, Cambridge College Community Building Project
Deneen Silviano Jobo Communications Director, Lean Aerospace Initiative, MIT
Keith Westri chConnec ting Activities Director, Massachusetts Department of
Education
OTHER CONTRIBUTORS:
Janice Crocker Program Coordinator I, Massachusetts Department of Education, Career and
Technical Education Unit
Cal Crow, PhD National Training Support Center, America's Career Resource Network
Marnie Jain Educational Specialist, Massachusetts Department of Education, Career and Technical
Education Unit Vicky Magaletta, Title VII Bilingual Coordinator, Boston Public Schools
Janice Manfredi Director, Center for Youth Development and Education
Maureen McGoldrick Student Support Director, Edwards Middle School, Charlestown
Jean Michaels Perkins Grant Administrator, Boston Public Schools
Carol Woodbury Superintendent, Monson Public Schools and Past President, Massachusetts Parent
Teacher Association
Bob Vinson Labor Market and Career Information Consultant
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary 7
Guide Part I: Massachusetts’ Career Development Benchmarks &
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Competencies
Introduction 19
The Academic/Technical Domain 21
The Personal/Social Domain 33
The Workplace Readiness Domain 40
Guide Part II: Evaluation 55
Introduction 57
The Need for Evaluation 57
Section 1: The Massachusetts Career Development Self-
63
assessment
Section 2: Assessing Progress in the Academic/Technical Domain 90
Section 3: Assessing Progress in the Personal/Social Domain 94
Section 4: Assessing Progress in the Workplace Readiness
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Domain
Section 5: Moving From Evaluation to Action 112
Appendices
A: CDE Terminology and CDE interventions 116
B: DOE Mission Statement /DLWD Mission Statement 124
C: Sample Career Development Interventions 126
D: Research Findings 136
E: The Role of Parents/Guardians 147
F: National and State Standards 164
National Career Development Guidelines 164
American School Counselors Association Standards 167
The Massachusetts Certificate of Occupational Proficiency's
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Employability Benchmarks
MA Work-Based Learning Plan 175
G: Resources & Strategies 176
H: Bibliography 184
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The causes lie deep and simply—the causes are a hunger in
a stomach, multiplied a million times; a hunger in a single
soul, hunger for joy and some security, multiplied a million
times; muscles and mind aching to grow, to work, to create,
multiplied a million times. The last clear definite function of
man—muscles aching to work, minds aching to create
beyond the single need--this is man. To build a wall, to
build a house, a dam, and in the wall and house and dam
to put something of Manself, and to Manself take back
something of the wall, the house, the dam; to take hard
muscles from the lifting, to take clear lines and form from
conceiving. For man, unlike anything organic or inorganic in
the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of
his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.
John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath, 1939
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Executive Summary
Guide Rationale
Relevance, the Missing Link is Massachusetts’ first career development
education (CDE) guide. It is intended to assist K-12 schools, colleges and universities
in Massachusetts, One Stop Career Centers, adult education programs, and other
service providers in the design, implementation, and evaluation of their career-
development programs.
The Guide is grounded in the belief that students∗ learn more and perform better when
they are able to internalize relevant relationships between school and their lives. It
promotes a data-driven approach to career development education based on research
findings, national standards, and exemplary state and local models. Additionally, the
Guide is aligned with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and complements
learning that is essential to passing the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment
System (MCAS) tests.
To facilitate use of the Guide, tools and resources are presented in two main sections.
Part I presents career development education (CDE) benchmarks and competencies in
three domains: 1) Academic/Technical Development; 2) Personal/Social Development;
and 3) Workplace Readiness Development. Part II, focused entirely on evaluation,
emphasizes the importance of documenting program effectiveness and student
outcomes. This section underscores the need to implement CDE interventions that are
aligned with well-defined terminology and benchmarks, as well as the Massachusetts
Curriculum Frameworks.
Understanding Career Development Education
Throughout the Guide, the term career development is used to describe the lifelong
process through which an individual comes to understand his/her place in the world
of work. This development occurs in a variety of settings (e.g., school, home,
workplace) and through experiences that either thwart or promote career awareness,
career exploration and their applications.
Career development interventions can be highly effective in emphasizing the overall
relevance of education. Too often, there is a perception that schooling has little
bearing on present and long-range goals. This can lead to student complacency,
behavioral problems, and increased dropout rates. Career development education,
however, cultivates future-mindedness and promotes student motivation and
achievement.1 For some, such future-orienteering may be the only reason to stay in
school, study for a test, or do a homework assignment. For a displaced worker, it may
be the very reason to seek training in a new field. In fact, a quality comprehensive
career development program can be the means for reducing the achievement gap,
∗ Throughout this document, the terms “student” and "learner" refer to learners of all ages, K-12 and beyond.
1 Meichenbaum and Bimiller, Nurturing Independent Learners, (Massachusetts: Brookline Books, 1998). (...) the results of the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS)
(...) examined changes in the achievement of 25,000 eighth-grade students (1988) and followed them through the 12th grade (1992) (...) The most important factor to
emerge from their analysis was one they called “student ambition and plans for the future.” Those students who had hopeful, but realistic, visions for themselves as
being successful in the future had a much higher level of Academic/Technical achievement than those students who had
10 DRAFT: 4/28/05