Arlington School District became a member of the School-to-Work Consortium of Snohomish County in 1997 in partnership with the Workforce Development Council of Snohomish County. Representatives from all member schools collaborated how best to heighten the awareness of high school students to the skills they would need to be successful in their future after high school, whether it be continuing on to post high school education, entering the workforce or becoming a member of the military. The consortium developed a web-based program to recruit businesses and professional community members to sign on as offering students the opportunity to job shadow at their establishments or to come to the various schools to give formal career presentations. Several databases
CAREER EXPLORATION
ACTIVITIES IN ARLINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT 2009
Post Middle School
Principal: Brian
Beckley
Counselors: Rebecca Dickison
6th Grade: Student Success Skills - Looking Good/Feeling
Good Curriculum by Atlantic
Education; authors Greg Brigman and Linda
Webb
Goal Setting
WOIS software used on trial basis 2nd
semester 2008/09 school year
PGO dollars (Nancy Burns) used to purchase
license for 6 months.
7th Grade: True Colors
taught by counselors in 7th grade block classes
Career Units taught in some 7th grade block classes
8th Grade: True Colors revisited. Not a lot done with career exploration due to
Social Studies Fair focus in 8th grade.
“Suggested high school students job shadow at a school other than their “home
school” or out of district” for an expanded experience.
Haller Middle School
Principal: Eric
DeJong
Counselors: Jane
Vilders
6th Grade: Student Success Skills Curriculum used Study Skills taught.
7th Grade
Block: True Colors taught by
counselors.
Some block teachers teach a
career exploration unit
8th Grade: True Colors revisited. Where Are You Going? Books used.
Assessments
on paper completed by students. Links to
9th grade
requirements ahead of them.
Note: These books were
published by WA State Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board –
1006-08. Not known at this time if it
will be reproduced or if it will be replaced with another assessment/research
tool.
Arlington
High School
Principal: Kurt
Criscione
CTE Director: Brett
Sarver
9th grade: Freshman
Foundations is a required Career & Technical Education computer course focusing entirely on career
exploration and research. True Colors are
taught and WOIS software utilized for personal assessments (Interest Profiler),
researching occupations, programs of study and corresponding college and
technical schools. Students then access www.nextstep2.org
website to search for opportunities, such as career presenters and job shadows
for which they can then apply.The job shadow is documented and submitted to the Senior Project
Coordinator for inclusion in their Senior Project Employability
Portfolio which is compiled throughout their high school years and
submitted along with their Senior Culminating Project for presenting to
community members and educators prior to graduation. Two job shadows
are required for graduation.
School-to-Career Coordinator serves as the liaison for the school district and the business community and recruits managers to open their business for students to visit and observe various occupations in action. The coordinator manages the database (Business
Education Partnership) and receives the student requests and schedules with the
appropriate job shadow or career presentation(s). Students include their experiences in their
career research paper at the end of the semester and turn in documentation of
their experience for inclusion in their senior project file for their required
culminating presentation to the community prior to graduation.Two job shadows are required for graduation from Arlington HIgh School
Weston Alternative High School and Stillaguamish Valley School students also focus on career education throughout their high school years and submit an employability portfolio along with their Senior Culminating Project.
Over 450 businesses in the Greater Puget Sound partner with Arlington Schools to provide real work experiences for high school students. They find it very rewarding to assist students to discover the relevancy of learning to living successfully in the adult world.