Gone are the days when educators at any grade level could simply focus on preparing students for the following year. The old adage of the fourth grade teachers telling their students that they’re preparing them for fifth grade just doesn’t work anymore. Rightfully so, many students aren’t motivated by what it means to be prepared for next school year. In fact, we’re not seeing a decrease in the number of students asking the question: “why are we learning this?” We’re seeing an increase in the number of students, families, and industry leaders who question the relevance of the content that students learn in K-12 systems. At the middle level, this means that we must help students think about their postsecondary experiences rather than merely focusing on their next steps with high school. Although this seems like a major shift, there are a few simple steps that middle level educators can take to increase the focus on students’ future goals after graduation from high school. 

Taking Assessments

One of the most practical measures toward becoming a postsecondary focused middle school is to have students take assessments in grades 6, 7, and 8 that help them understand more about themselves. Quality assessments can be a quick way for students to uncover their interests, values, and intelligences as well as their personality, skills, and strengths. Analyzing this type of data can provide students with key insights into who they are and who they want to become. For example, a student's interest profiler results might show that they’re more “investigative” than “enterprising.” This data might reveal that they like to spend time with thoughts and ideas rather than taking action right away. When students have these understandings, not only can they play to their strengths, they can compensate in some ways–like taking action even when that’s not their instinct–for their natural tendencies. The best practice for assessments is when students can repeat the assessments in different grade levels and when the data comes together in one system so that it can be synthesized over time. Robust data platforms will also allow students to move from their assessment results to career matches and other searchable information to support their postsecondary goals.  

Making Career Plans

Some middle schools are already requiring students to have a draft career plan before entering into high school. When students have an opportunity to learn about themselves through assessments and the ability to search jobs that interest them, they can make informed decisions about possible future careers. Plans can be based on interest, local demand, lifestyle choices, and more. Having a career plan at the middle level is critical for choices that students make for their academic plan in high school, especially early on in grades 9 and 10. Without an understanding of the type of job they might pursue, students can potentially miss out on courses and experiences in high school that are either prerequisites for a degree program or certificate that matches their postsecondary goals. For example, a student might want to pursue a career in engineering; they’ll need to take any available course work in engineering but also build a four-year academic plan in mathematics that gets them to the highest level of math possible. This is important so that they have a competitive transcript and so that they’re prepared to study engineering. Having a career plan in middle school provides a clear path in high school and beyond, and in some cases it helps to provide students with experiences that push them in a different direction than they originally imagined–saving them time and money after graduation. 

Exploring Pathways

Of course, many high school students will have to pick a pathway or career cluster at the start of the ninth grade or shortly thereafter, but exploring pathways in middle school makes the selection process much easier. Through their career planning process, students can research and create lists of possible jobs. By doing so, they can learn about work activities and related careers, searching and investigating jobs and pathways that they might not have otherwise known about or considered. For example, a student might know that they want to be in the medical field and through exploration find out that a nurse practitioner is a good match in terms of their skills and interests and provides a sizable salary in the region where they want to live and work as an adult. This type of exploration helps students to make decisions about the courses and experiences they want to have in high school versus getting to high school uninformed and having to make these decisions without exposure and within a compressed timeline, which has unfortunate consequences in terms of being on the right track for postsecondary success. 

Conclusion 

Although these three shifts at the middle level are not complicated, we know that counselors and school leaders aren’t just going to snap their fingers and make them happen tomorrow. It takes intention and planning. To become a postsecondary-focused middle school, educators need to develop and communicate a vision for their students. The school community needs to know what changes we’re going to make and why they’re so important for learners. That said, middle schools with a postsecondary mindset typically also see other indicators of school success increase. When students and staff are excited about students’ passions after high school, they often see an increase in academic and extracurricular engagement at the middle level. 

If you want to see a platform that supports the ability for middle school students to explore careers and create plans, schedule a demo today.