career exploration and development with a focus …...career exploration and development with a...

Career Exploration and Development with a Focus on Implicit Bias

Webinar Presenter: Lauren Jones, NCCCTE Program Director for Special Populations, Counseling & Equity Webinar Date: 11/19/2019

Learning outcomes:

After viewing this webinar, you should be able to:• Generate and share current career advising and

development strategies• Determine most effective strategies and their

connections to CTE• Strategize ways to implement effective strategies in

your community• Discuss implicit bias and how this affects students,

parents, school counselors and all educators

Background on a current National Movement…

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Strategies for Attracting Students to High-quality CTE

Advance CTE, supported by the Siemens Foundation: • Commissioned focus groups • Conducted a national survey • Explored attitudes of parents and students

currently involved in CTE• Report issued in April 2017

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Siemens Foundation funded Advance CTE to conduct a series of in-person focus groups across the country with parents and students. From these focus groups, Advance CTE developed a national survey of 1,700 parents and students to explore their attitudes about CTE.

Research Goals

Explore what middle & high school parents and students know and think about CTE

Understand motivators and barriers to enrolling in a CTE program

Determine which messages are most compelling to consider a CTE program and which are not

Identify trusted decision-makers and effective communication channels for CTE

Presenter

Presentation Notes

The goals of the project were: Finding out what current and prospective students know and think about CTE; Understand what gets them into CTE pathways, and what is keeping them out; Determine the actual words and themes that most resonate with parents and students; and Find out how to get those messages in front of parents and students. This last goal is what prompted the development of this workshop for counselors.

E-mail school/principal (23%) A school assembly (22%)

Social media (21%)

High school career fair (40%) Brochure/pamphlet mailed (40%)

Educational website (46%) Open house at CTE school /program

(44%)

of prospects want to hear information about CTE from their school counselor

48%

How much do you trusteach for learning more

information about CTE?

School Counselors Are Most Trusted Messengers

School counselor

What is the preferred method of learning more information about CTE?

Presenter

Presentation Notes

We will review more about the survey in this workshop but the reason for the development of this specific training, is because of this finding: We learned that school counselors and teachers are the most trusted source of information about CTE for students and parents. Yet it seemed that school counselors did not necessarily know how to speak about CTE and how to message this to students and parents..

Career and College Readiness

Startling Statements • 1. According to the Pacer Center, _____% of Students with Disabilities report being

bullied regularly.

• 2. A 2014 study reports that ___% of students with a Learning Disability have a stated goal of attending either a 2 or 4 year college.

• 3. In 2011, ______% of students enrolled in a postsecondary institution had a disability.

• 4. ____% of working age people with disabilities were employed on average in the 2010-2012 period.

• 5. During the 2014-2015 school year, ____% of students in k-12 were homeless (*1,354,363)

• 6. In the 2013-2014 school year, _____% of preschool suspensions were Black or African American.

60

54

32

11

2.5*

48.6

Career Exploration & Career Development

Presenter

Presentation Notes

This morning we spent time learning about high-quality CTE and how CTE programs need to be responsive to workforce trends. All counselors engage students in specific strategies for career advisement that help them understand more about the world of work and career possibilities. We are going to dive deeper into exploring these strategies in this next segment.

What did you want to be when you were 10 years old?!

How close are you NOW to that aspiration you had THEN?

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Its all about the journey and being transparent with young people about the journey you had so that they see that it will happen to them too.

List all of the reasonswhy people may choose

a careerpath.

The State of Career Technical Education: Career Advising and Development

• Need for information on effective state- and school-level strategies for career advising and development

• Advance CTE partnered with ASCA to conduct survey research

• Responses from 45 State CTE Directors, 10 State School Counseling Directors and 647 school counselors– School counselors from all 50 states and District of

Columbia and all grade levels

Presenter

Presentation Notes

We’ve generated a long list of strategies used. And one of the questions we may have is: do we know how effective these strategies are? Maybe you have a method of collecting data to assess the effectiveness of your career advisement activities, but for the most part there is a lack of research on the efficacy of many of the strategies currently used by counselors and advisors. To get more information about career advising strategies and their effectiveness, Advance CTE partnered with the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) to conduct three surveys to ascertain more information about effective career advising strategies at the state and local levels. Advance CTE surveyed State CTE Directors, and ASCA sent separate surveys to a selection of school counselors and to State School Counseling Directors in states where that role has been specifically identified. The surveys provided invaluable insight into what is happening related to career advising and development at the state and local levels and revealed some interesting barriers and promising strategies. You have a copy of this report in your materials today.

