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Week 4- Application Assignment: Career Intervention Resource Library

Michele Grimes
CNDV 5323_C16_AP3
Lamar University

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Introduction-Resource Library
The purpose of this resource library is to serve as a collection of resources that are
specific to the populations that I will be providing career counseling. This will provide both
myself, my students, their parents, the staff and the community with needed resources for career
development education. This library will be helpful to those who are searching for information
and guidance by providing sources of activities and information including computer-based
systems, high quality printed materials and the most common sources of career data which are
web based. When choosing these resources it is important for counselors to keep in mind that it
should be accurate, at an appropriate academic level for the population. Care should be taken to
eliminate bias and stereotyping against disabilities or based on gender, age, race, social status
ethnicity or religion.
Target Population-Elementary Students
Potential Needs:
At this age, students need exposure to a broad range of occupational environments in
career development interventions. Not only exposure to traditional roles, but eliminating
nontraditional roles and patterns. Students need their curiosity nurtured by proving the
opportunity to explore various roles and careers. Through fantasy and play, students can relate to
the various occupations. Self-knowledge, awareness of how to make decisions and how work
relates to the needs and functions of a society are some that guide what students need at the
elementary level.

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Elementary Resource 1:
Kids.gov
Resource Location:
http://kids.usa.gov/jobs/index.shtml
Resource Description:
This website has a variety of resources that are especially geared towards K-5th grades.
This site provides an opportunity to get children searching online and
exploring possible future careers. Selecting on the job links brings the child
to various government related resources including the National Park Service,
Smithsonian National Zoo, Food and Drug Administration, and NASA. These
sites are interactive and engaging including videos from actual people who
work in the field.
How to access:
Online website
How to use with elementary students:
Younger students will need to be shown how to use this website and guided
to the various options that it provides. Older students can self-navigate and
explore.

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Resource Critique:
I believe this website would be a good source for online activities to
use with this population. It is an age-appropriate, valuable resource as it has
ideas for elementary students, middle school students. It also provides
videos and career information for parents along with lesson plans and
activities for teachers to utilize for career development curriculum planning.
Elementary Resource 2:
K-12 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Location:
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/
Description:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has a very detailed online resource for exploring career and
finding the occupational outlook. This site provides a general overview of different careers
based on a variety of interests. Once selected on a category, the child can select from several
possible careers to learn more about. Each career lists information about what the job is like,
skills they will need, how to prepare for the job, how much the job pays on average, job growth
(or decline), the future of the career, other related careers, and links to find out even more about
the specific career.
How to Access Resource:
Online website

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Critique:
This site is an easy way for students to discover and learn about various career options. This
is an interactive site and can keep the students engaged as they begin to learn about various
career choices.
Elementary School Aisle Resource 3:
Career Aisle
Resource Location:
http://knowitall.scetv.org/careeraisle/students/elementary/index.cfm
How to Access Resource:
Online website
Description:
This website provides elementary students and their parents a place to watch career videos,
teachers to have a resource of lesson plans, games and a place that provides not only career
information but college planning. The career opportunities link provides the careers organized in
clusters.
Critique:
This site is versatile giving various groups of learners an opportunity to explore their interests
and occupations. It is easy to access and easy to navigate the various links. It is well organized
showing career clusters. It does not provide the lists of skills needed for these jobs.

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Target Population-Middle School Students

Potential Needs:
Within the years of middle school, career intervention programs provide these students with a
broad based exploration of occupations and help to gain awareness of the work world as they
become more aware and exposed to a cluster of occupations. Motivation is key at this time as
this is when students become more aware of the relationship between school performance and
future plans for higher education and careers. Studies have shown that there is a need for career
education and development for middle school students which includes various issues that may
viewed as barriers for career opportunities. Some issues that need to be addressed are sex-role
stereotypes, including a narrow minded view of seeing occupations as gender specific. Other
issues needing to be addressed are those at- risk students who have very little motivation and
interest for future career plans along with limited awareness of the world of work.
Middle School Resource 1:
Career Cruising
Resource Location:
http://public.careercruising.com/us/en
How to Access Resource:
Internet website-requires log in for both student and parent. Separate log in site for parents:
https://www.careercruising.com/parent/
Description:

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This a comprehensive career program at all secondary campuses in my district. This is an
online career development journal/portfolio that is initiated during middle school and can be
continued until high school graduation. This can track students progress as they work on district
academic requirements. This portfolio can be personalized. This program has a learning style
inventory, gives strategies on ways students can retain information and shows how students
skills and abilities relate to their career options. This program even has resources to help students
find ways to pay for college. There are also resources for teachers, counselors and advisors
providing activities that are ready to use in the classroom.
Critique:
This program is very extensive and can provide much valuable information to a wide variety
of populations. Not only is a tool for students, but parents can also create a log in to track their
child along with gain new career/financial aid information. This program is used districtwide as
way to monitor long term for both the school and district level.
Middle School Resource 2:
Achieve Texas
Resource Location:
http://achievetexas.org/
How to Access Resource:
Online website
Description:

