State-of-the-art career planning tool now available
For years, the South Dakota Department of
Education has urged schools to provide their students with
comprehensive guidance and counseling programs. The South
Dakota Career Assessment, which all students are required to
take, measures a student’s interest and aptitude for
particular careers.
As a follow up to that assessment, the
department is making available to all public school districts a
complete suite of career planning tools known as Guidance
Central. This suite includes Choices® Explorer, Choices® Planner
and testGEAR™. It will be available online to school districts
free of charge for the 2006-07 school year.
“Career planning should be an integral part
of every student’s educational experience,” said Wade Pogany,
director of curriculum and instruction for the Department of
Education. “This comprehensive tool has the potential to assist
thousands of high school students as they begin to think about,
and plan for, life after high school.”
Guidance Central consists of three major
components. The Explorer program lets students explore a variety
of career paths. They can take quizzes to assess their
interests. They can watch videos about particular careers. When
a student begins to take an interest in a specific path, the
Planner program identifies courses and educational paths that
they can take to properly prepare for a career. The third
component, called testGEAR, offers students the tools to help
them perform well on college entrance exams.
The Guidance Central bundle offers
versatility for users. Because it’s online, as opposed to on a
disk, students will have access to the programs at home or
school, according to Pogany. “This will make it easier for
parents to get involved in the process, too,” he said.
Governor Rounds’ 2010 Education Initiative
calls for South Dakota to be first in the nation for the
percentage of students going on to college, technical school or
advanced training. One strategy for reaching this goal is to
implement personal learning plans. A personal learning plan
requires students to take time early in their high school
careers to identify long-term academic and career goals, and to
identify courses and activities that would help them accomplish
these goals.
Guidance Central is one tool to help
students, their families, teachers and counselors make those
important decisions.
If your school is interested in using the Guidance Central
suite, please contact Steve Rounds at the Department of
Education. He can be reached at (605) 773-7006 or
steven.rounds@state.sd.us.
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