The Middle School Student's Guide to Ruling the World!

Check out this website: http://www.middleschoolguide.com for information about a workbook, called The Middle School Student's Guide to Ruling the World!  The workbook is about teaching time management and organizational skills to middle school students.  An instructor's guide is also available for purchase.

Concurrent Courses initiative: Pathways to College and Careers

Concurrent Courses initiative: Pathways to College and Careers

This site was created to look at dual enrollment programs to enhance college and career pathways for low-income students.

www.concurrentcourses.org

The Campaign for College Opportunity Contest

The Campaign for College Opportunity annually sponsors the "Save Me a Spot in College" scholarship contest.  All California 6th-12th grade students are eligible.  Prizes are awarded for middle school and high school levels. Students may submit a written word, poster, or TV ad answering the contest question: 

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Resources from California Career Resource Network (CalCRN)

Free online assessment tools, middle school resources, special education resources

CalCRN’s suite of resources is currently in use by both middle and high school educators (plus adult school and workforce programs) and with special education students and English learners. A site is pending as a means for educator-to-educator sharing of resources that are developed for working with various student populations.

• The basic starting point to explore CalCRN’s resources is the newly revised web site at www.californiacareers.info
• CalCRN’s primary free online career exploration tool is the California CareerZone (www.CACareerZone.org) with three assessments that link into the database of 900 occupations student can generate initial ideas about occupations that match their interests and work values. (free workbook pdf online at www.californiacareers.info/careerzone)
• California Reality Check (www.CaliforniaRealityCheck.org) is an online budgeting activity that allows students to build and adult work/life budget and then connect that budget to potential education level and career choices.
• The California Career Planning Guide is a hard copy tool that guides students through the process s of creating a Career Action Plan (also online as a free pdf at www.californiacareers.info/ccpg).
• The Real Game California is a classroom-based curriculum that uses a simulation game approach to engage students in discovering the importance of education and life-long learning while they explore potential career options. (www.californiacareers.info)

The Federal Government’s free online career exploration resource, Career Voyages (www.careervoyages.gov/ ), provides information on high growth, in-demand occupations and the skills and education needed to attain those jobs.

The Roadtrip Nation (www.roadtripnation.com) web site contains interviews recorded by current/recent college students seeking to discover how others found their passion in life. The California Department of Education is currently partnering with RTN to develop a high school Roadtrip Nation Experience.

Labor Market Trends

The California Employment Development Department’s Labor Market Information Division’s (LMID) Labor Market Info web site (www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/) provides a wealth of labor market reports and projections, including a new section devoted to “Green” careers.

Educational Options, Training Programs & Trade Schools

California Colleges.edu (www.californiacolleges.edu) provides Information about more than 200 colleges (public and private) in California.

The US College Navigator web site (http://collegenavigator.ed.gov) has information about nearly 7,000 postsecondary institutions in the United States.

The LMID Training and Apprenticeships page (http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/?pageid=1013)  provides a wealth of labor market Dept Consumer affairs

What are other counselors/educators using

The California Counselor Leadership Network’s Support Personnel Accountability Report Cards (SPARC ) (http://www.sparconline.net) requires counselors to identify the resources they are using to help their students with Academic, Career, and Personal/Social issues. In addition, the School Guides site (http://www.schoolguides.org) provides resources for middle and high school counselors, students, parents and teachers.

Military Careers

The US Department of Defense has a variety of web sites devoted to helping students explore career in the military (http://www.careersinthemilitary.com &  http://www.todaysmilitary.com) in addition www.asvabprogram.com provides information about this career exploration tool that is free to schools.