A Deeper Look at the Career Advising Policy

A Deeper Look at the Career Advising Policy

This Ohio’s Career Advising Policy is a 3-step process.

  • Step 1: Each city, local, exempted village, and joint vocational school district must adopt a policy on career advising. This policy must address how the district will provide the eight components, which will be described here shortly.
  • Step 2: Once the policy is adopted, the district must then post the policy in a prominent area of their website so that it is available for all students, families, and the community.
  • Step 3: The final step is for the district to schedule a local review once every two years to review the adopted Career Advising Policy.

There are eight components of the Career Advising Policy, with 3 common topics: Pathways, Individualized Planning, and Student Learning. Each school and district’s individual policy must address the following eight components.

  • Component 1: Career Connections learning strategies, requires schools to provide grade level examples that links student’s schoolwork to one or more career fields. Schools are encouraged to develop their own strategies but are more than welcome to use the Ohio Department of Education’s model curricula strategies provided on their website. 
  • Component 2: Requires schools to provide Career Advising to all students grades 6-12. Schools are to determine the frequency and type of Career Advising activities based upon student needs. It is strongly recommended that advisors meet with students at least once a semester to monitor and plan academic and career goals. 
  • Component 3: Requires schools to come up with their own system to identify “at-risk” students (those that look close to dropping out) and provide a process of intervening and career advising for them. An example of this is the Student Success Plan that can be created with students.
  • Component 4: Requires employee training on how to advise students on career pathways. This training must include helping students discover career interests, exploring and researching education options, and supporting the development of their student success plan. There are several tools available to help with this training, including the OhioMeansJobs K-12 website, as well as the newly developed Career Advising modules.
  • Component 5: Says that districts must develop multiple academic and career pathways through high school that students may choose to earn a high school diploma. The department provides simple pathway documents that help align education and training to related careers. These documents may be customized according to what current school offering are available, as well as individual student plans for high school and beyond. These pathways need to be made available to students so they can cater their learning to their career aspirations.
  • Component 6: Schools must provide course options to students for academic and career-technical credits, such as through credit flex, that align to the new graduation requirements and allow students to customize their experiences. It is required to make these course readily available and known to students, so they are informed of what options are available.
  • Component 7: Districts must provide documentation on career advising for each student. This can be done through several tools, such as OhioMeansJobs K-12.
  • Component 8: Requires supports to be provided for students to transition successfully from high school to their postsecondary choice. This includes interventions and services for students in need of remediation in Mathematics and English language arts. The approach to this component will vary depending on student need. Districts may recognize there is a need to enhance existing supports with targeted interventions. This approach will ensure that the resources for students to prepare for college and career are available, inclusive of ways students may offset the cost of post-secondary education options and programs. Districts may also need to expand resources and options to meet the needs of advanced learners. Examples include increasing course offerings and enhancing wrap around services, to support the most critical transition points for students such as entering and exiting high school.

Last Modified: 10/11/2022 9:44:31 AM