Report Findings

• There was a major disconnect in state and local responses

• Few states believe their systems are fully aligned throughout K-12

• Career advising and development efforts are much more common at the high school level

• Effectiveness of strategies is mixed bag• 58% of states rate their state systems as only

somewhat effective in their career advising and development efforts

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Presenter

Presentation Notes

Here are some of the major findings from the report. Respondents were asked to identify strategies used along with their perceived effectiveness. There were major disconnects between state and local perceptions of effectiveness.

Report Findings

• Most frequently used strategy is conducting inventories with students to identify their interests, skills and abilities

• School counselors feel more positive about the effectiveness of strategies they employ than do State CTE Directors

• The most effective strategies are not the most used.

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Presenter

Presentation Notes

Not surprising, the most frequently used strategy by counselors in conducting interest inventories. Curiously, though, the most used strategies were not identified as being the most effective.

Strategies Most Effective/Least Used:

• Connecting students with CTE coursework and career pathways as a career advising and development strategy

• Providing or facilitating work-based learning experiences for students

• Engaging and partnering with industry and community

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Presenter

Presentation Notes

While these strategies that are core to CTE are considered the most effective, regrettably they are the least used. For example, the report indicated that providing facilitated opportunities for students to participate in work-based learning; providing experiential learning opportunities; and engaging or partnering with industry and community partners are all things that are already happening as part of CTE programs. These are seen as more effective strategies than things that can potentially be a bigger lift on you, such as creating career days/fairs or working with teachers to integrate career readiness in the curriculum. It’s important to get some more information regarding why they are underused as these can potentially have a much wider impact on students if implemented.

4%

8%

9%

13%

14%

14%

15%

20%

27%

44%

45%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

Lack of availability of labor market data

Technological barriers

Lack of capacity to support and scale efforts at statelevel

Lack of industry involvement

Career development begins too late in a student’s K-12 education

Geographic barriers

Lack of buy-in and support from school and districtleadership

Lack of understanding on how to best support careerdevelopment

Lack of quality resources and materials

Other competing priorities pull counselors away fromcareer development

Other counseling domains receive higher priority

What Barriers Do You Face in Providing Effective Career Development Services?

Presenter

Presentation Notes

School counselors identified significant challenges to implementing career counseling strategies. It’s not surprising that counselors indicate that there is much less focus on the “career” domain in school counseling. It often is viewed as the least important of the domains behind “emotional-social” and “academic” development.

5%

19%

21%

22%

23%

24%

25%

29%

38%

47%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

None

State-provided professional development

Locally-provided professional development

Locally-provided curricular resources

State-provided curricular resources

CTE programs and faculty

Labor market data on job demand and career salaries

Industry partners willing to serve as mentors, participatein career days/fairs and/or offer work-based learning

Resources provided by ASCA or similar organization

Results from inventory of students skills and interests, orequivalent

What Resources Do You Use to Support Career Development Efforts?

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Additionally, school counselors need more resources they’re not always getting from the state level to implement career counseling strategies. Clearly, inventories are the most used resource with a need for more comprehensive professional development.

Some Recommendations:

• Provide more effective professional development and resources to school counselors and establish feedback loops to ensure that the professional advising and development is having its intended impact

• Ensure that career advising and development is a school- and community-wide effort, with effective coordination between school counselors and school administration and active participation from classroom instructors and community organizations

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Presenter

Presentation Notes

Here are some of the recommendations from the report: To provide more professional development and resources for school counselors and ensure that career advisement does not rest solely on the shoulders of counselors but is more of a school- and community-wide effort.

More Recommendations• Explore partnerships between secondary and

postsecondary systems and institutions to both gather more data on existing strategies and implement new strategies as appropriate

• Examine and improve current career advising and development equitable strategies so that they are all part of one broad, cohesive strategy designed to guide EACH learner effectively to the careers of their choice

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Exploring partnerships between secondary and postsecondary systems to gather data and implement new strategies as well as working toward a broader more cohesive system is also essential.

