Transcript Help Your Child Identify Interests, Explore Careers and

Help Your Child
Identify Interests
Explore Careers
and
Develop Plans for
the Future
Why Should You be
Involved in your Child’s
Education and Career Planning?
Why Parent Involvement?
• Research shows that you have the greatest
influence on your child’s career choices
• As a parent, you have the best knowledge of
your child’s interests and abilities
• You have more interest than anyone else in
your child’s well-being and success
• Your child’s future is too important to be
left to luck or chance
When Parents are Involved. . .
Children have:
• Higher grades and test scores
• Higher graduation rates
• Better attendance at school and get more homework done
• Fewer placements in special education
And:
• Are more likely to enroll in postsecondary education
• Show more positive attitudes and behavior
Source: The Family is Crucial to Student Achievement, National Committee
for Citizens in Education, 1994
Elementary Career Awareness
In Elementary School Your Child Needs to:
• Identify personal interests, abilities, strengths, and
weaknesses
• Describe how work at home and/or school relates to
jobs in the community
• Describe how work is important and attainable to all
people
• Demonstrate a positive attitude
• Describe how personal beliefs and values affect
decision making
Source: American School Counselor Association
Middle School Career Exploration
In Middle School Your Child Needs to:
• Demonstrate effective skills in working with others
• Show an appreciation for the similarities and
differences among people
• Describe individual skills and aptitudes required to
fulfill roles
• Identify strategies for managing personal finances
• Describe skills needed in a variety of occupations
• Demonstrate skills needed to obtain and keep a job
Source: American School Counselor Association
High School Career Exploration
In High School Your Child Needs to:
• Understand how individual personality, abilities
and interests relate to career goals
• Demonstrate skills that can apply to a variety of
occupations and changing work requirements
• Understand how high school education relates to
college majors, further training and/or entry into
the job market
• Be able to use a wide variety of career information
resources
Source: American School Counselor Association
Discuss Your Child’s Interests
Ask Your Child:
• What are your favorite
school subjects?
• What extracurricular
activities do you enjoy
most?
• What are your favorite
hobbies?
• What do you like to do
with your friends?
• What special skills do
you think you possess?
• What have you done
that you are most
proud of?
• What do you like to do
with your free time?
• What interests you the
most?
Nurture Your Child’s Interests
If your child has an interest in animals, he or she might
like to:
Elementary School
• Feed and care for a family pet
Middle School
• Join a 4-H Club
• Walk or care for a neighbor’s dog
High School
• Volunteer at a local veterinary clinic, animal shelter
or zoo
Nurture Your Child’s Interests
If your child has an interest in art, he or she might
like to:
Elementary School
• Make birthday or holiday cards for relatives and
friends
Middle School
• Create graphics for the school newsletter
• Design invitations for a special event
High School
• Design a personal or school website
Nurture Your Child’s Interests
If your child likes to help people, he or she might like
to:
Elementary School
• Join a Girl Scout or Boy Scout club
Middle School
• Teach a younger child to read
• Volunteer to read to nursing home residents
High School
• Be a summer or vacation camp counselor
• Assist at a day care center
Nurture Your Child’s Interests
If your child likes to build or repair things, he or she
might like to:
Elementary School
• Use Lego's or Lincoln Logs to build things
Middle School
• Build a radio or computer from a kit
• Take apart an old appliance and put it back
together
High School
• Design and build a robot or a piece of furniture
• Help repair or remodel things in your home
Nurture Your Child’s Interests
If your child likes sports, he or she might like to:
Elementary School
• Play on a sports team
Middle School
• Assist a coach
• Take a fitness class
High School
• Umpire or referee community games
• Coach a youth sports team
What if My Child’s Interests Change?
• If your child has been exploring interests,
and he or she decides that interests have
changed — hurray!
• It is just as important for your child to know
what he or she does not want to do as it is to
know what he or she does want to do
• Exploration is the key to helping make
informed decisions
Help Your Child Explore Careers
To help your child with career exploration:
• Encourage your child to make independent
decisions
• Involve yourself in your child’s future planning
• Encourage exploration of all kinds of post-high
school education opportunities
• Give your child economic responsibilities
• Encourage job awareness
• Be flexible as the decision-making process
evolves
Career Exploration Resources
To find your state’s office of America’s
Career Resource Network:
• Visit www.acrnetwork.org
• Click on Network and then click on your state
Your state’s Career Resource Network office
can direct you and your child to career
exploration resources
Parent Resources
Visit www.acrnetwork.org for Parent
Resources
Click on Parent Involvement Guide to learn about:
• Helping Your Child Identify Interests
• Helping Your Child Make Career Decisions
• Helping Your Child Make a Post-High School Plan
• Finding the Right College
• Locating Financial Aid
• And more
Career Exploration Resources
• America’s Career InfoNet at
http://www.acinet.org/acinet
• Occupational Outlook Handbook at
http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm
• Your local library has career
information books and publications, as
well as Internet access to explore
careers online
Help Your Child Plan for the
Future
What Parents Need to Know
About Education
and the
Labor Market
Parents Need to Know
Unemployment rates for non-institutional civilians ages 25 & older
Less than a HS diploma
8.2%
High school diploma
5.4%
Some college, no degree
5.6%
Associate degree
4.4%
Bachelor’s or higher
3.4%
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, July 2003
Parents Need to Know
Of the 22.2 million jobs to be
generated between 2000 and
2010...
Parents Need to Know
...17.5 million will require some
postsecondary education.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2001
Parents Need to Know
8 of the 10 fastest growing
occupations between 2000 and
2010 will require some form of
postsecondary education
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2001
Parents Need to Know
48 of the 50 best paying jobs will
require a college degree
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2002
About College
Although over 97% of students (and their
parents) aspire to college
• 63% enroll in college the fall following
their graduation from high school
• More than a third leave within two years
without earning a degree
• Only about half earn a bachelor’s degree by
the time they are 29 years old
Source: The Condition of Education, 2002
About College
• Community or technical college can lead to
well-paying jobs, and may be all a child
needs to reach his or her career goal
• Community college can also be the path to a
4-year degree
• Many students start out at a community
college to save costs or get a handle on
college-level work
Source: Higher Learning=Higher Earnings, Center on Education Policy, Sept. 2001
College Preparation
• Freshmen who enter college without a
career goal or an academic major in mind
have higher college dropout rates
• More than 22% of college freshmen need to
take remedial courses — these do not count
as credit toward a degree
• Your child should take challenging courses
in high school to prepare for college-level
coursework
College Preparation
• 83% of students who take Algebra I and
Geometry in high school go on to college
• Students who don’t take Algebra and
Geometry in high school are much less
likely to go to college — only 36% do
• Taking challenging courses in high school
not only helps children get into college, but
also increases the chances they will
complete college
Help Create Post-High School Plans
• Discover the training that is required for
your child to meet his or her career goals
• Find colleges or career schools that provide
training specific to your child’s goals
• Think about the school’s atmosphere, does
your child do better in small classes or large
groups? Will he or she do better at a school
in a large city or a small town?
With your help, your child
can create a solid plan
that will guide him or her to
successful post-high school
training
and rewarding career.