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Achieve Texas is designed to help students (and their parents) make wise education choices.
It is based on the belief that the curricula of the 21st century should combine rigorous academics
with relevant career education. When schools integrate academic and technical education,
students can see the usefulness of what they are learning. The system also facilitates a seamless
transition from secondary to postsecondary opportunities. Occupations are organized with the
sixteen career clusters groups.
Critique:
I find this resource valuable as this is a Texas resource which is geared to the populations
pertaining to state resources. The website is based on the criteria from the Texas Education
Agency. Achieve Texas is good for all students, whether from large or small districts. It
embraces the idea that connecting what a student learns in school today with what he or she
wants to do for a living tomorrow increases motivation to learn. These materials can also be
ordered in Spanish which will meet the needs of multicultural students.
Middle School Resource 3:
Kuder Career Search with Person Match
Resource Location:
http://www.kuder.com/
How to Access Resource:
Online website
Description:

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Kuder Career Search with Person Match is based on the idea that a given occupation may
include many kinds of people with different paths into their careers and diverse ways to carry out
their work. The individuals data is used to provide brief biographical sketches of people whose
interests are most similar to those of the assessment-taker.
Critique:
The method of the Kuder Career Search with Person Match gives the student a different
approach to career interest discovery. Students can have their own results and be able to interpret
them based on the clusters that this assessment provides. Student then have their career cluster
information that can be used as a guide for further exploration.
Target Population-High Schools
Potential Needs of this population
For high school students, the focus of career development and intervention includes: selfknowledge, building skills for engaging in educational and occupational exploration and to
strengthen skills to make decisions. Students need to develop an awareness to post-secondary
options. Counselors also can foster parent awareness and involvement by providing information
of career development tasks and challenges that their children are facing at this stage of their
education.
High School Resource 1:
Reality Check
Location of resource:
http://www.texasrealitycheck.com/

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Description:
This resource is used by my district to give students an understanding of how much money
they will need to earn in the future; how much certain occupations pay; what training and
education is required for various jobs. Some of these activities will help students gain a better
understanding of what types of careers are needed for their ideal way of living. This site gives
students a goal of what type of income they can strive to make along with details about
occupations.
How to access resource:
Online website
Critique:
This is one of the chosen sites that my district uses to help students become aware of the
relationship between financial needs and occupational choices. It is different from other career
exploration websites as students can prioritize their choices based on their financial expectations.
I can see this as a good motivator for students to perform well in high school as they make
personal post-secondary career/educational goals. I think this can be valuable information to help
students gain insight to the relationship between financial and occupational desires.
High School Resource 2:
Occupation Outlook Handbook
Resource Location:
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/
How to Access Resource:

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Internet website
Description:
This is a free government resource from the United States Department of Labor which covers
hundreds of occupations and describes What They Do, Work Environment, How to Become One,
Pay, and more. Each profile also includes BLS employment projections for the 201020 decade.
Critique:
This is an excellent resource for providing career profiles for job seekers considering to stay
within the same occupation or industry for re-employment. This online database that features
334 occupational profiles by projected number of new jobs, projected growth rate, on-the-job
training and recommended certifications, entry-level education, and median pay.
High School Resource 3:
The Big Book of Colleges (College Prowler)
Resource Location:
Local library, school resource library
How to Access Resource:
Find it in public or school library, can order this online
Description:
This is a comprehensive and updated book full of information about colleges. Each
school's overview is student-written and provides its own unique dialogue to
help you discover if the college is right for you. It is written with the colleges
organized based on criteria such as interest, size and selectivity.

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Critique:
I think it is important to use printed resources along with web based sites to use as resources.
This book gives students an organized printed resource that comes from the perspective of
college students.
High School Resource 4:
AVAB Career Exploration
Resource Location:
http://www.asvabprogram.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=overview.main
How to access: website
Description:
This AVAB program is nationally-normed, multi-aptitude test battery that has been provided
to high schools and post-secondary schools since 1968. It is designed to encourage students to
increase their level of self-knowledge and to understand how that information could be linked to
civilian and military occupational characteristics. The ASVAB Program recently was re-designed
to be helpful to virtually all students, whether they are planning on immediate employment after
high school in civilian or military occupations, or further education at a university, community
college, or vocational institution. This aptitude test provides scores to help students to get a good
sense of their verbal, math, and science and technical skills compared to other students in the
same grade.