Even More Recommendations:• Improve the effectiveness of Individual Learning

Plans - ILPs- (or equivalent) by– Scaling up innovative practices, including having students

begin them in middle school, and– Working with school counselors to ensure that Individual

Learning Plans (ILP) are integrated into a broader career development process

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Individual Learning Plans have been identified as a tool that can be leveraged to support developmental academic and career advisement. There is much opportunity to have systemic change when states implement such a system. These may have different names in different states — Individual Graduation Plans, Student Success Plans, etc. — but fundamentally these are intended to guide a student in making educational and career plans.

Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) as a Career Advising Tool• Academic and career planning tool• Used in 38 states, but mandated for all

students in only 21 states (U.S. Department of Labor)

• Varied effectiveness • Disconnect between state and local levels • Value in beginning plans in middle school• Need to engage parents, guardians and

teachers

Presenter

Presentation Notes

We are going to spend a little time discussing Individual Learning Plans since this has really been identified as a potential area that could impact career development systemically. These plans can be used as an academic and career planning tool and their use varies in states

Individual Learning Plans Can Be an Effective Career Advising Tool

Can be used more effectively by:• Beginning them in middle school• Including them as part of a wider conversation and process• Being clear and strategic about connections to career pathways and

CTE opportunities

Presenter

Presentation Notes

A theory of change regarding Individual Learning Plans is that the establishment of career and life goals is the change mechanism that leads to improved academic outcomes and postsecondary completion rates. Research on goal-setting has suggested that developing self-defined career and life goals is an important mechanism that enables youth to have choices and results in their proactively seeking out their own learning pathways as they pursue those choices. Quality Individual Learning Plan implementation from a caring and encouraging adult helps learners establish career and life goals. Education becomes perceived as more meaningful and relevant to helping them achieve those goals. Learners pursue more rigorous education and work-based learning opportunities. Increased academic performance, postsecondary completion rates, higher wage earnings and overall life satisfaction.

Valuable Resource for Implementing Individual Learning Plans

http://www.ncwd-youth.info/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Promoting-Quality-ILPs-Throughout-the-Lifespan-WEB.pdf

Presenter

Presentation Notes

This is an incredible resource with much information on Individual Learning Plans as well as links to many other career advisement tools.

http://www.ncwd-youth.info/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Promoting-Quality-ILPs-Throughout-the-Lifespan-WEB.pdf

http://coloradostateplan.com/career-guidance/individual-career-and-academic-plan-icap/www.cde.state.co.us/postsecondary/icap

http://coloradostateplan.com/career-guidance/individual-career-and-academic-plan-icap/

http://www.cde.state.co.us/postsecondary/icap

https://schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors/publications-position-statements/career-conversation-starters



You too can become an MCC!**Meaningful Career Conversationalist

Addressing Bias in Career & Academic Advisement (Career Conversations)

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Presenter

Presentation Notes

As we consider efforts to improve academic and career advisement, it is important to address how bias needs to be considered when working with students, their families and other educators – Stereotypes and implicit bias exists and impact all of us….

Identity

Whom Do You Visualize?• Nurse• Welder• Systems engineer• Early childhood teacher• Automotive technician • Software developer• Financial adviser

Presenter

Presentation Notes

We all automatically have certain ideas and beliefs that are unconscious or due to stereotypes due to our life experiences.

Equity and Access to CTE(non-traditional careers)

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Nontraditional CTE Programs CTE Program that prepares a student for an occupation where one gender is less than 25% of the individuals employed in that field.

Let’s think of non-traditional

fields (gender atypical)….

Startling Statements - Fill in the Blank:

• By 2018, it is projected that _______% of the labor force will be women.

• In 2014, men represented ______% of registered nurses.• In 2014, _____% of electricians were women.• In 2011, _____% of first-year undergraduate students

were enrolled in remedial coursework. In that year, _____% Hispanic, _____% of Black and ______%White students were enrolled in remedial course.

• In 2012, white women earned 19.8% of AS degrees in science & engineering while African American women earned ______% of AS Degrees in science & engineering.

