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Citrus College supported the production of “Success in the New Economy” to help a broader audience begin to understand preparation today for tomorrow’s labor market realities. The end result is a compelling case for students to explore career choices early, make informed decisions when declaring their college education goal, and to consider technical skill acquisition, real-world application and academics (career technical programs) in tandem with a classic education. This balanced approach to life and learning results in a well-educated and employed workforce.

Success in the New Economy

Goal: Every grade, every year, every theme code for a well rounded exposure to the World of Work.

If the district expectation is to explore Level 1 and Level 2 this year, then why is there such a push during our GLO collaborations for WoW?

GLO time for classroom teachers has been designed to provide essential understanding of WOW and Presentation Literacy this year. In order to Beta test levels 1 and 2, we felt teachers needed support through out the year on both the content and how best to implement these initiatives into your daily instruction. WOW and Presentation Literacy are wrap around contexts for what is already happening in our classrooms. Our goal is to join the discussion with your grade level teams on where these both will "live" in your instruction. So ELA, Math, Science and ELD will drive the conversations in the coming cycles.

State of California has minimal career development standards. Missouri Department of Education standards are identified on each on the Kit contents pages.

Career Exploration Standards

...Despite increased attention to prevention (Heppner, 2000) and a growing involvement in school-to-work initiatives (e.g., Fouad, 1997; Worthington & Juntunen, 1997), research and developmentally based prevention efforts aimed at elementary youth are seriously lacking (Lenhardt & Young, 2001; Whiston & Sexton, 1998). Research suggests that students who drop out of school at age 16 have psychologically disengaged from school as early as Grade 3 (McWhirter, McWhirter, McWhirter, & McWhirter, 1998). Moreover, sixth-through-ninth-grade children have demonstrated very little understanding of how school relates to the real world and seem to have little to no awareness of the skills and knowledge needed for success in the future (Johnson, 2000). 

...Vondracek and Kirchner (1974) found that girls ages 3 to 6 years undergo occupational foreclosure at a younger age than do boys.

Complete article.

Linda Gottfredson theory of Circumscription and compromise (1981), attempts to describe how career choice develops in young people. Many developmental theories focus on how an individual’s self concept develops with age. Circumscription and Compromise also focuses on the development of an individual’s view of the occupational choices available. The theory assumes that we build a cognitive map of occupations by picking up occupational stereotypes from those around us. Occupations are placed on this map using only a small number of dimensions: sex-type, prestige level and field of work. As young people build this map, they begin to decide which occupations are acceptable and which are unacceptable — those which fit with their own developing self concept and those which do not.

More on Gottfredson's Theory

Career and College Readiness Counseling in P-12 Schools: The Nature of Play and Learning 

Future Work: Cook Media is creating videos using real people.

Puppets were a gift originally from Educators Cooperative, then in August Eddywhere purchased more puppets as gifts for the TK-1st grade teachers.

Why puppets? Milton Erickson's play therapy

Why aren't the puppets aligned to the jobs?
TK - Did not have work activities
There were no puppets available for Baker, Civil Engineer, Florist, or Technical Writer.

Consider using the puppets for imaginary play or have students make puppets to supplement the work activities without puppets. 
Thank you for your understanding and happy play.

Two Reasons:

1: Linda Gottfredson theory of Circumscription and compromise (1981), attempts to describe how career choice develops in young people. Many developmental theories focus on how an individual’s self concept develops with age. Circumscription and Compromise also focuses on the development of an individual’s view of the occupational choices available. The theory assumes that we build a cognitive map of occupations by picking up occupational stereotypes from those around us. Occupations are placed on this map using only a small number of dimensions: sex-type, prestige level and field of work. As young people build this map, they begin to decide which occupations are acceptable and which are unacceptable — those which fit with their own developing self concept and those which do not.

More on Gottfredson's Theory

2: Finding images that are Creative Commons Zero or Public Domain that mirror the Cajon Valley Union School District's student demographics has been difficult. Career gender stereotypes is the norm.

 Solutions: Cook Media will take still images when out in the field. Crowd Source images from teachers in Cajon Valley. 

Cajon Valley Union School District is combing known best practices and evidence-based approaches and providing all students with the same opportunities. While there are examples of some schools and programs doing some of these practices, there are not many system wide, integrated models. The vision of this initiative is that all students will graduate will a strong knowledge of themselves and a broad exposure to career and work options. They will be able to set goals, explore opportunities, and envision a future of possibilities.

Yes, although we are creating a playlist of materials, we seek the collaboration and partnership with teachers across the district to develop and co-create resources to support classroom integration.

No, WOW is a wrap around context for what is already happening in our classrooms. If we isolate the World of Work as a separate class then we miss the point. The World of Work seeks to provide materials and support to provide relevance in the classroom for students and teachers.

Self-knowledge and self-awareness: conscious examination of personal strengths, interests and values World of Work exposure and hands on learning: presentation and integration of information and experiences. The ability to draw relationships between self-awareness and the changing world of work will help students make better choices. Making connections between who we are and what we like to do helps us set goals, prioritize, and persevere.

Increasing student engagement, promoting higher self-esteem and improving social adjustment.

Better prepare students for the changing workplace by increasing their understanding of the relationship between education and employment and by starting to develop their career decision-making skills.

Support educational excellence by increasing motivation and improving academic achievement.

Enhance family and community involvement by helping parents and concerned adults understand how they can assist their children with career planning.

Develop long-term partnerships with business community to ensure we are developing a future talent pipeline to ensure local and regional businesses success.

To enhance our community by ensuring all children are college and career ready Provide exposure to adults that offer exposure to working role models.

Comprehensive. Addressing the full range of career development needs faced by adolescents rather than isolated deficiencies (i.e, lack of information or lack of skills), with special recognition of the acute needs of the disadvantaged.

Developmental. Offering activities and experiences that are age and stage appropriate, beginning early and geared specifically toward the unique needs of youth.

Competency-Based. Prioritizing exploration and understanding of strengths, Interests and values, self-concept, values and attitudes.

Integrated. Connecting the link between education and work, both conceptually and in actual practice, making the dynamic interrelationship between the two relevant.

Experiential. Integrating experiences that simulate the real workplace environment.

There are five complementary theories working as the foundation for the WOW movement; Social Cognitive Career Theory, Holland Theory, Work Adjustment Theory, Strengths Theory and Super’s Life Span Theory.

To provide an education with relevance.

A playlist of activities (self-exploration, information gathering, videos, simulations, hands-on experience, reflection and decision-making components) rather than one-shot approaches. WOW competencies are developed as part of the existing educational experience. They are “built in” rather than “added on.” Teachers can provide WOW guidance during curricular components of their daily lessons. Activities are tailored to the age of students.

Biz Town, Mystery Science, Career Days, TED-Ed etc.

Specialists in guidance and counseling argue that “there should be some form of career development occurring somewhere everyday,” beginning no later than the middle grades. Research also affirms that the earlier students learn about their strengths, interests, and values, the better career choices they will make.

One key goal of the WOW is to help parents and educators provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to develop realistic ideas of where they fit into the world so they can make appropriate decisions to carry out their future educational and career plans.

Career development is considered an integral part of adolescent development. It is tightly linked to issues of self-reflection, self-evaluation, self-development and identity formation (Super, 1976). Indeed, career development is generally conceived as “a lifelong process through which individuals come to understand themselves as they relate to the world of work and their role in it”

Yes, a focus of WOW is to create the connection between education and employment. The playlist of materials help students understand the relationships between their current status, their occupational futures and their educational needs. By including business partners we can link education, knowledge and skills to economic, personal and social rewards.