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Critique:
I like the different perspective that this program provides. AVAB gives students career
information who may not be planning on attending a university. The program gives information
based on their knowledge and skills for future planning. It provides information to those who
may be attending a community college, vocational school or entering the military.
High School Resource 4:
TGs Adventures in Education
Resource Location:
http://www.aie.org/
How to Access Resource:
Online website
Description:
This website is geared for students preparation for college designed for students to help them
achieve their higher education goals. The categories are: planning for college, paying for college,
finding a job and managing your money. This site can provide motivation for individuals to
discover and pursue educational opportunities.
Critique:

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This site is full of details of good information to help students prepare for higher education.
It is easy to navigate throughout the site. It stays updated with current information. It provides email updates to keep parents and counselors informed of changes. This content is available in
Spanish. It also provides a network for counselors which provides needed information including
deadlines, admission requirements and financial aid resources.
Article Review
21st Century Career Planning
One article that relates to career counseling for the 21st century explores the strategies of
retrieving information in the informational age. Hoyt and Maxey (2001) explain that todays
society calls for almost all high school students who are to leave school need to secure some
form of post-secondary education if they hope to gain access to and participate in the primary
labor market. Hoyt and Maxey (2001) explain their finding of their study reveal that even though
post-secondary career planning is important, it seems unlikely that most parents and most
school counselors will soon abandon their plans for sending recent high school graduates to a
four-year college. Data suggests that neither the expected oversupply of four-year College
graduates in the labor market nor the fact that only about fifty percent of those enrolling in
college can be expected to receive a bachelors degree will cause this change. Hoyt and Maxey
(2001) suggest that there is a need for high quality postsecondary career-oriented education on
the part of almost all members of the labor force. It is stressed that more secondary school
leavers need to enroll in some kind of postsecondary educational program rather than seek
immediate employment in the secondary labor market. Hoyt and Maxey (2001) state,
professional counselors have serious responsibilities for helping make this happen. I do agree

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that the changes brought about by the emerging information-based occupational society clearly
call for increasingly close relationships between education and work. I do not agree that postsecondary education is a necessity for each student. Counselors need to determine students
desires and needs and guide them to the direction that is most suitable for their future success.

Middle School Career Readiness

Investigation into the career development needs for middle school students explored the
readiness typology of a population of eight graders. Akos, Konold and Niles (2004) explain that
researchers pay less attention to this population and the focus is more on high school students for
college/career preparation. There is an increased interest from parents who request more career
development activities for their middle school children. Considering that factors for career
development include curiosity, fantasy, identification with workers, gender stereotyping and race,
there is a strong need to provide career development activities for this population. Even though
middle school students are not developmentally ready to make career decisions, these students
need to be engaged in the career exploration process. Akos, Konold and Niles (2004) make an
important point stating Middle school students who are undecided and not engaged systemically
in the career development process are at risk for encountering career development tasks for
which they are not prepared. I agree with this statement that students need to be actively
engaged in the career development process. I do however think students still have time for selfdiscovery throughout their middle and high school years where they can use this time to
continuing their career development. The discovery through this study was that the highest need
for this population is self-knowledge. The data indicated that informational needs are more
important than career decision-making assistance. The findings also indicate that understanding a

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student's career decision-making readiness profile helps counselors identify specific
interventions and intervention strategies that may be most useful in fostering a student's career
development. I agree that students may progress in varied stages in regards to career
development. It is important for students to have experiences at this age in order to develop their
self-knowledge and be actively engaged in this exploration process as counselors keep their
developmental needs in mind.
High School Career Development
4.

Moore (2014) suggests that developmentally, most high school students are still not
mature enough to look past the near future and into the big picture without being forced
and they dont see high school as preparation for their future. They instead are focused on
the courses they have to pass and the credits they have to obtain in order to move on with
their lives. Counselors can approach students at this age to lead them to the realization
that high school is more than a hurdle. Moore (2014) suggest to organizing elective
courses by career clusters. Counselors can encourage them to take courses in any career
areas that they are even possibly considering as a method of narrowing down their career
choice. This may help them solidify their career decisions and give them exposure to the
types of courses they will take after high school to reach their career goals. Counselors
can also organize a high school curriculum for varying career areas. This could be sample
four-year plans for students interested in various career clusters. They can look at these
sample plans to help them lay out their own. Core classes can be included as they take
with the appropriate challenges as well as electives. This will benefit them in preparing
for their career selection. I think this will be a valuable resource for those students who
are ready to follow a path of curriculum that is geared for a specific career cluster.

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Student may or not want to stay on this path throughout their high school years, but it is
better for students to find their strengths and weaknesses at this time, than wait until
college to discover these.

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References
Akos, P., Konold, T., & Niles, S. (2004). A career readiness typology and typal
membership
in middle school. The Career Development Quarterly, 53, 53-66.
Hoyt, K. & Maxey, J. (2001). Career counseling in an informational age. The Career Planning
and Adult Development Journal (vol. 16, no. 3) San Jose, CA: Career Research and
Testing.
Moore, M. (2014, April 1). Helping students see high school as a stepping
stone into their
future. Retrieved from
http://ncda.org/aws/NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/87521/_PARENT/layout_de
tails_c
c/false