46.9

10.02.419.7

5.9http://nces.ed.gov/programs & www.nsf.gov/statistics & www.bls.gov

22.222.4 17.7

http://nces.ed.gov/programs

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics

http://www.bls.gov/

Implicit Bias• Attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding,

actions and decisions in an unconscious manner • Encompass both favorable and unfavorable assessments• Are activated involuntarily and without awareness or

intentional control• Are malleable and can be unlearned, reshaped or changed

over time

http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/2017-SOTS-final-draft-02.pdf

Presenter

Presentation Notes

We have heard much about implicit or unconscious bias in the media these days, and as school counselors, you are also very aware of the importance of developing cultural competence to be effective. But we must continue to always be aware that this type of unconscious bias is involuntary and without awareness and control. However, it can be unlearned and reshaped over time with attention.


Basis of Implicit Bias• Race, gender, ethnicity• Socio-economic status• English language learner status

• Disability

Implicit bias affects everyone — school counselors, students, parents, employers

Presenter

Presentation Notes

We see implicit bias in all these areas, and it affects everyone.

Unconscious/Implicit Bias

• In the blink of an eye, our brain processes a person’s race, gender, style of clothing, height and weight, all without our awareness

• Based on these irrelevant factors, we make associations about how similar someone is to us or how different someone is from us



Stereotypes and Implicit Bias• Who’s good with their hands?• That career is too dirty for girls• He’s too smart to do that• He’s too poor to achieve that goal — we don’t want

to set him up for disappointment• His/her/their family wouldn’t want that for him/her

(her/him/them)

Presenter

Presentation Notes

We often have preconceived ideas regarding careers that may or may not align to individuals’ choices and unintentionally sway their course of action. While well meaning, counselors, parents and educators may steer students toward career interests stereotypically associated with specific characteristics, such as gender, race, socio-economic status and ethnicity. Students may also limit their own options based on their narrow perspectives and experiences.

Other Examples• Assuming that a UNIQUELY ABLED student with a

disability will be unable to complete a lab course or other class activity

• Assuming a female will not want to be involved in a class that only males have historically enrolled in — for example, auto mechanics

• Assuming that a student enrolled in many Advanced Placement courses would have no interest in CTE programs

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Students with disabilities are often affected by our preconceived ideas, which may inhibit their ability to grow and reach their potential. Females and males are often dissuaded from enrolling in certain programs that are non-traditional for their gender. And when one considers an “AP student,” one may think that he or she should focus on academics and not be involved with CTE based on prior or current views of CTE.

Micromessages

• Small, subtle, universally understood messages that we send and receive through words, gestures, body language, tone of voice and facial expressions whenever we interact with others

• Can be positive and negative • Most often unconscious or unintentional

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Presenter

Presentation Notes

While we may not send these messages to students, parents and their families in discussing careers, we should be aware of our micromessages. Micromessages go beyond the words we use and include gestures, tone, facial expressions and body language. Again, these are most often unconscious and unintentional but can have a major impact on a student.

Feedback messages

What is not said or not

done

Who or what else is present

— culture, artifacts, etc.

Micromessages

Para-verbal

Non-verbalOmission

Praise and

criticism

Verbal

Contextual

Body language

What issaid

How it’s said

Key Micromessaging Elements

How to Address Inequities in Career Advisement

• Awareness: Admit that, like everyone else, we are biased• Speak up when you see actions that imply unintended bias• Model equity in your actions (be the ripple) • Be conscious of micromessaging• Know the body language dos and don’ts • Highlight and share positive, accomplished persons in the category

of your bias with your students and other educators/counselors• Attend educator professional development training on addressing

bias

Presenter

Presentation Notes

It’s an ongoing effort to address implicit bias and really starts with an awareness that we are all biased. Address actions or statements of bias when you see these. It could be coming from students themselves because their belief system and experiences may affect what they think is possible for them. A Latino student may believe that he/she is supposed to work in the restaurant industry because all the student’s family currently work in this industry. A highly educated, Caucasian upper-middle class parent may believe that his/her child must go to a 4-year college as the only way to success — because that is what the parent knows. Educators must also be constantly vigilant about how their bias may affect their students.

Resources

• National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity: https://www.napequity.org/

• Harvard University’s Project Implicit: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

• CTE in Colorado Equity in CTE webpage: http://coloradostateplan.com/equity-in-cte/

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https://www.napequity.org/

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

http://coloradostateplan.com/equity-in-cte/

Learning That Works Resource Center

• https://www.careertech.org/resource-center

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https://www.careertech.org/resource-center

career exploration and development with a focus …...career exploration and development with a...

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