Career Development Model

620 Career Counseling

Amy Bartels and Carolyn Frasier
April 22, 2010

Eisenhower Elementary School

Definition of Target Population
Eisenhower Elementary School is located in a suburb of a major metropolitan city. Seven
hundred and five students, grades 3-5, ages 8-10 attend Eisenhower Elementary. Our community
is comprised of middle to upper-middle class citizens. The level of diversity at Eisenhower is
considered to be minimal. Most students in our building speak English and most students share
similar cultural backgrounds.

Demographics
Students Population

Diversity
81% Caucasian

3rd grade: 250

6 % Asian

4th grade

6% African American

230

5th grade: 225

6% Hispanic

1% Native American


Percentage of students eligible for free or reduced lunch 18%

Percent of students receiving special services:
Special Education 14%
English as a Second Language 8%
Gifted/Talented 4%

Needs Assessment
In the spring of 2008/2009 school year, the newly formed Career Development Model
Forming Committee of Eisenhower Elementary met to discuss the upcoming school year and to
formulate a plan. The meetings were led by the school counselor. The committee included the
school principal, parents, faculty and staff. It was decided that a needs assessment questionnaire
would be send in May to parents/guardians to complete and identify students needs in the area of
career development. 85% of the questionnaires were returned to the school counselor. A focus
group of 15 parents and teachers examined the completed questionnaires for the purpose of
identifying students needs. Administration and faculty were interviewed to gain additional
information.
Needs defined by the Career Development Domain in the National Career Developmental
Guidelines, ASCA, and the WDPI were first utilized and included.
Standard A: Students will acquire the skills to investigate the world of work in relation to
knowledge of self and to make informed career decisions.

Standard B: Students will employ strategies to achieve future career goals with success and
satisfaction.
Standard C: Students will understand the relationship between personal qualities, education,
training, and the world of work (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2009, pp. 311-312).
Upon review of the data obtained from the focus group about the questionnaires and
information from administration and faculty, the counselor determined the primary needs:
1. Students need to learn about the variety of traditional and nontraditional occupations.
2. Develop an awareness of personal abilities, skills, interests and motivations.

Information received from parents/guardians, faculty, and the National Career

Development Guidelines were all used in determining measurable objectives.

Measurable Objectives
1.

Identify the occupations that they see everyday including within their own
families and within the school building.

2.

List occupations that relate to specific school subjects.

3.

Students will be able to identify 3 skills that they have and indicate which
occupations are compatible with those attributes.

4.

Students will learn to connect interest to activities.

5.

Students will recognize that gender or race/ethnicity is not relevant to

occupational choices.

Methods of Delivery

 Classroom guidance curriculum

 Parent/guest career speakers
 Interest assessment
 Career DVD
 Career Day: Community members and role models with an emphasis on
diversity and non-traditional gender career roles.
 Web resource exploration

Content
Students attend Eisenhower Elementary for 3 years. The bulk of this Career Development
Model will focus on the 4th grade.
Research has suggested that as early as the 4th grade, childrens inaccurate ideas about the
effort required to obtain particular jobs may result in a permanent rejection of those jobs as
acceptable occupational alternatives (Gottfredson, 1981). Elementary students may be
unknowingly restricting their careers options. One of the goals of this Career Development
Model, along with the objectives is to emphasize that elementary career counseling is important in
the life of a student. During the elementary years, children are formulating a sense of self through
interactions with peers, teachers, parents, and community members (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey,
2009). School counselors help elementary students as they learn about careers and make tentative
judgments about the careers they would like to have (Auger, Blackhurst & Herting-Wahl, 2005).
Career awareness builds the foundation for students career development. When students
become aware of different careers, they begin to understand the role of work, the uniqueness of
each individual, and the interaction of different occupations. Students learn to differentiate among
occupations by examining the work roles of their family members and others with whom they
come in contact.

Objective: Students will identify the occupation that they see everyday including within their
own families and within the school building.
Method: It is proposed that the school counselor will conduct a guidance curriculum lesson.
The counselor will have a discussion with the students that people do different jobs to
make a living. This is called an occupation. The counselors will then hold up a piece of chalk and
ask what job would use this? (Teacher) What is the purpose of the teacher? (To teach someone
how to do something) Other jobs could be doctor, firemen, etc Use an example for each job
and then ask what their purpose is.
This activity has a worksheet called Different Jobs (appendix A). This worksheet is like a
puzzle and the students need to figure out the missing pieces. The first column lists some
occupations or jobs. The second column lists what someone would do on that job or the purpose
of the job. The third column lists some items that a person would need for that job. The students
need to fill in all of the missing boxes on this sheet. Extra Activities:

Guest parent speakers- Invite parents to sign up for an opportunity to share about their
occupations with the classroom in 30 minute slots on Thursdays during Social Studies.

