By Allison Danielsen, Executive Director, BigFuture Careers and Partnerships at College Board
Reading time: Two minutes
This blog post is the second in a two-part series from BigFuture about supporting college and career pathways for students. Read the first part here.
Imagine the moment. Curiosity about a topic as classes get underway. The feeling of confidence as a skill is practiced and used. The questions that emerge as a project is started.
In a single school year, a high school student experiences many moments that elicit a range of different emotions—especially during transitions. A Morning Consultant survey for College Board of 1,200 high school students looked at students’ attitudes about the future. It’s encouraging to see that 46% said they felt motivated about exploring a future career, but it’s hard to ignore that 48%
also said they felt anxious.
How can these moments serve as an opportunity to better help students feel confident about what comes next?
For starters, the road to opportunity should come with directions. For all students, a successful career, including the training and education to get there, should be within reach—especially at a time when students are taking different paths after high
school.
That requires pairing greater exposure to college and career planning with personalized tools and quality experiences. At the College Board, we’re building on our conversations with millions of young people every year to help students meet the moment and unlock their future:
Imagine the moment when students receive their digital SAT® Suite score report. For many it is an initial step in their college planning journey. Now, with the addition of Career Insights, the score report can ignite future planning for all students, regardless of their path after high school. Next month, when students open their score report, they will see a list of in-demand careers in their
state, including information on median salary, job growth, and education requirements for entry, encouraging them to explore what’s possible with careers.
Imagine students feeling excited about what comes next after high school. BigFuture® is an online planning guide that offers free career and college exploration and planning tools.
Students can take a 10-minute career quiz, completed by more than one million users, to find options that match their interests or they can use Career Search to explore
1,000 career profiles. BigFuture users have also shared an interest in learning more about non-four-year postsecondary options. This month, student can now discover almost 800 college and technical education institutions in College Search, a free tool listing more than 4,000 institutions to help students plan for education after high school.
Imagine if high school students didn’t have to wait until graduation to start on their career path. Career Kickstart expands College
Board’s AP® framework to bring relevant, high-quality career and technical education instruction and experiences into high school classrooms. Career Kickstart is an early step forward to industry-recognized credentials and college credit.
To best support students as they discover the options available, BigFuture offers resources for caring adults. To best support students as they discover the options available, BigFuture offers resources for caring adults of high school students. New downloadable
resources for counselors and parents/families created with the National Career Development Association can help guide students in conversations about career exploration.
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