The Master Schedule and Career/College Curriculum

by Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D.

I don’t see why some counselors have been put in charge of building the master schedule. It’s not like we had a course on this in graduate school.

Still, it’s one of those things many of us have to deal with-- so, as we tell our students, it’s time to make lemonade on lemons. Here’s how you can advance your career and college counseling curriculum as you keep your boss happy by doing their job for them:

Design (then require) a career discovery class Old school answers to career exploration—requiring all girls to take Home Ec and all boys to take Shop—scream both sexism and limitation, since both classes only allow exploration of one course. Kids just don’t know what’s out there in the world of work, and even the best interest inventories measure what students like, not what they’re good at—not really the best way to find your way in the world of work.

The answer? A hands-on class where students work with a series of teachers and/or industry experts for a brief period of time (think 1-3 weeks), just long enough to get a sense of what the job entails, pays, offers for advancement, and requires them to learn. Not every career would get represented, but a mix of business, manufacturing, HVAC, social services, health care, applied engineering, and construction would be more than enough to help them make a strong first sorting.

If you were able to build a second version of this class into another grade level (think one in 10th grade and one in 11th), students could walk away with a strong real-life sense of what they could be doing, along with the results of a good aptitude test (is there anything better than ASVAB out there?), a strong resume, and good interview skills. Instructors of the course would have to build strong relationships with members of the local business community, who would serve as mentors and de facto teachers—but chances are there are forward-thinking educators more than ready to take on a new approach to this challenging topic.

Early College/ Dual Enrollment Good career exposure classes strain the logistics of the schedule; good college exposure classes strain the budget, since both options are paid for by the high school and/or the state. This is especially true for early college programs, where students not only take college-level classes as part of high school, but end up with some kind of credential—typically, a certificate or Associate’s degree—within one year of high school graduation. The best Early College programs have some kind of transfer agreement, so students can go on to college and earn a higher credential within 1-2 years of completing the early college program, something that’s easier for them to do, since they now understand what college will expect from them.

Dual enrollment courses offer the same opportunity to show students what a college classroom demands of them, without the promise of a credential at the end. The plus here is that students can choose what subject to study; the downside is the course may not transfer for college credit if they decide to pursue a different field of study.

Building these options into the master schedule may take more than a year’s time, especially if school money is involved in their creation. But research is starting to suggest the best way for students to understand what’s next for them is to try out what’s next (both college and career for all students) in high school—and these are the best options for them to do just that.