ABC Game- Have students think of jobs that start with A (auto mechanic) - Z (zoo
keeper) then discuss what each job entails.

Career DVD: Career Video Tour Elementary can be ordered from

http:www.careerkids.com/product-WCVT2D.html

Objective: Students will be able to list occupations and relate to specific school subjects.
Method: It is proposed that the school counselor will conduct several guidance lessons.
The school counselor will present the Career-ween Day. This activity is similar to
Halloween, in that the student or members of a group will create objects that represent a specific
career. Some of the careers are familiar from the career DVD. The counselor provides materials
so the student can make costumes during group activity time. Students are also encouraged to
take their projects home and parents can help them in creating costumes. The school counselor
will assist each student in deciding the best way of demonstrating characteristics common to a
given career. For example: A police officer is dressed in blue with a badge, a nurse dressed in
white, and a business person dressed in a suit and carrying a brief case. The student is given the
opportunity to discuss five characteristics about the role they have selected to play. The school
counselor offers positive self-esteem reinforcement throughout this activity. After each student
lists their five characteristics, the class discusses school subjects that are important to that job.
During the second guidance lesson, students will complete a Subjects Matters worksheet
(Appendix B). Counselor will list school subjects on the board (math, science, language arts,
music, and physical education). Divide the students into small groups. Have them brainstorm
occupations under each subject. They may use the occupations from the Subjects Matter
worksheet. Have one student from each group write their list on the board. Review the lists on
the board. Discuss how they think the subject matter is used in each occupation. What would
happen if a person in each occupation didnt have a background to a relevant subject matter?
Reinforce the connection between school subjects and work. What the students are learning will
help in the future, as well as now.

Objective: Students will be able to identify three skills they have and indicate which occupations
are compatible with those attributes.
Method: It is proposed that fourth grade students will be given an interest assessment called
Careers for Me II. The assessment will be administered by the school counselor. The
assessment can be ordered from http://www.careerkids.com/product-WCM25.html
It is a paper and pencil assessment used to encourage students to think about their interests to
guide them towards careers. Using the Careers to Me II will allow students to:
 Learn more about themselves and their personal interests
 Gain an awareness of various new jobs
 Be exposed to the concept of school-to-work
 Have an understanding of how jobs can be grouped into clusters
 Be encouraged to research careers which fit their interests
 Start the process of how they fit in with the world of work
The assessment will allow the students to begin the career awareness and preparation process in a
non-stressful and insightful manner. A worksheet at the end of the booklet helps the student
choose career titles to explore further and guides the student through the research process.
Optional activities (word search, crossword puzzle) are also included.

Each 5th grade student will visit the computer lab every other week for 45 minutes for six weeks
to career search. Students will be taught how to access the schools career site. Students will
look up a career and topics related to the career. They will answer the following questions:
1. What training or education is needed to get this job?
2. What are the main duties of the job?
3. Do you work with things, ideas, or people?
4. What school subjects help on the job?
5. What are two related jobs?
An appropriate goal of school counselors is to enhance students knowledge of the
scope of career choices, and to encourage students not to eliminate careers prematurely, or limit
vocational preparation (Auger, Blackhurst, & Herting-Wahl, 2003). Providing specific
information about the vocational training required for jobs is developmentally appropriate and
necessary for elementary students to form realistic educational and occupational goals
(Auger et al., 2003).

Objective: Student will learn to connect interest to activities

Method: It is proposed that the school counselor will provide a fourth grade skills curriculum as
a follow up to the interest assessment. The counselor will present the curriculum one day weekly
for six weeks in the students Language Arts class. The sessions will last 40 minutes. The
curriculum will include interactive career exploration games from Careers for Me II, group
activities, role play, and books. One of the group activities is the following guidance curriculum.
The counselor will have the students cut pictures out of magazines of people in engaging
in activities that they enjoy. The students will then share their pictures with the class and explain
what the activity is and why they like it. The student should use the following phrase: What I
find interesting about this activity is Discuss with the class all of the interests that each
student chose. Have the students identify which activities they liked and why they found the
activity interesting. Ask the students if there were any activities that they didnt like and why they
didnt like the activity.
Closure: Emphasize to the students that there is no right or wrong associated with the
dislikes and likes expressed by each student. What is really important that each student knows
what they find interesting or not. Discuss with the students that interests can be linked to future
jobs. Encouraging students to explore activities allows the student to process what they learn
about themselves as a result of exploratory activities, and it gives the student a sense of what may
be possible (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2009).

