High School Career Exploration Programs: Do They Work?

Abstract

Current school reform efforts aim to increase the numbers of students who graduate from high school and go on to pursue postsecondary education or training. The authors look at seven types of career exploration programs to determine if this is an effective approach for accomplishing these goals. RIGHT NOW, many schools are scrambling to comply with the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, and educators are seeking strategies to boost achievement and move more students into higher education or a promising career. Raising academic standards for all students is the right thing to do, but standards-based school reform sometimes seems to ignore the fact that many students are simply not engaged sufficiently by academic study. If allowed to remain unmotivated and disengaged, these students risk failing in high school or dropping out, thus short-circuiting their chances for future success. We need strategies to persuade these young people that graduation and further studies are not only attainable but, for most occupations in this global economy, necessary. For many students, programs and activities that expose them to various careers can engage them in school and provide them with options. Many students know little about their career options, their own talents, what it's really like to work, and what preparation is needed for the kinds of jobs or further education that will set them on a career path. And overwhelmed school guidance counselors, with an average of 315 students per full-time counselor, can only do so much.1 Our public schools have long lived with the tension between their academic and vocational missions. But policy makers and school staff members have come to see that the goals of these missions are not mutually exclusive and, in fact, can be complementary. All students can benefit from more knowledge about career options and the skills and training required for different jobs, just as all can benefit from rigorous academic study. This was the central idea behind the federal School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 (STWOA), which enabled states and school districts to fund a variety of programs and activities that would help high school students make informed decisions about their postsecondary education and career plans. Although the STWOA expired in 2002, it did help schools systematize, enrich, and expand their career exploration programs. Although estimates vary, approximately 43% of high school students had participated in at least one career exploration activity by 1997, and as many as 60% had done so by 2000.2 How best to incorporate career exploration activities into the high school curriculum remains the subject of significant debate among educators. Critics worry that college-bound students will see their academic classes diluted with vocational material or that they will waste time on pursuits such as job shadows instead of focusing on learning core academic skills in preparation for college. The opposite, but equally critical, view is that these programs, much like old tracking systems, will widen the divide between high-achieving and low- achieving students by diverting the latter group into vocational courses and away from rigorous academic study. Studies of career exploration programs are just now beginning to appear, providing some findings to inform this debate. Although we now know something about the characteristics of both the programs and the students who participate in them, we still know little about their impact. Small-scale studies, anecdotes, and case studies abound, but to date there has been no rigorous assessment of the effects of career exploration programs. Since the overarching goal of these programs, as well as virtually every other school reform effort, is to help more students graduate and go on to postsecondary education or training, we decided to examine how career exploration programs influence high school graduation and postsecondary enrollment rates. …