Objective: Students will recognize that gender or race/ethnicity is not relevant to occupational
choices.

Method: All 3-5th grade students will participate in a yearly Career Day. More than 30
presenters are given 15 minutes to talk about their career, complete with props. It is done on a
revolving schedule, so the students can learn about more than six different occupations during the
event. Presenters are chosen who represent occupations in a variety of ethnic and culture
diversities, and those who are in non stereotyped gender occupations. After the initial
presentation, the speakers will respond to questions from the students. Career Day exposes the
students to the world of career options.

Budget
The stakeholders are the school administration and school board, faculty and staff, the
parents/guardians of the students, community, and the students themselves. The people who are
investing their time and efforts would include the counselors, school administrators and faculty,
parents, and community members. All of the stakeholders, except for the students, will need to be
informed of the proposed costs.

Career Budget

Revenue:
Lions Club Grant

$500.00

Target Corporation Grant

$500.00

Wal-Mart Grant

$600.00

Expenses:
Interest Assessments

$326.25

Copies

$75.00

Postage

$400.00

Career related software for use in computer lab

$150.00

Career Day- expenses related to planning, advertising,

$400.00

refreshments, and sponsoring

Evaluation surveys

$75.00

DVD

$99.00

Promotion

Power point to promote career development model to staff, faculty, and students

Daily Announcements

Parent Letter

Brochure

Email

Career Bulletin

Staff meetings

Parent Information night (Talk about the new career development initiative)

Career website
Promotion will begin in the spring of the previous year by formulating the new
Career Development Model Committee, and meeting to get a plan of action. A committee
member will start by designing a brochure to publicize how the new Career Development
Model will help the students and the school. Counselor will develop a presentation to
during administration and school board meetings, principals and faculty to receive
feedback and gain support.

Evaluation
The stakeholders are the school board, administration, teachers, parents, students, and
community members. These stakeholders will each benefit from the program in a different
manner. In order to evaluate that desired outcomes have been met, the following have been
broken down for each stakeholder:

Students:
Students require the development of attitudes, knowledge, and skills to fully participate in
the career counseling program. Students will be empowered to achieve academic success,
personal-social growth and career exploration. Furthermore, students will be prepared with the
necessary skills and knowledge to be successful members of society.
Parents:
Parents require that their children are receiving a comprehensive career counseling
program. Parents need to be actively included in their childrens progress, learning and career
goals.
School members: (faculty, administrators, school district, school board):
School members require collaboration and participation of all stakeholders involved. Also,
school members require the alignment of the career counseling program to that of the schools
academic mission. Lastly, measurable results and accountability of the program is required.

Community members:
The community requires involvement in the development and implementation of the career
counseling program.
Methods of Evaluation include:
1. Pre/post questionnaire given to students after completing their Career Development Model
and meeting the objective.
2. Faculty/staff questionnaire: Asking for observations and comments how the program worked
for their students. What differences did they see in the students as pertained to the objectives?
What did the faculty/staff like and dislike about the model?
3. Pre/post parent questionnaire: Asking for observations and comments.
4. Counselor questionnaire: Observations and comments

Once the questionnaires have been analyzed, a summary of the results, including
statistics, will be given to all stakeholders involved in this program. Findings will also be put on
the counselors website and in the school newsletter.

Appendix

References
Auger, R., Blackhurst, A., and Herting-Wahl, K. (2003). Childrens perception of vocational
preparation requirements. Professional School Counseling, 12, 58-67.
Auger, R, Blackhurst, A., and Herting-Wahl, K. (2005). The development of elementary-aged
childrens career aspirations and expectations. Professional School Counseling, 4,
322-329.
Gottfredson, (1981). Circumscription and compromise: A developmental theory of
occupational aspirations. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 28, 545-579.
Mannix, D. (1992). Life skills activities for special children. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
Niles, S. and Harris-Bowlsbey, J. (2009). Career development interventions in the 21st
century. 3rd ed. Pearson, Upper Saddle River, N.J.