College & Career Planning

For parents, our suggested college/career focuses for K-5 are:

• Positive Habit Building

• Career Awareness

• Post-Secondary Awareness

• Monetary Planning

Positive Habit Building

The sooner you can help your child get used to positive school habits, the easier it will be for them to continue them as they gain independence.

• Bring them to school consistently and on time 

• Support them in getting homework done on time and in knowing what to do if they don't know what to do

• Give context learning- point out in the 'real world' when people are using the skills they are learning in class

• Help them practice how to create and follow a routine

• Work with them to detective 'problem solve' what to do when encountering difficulty. 

Studies show that students with above average attendance in the elementary and middle school years tend to maintain that trend into high school.  Those with lower than 90%, however, often do not improve their attendance and are more likely to score below the college benchmark on the ACT, limiting their college application options.

Career Awareness 

 In addition to building the reading, communication, and mathematical thinking skills needed for middle school, college and career readiness at the elementary level includes learning about and investigating the kinds of options they'll have in their future. 

What kind of jobs and careers are out there? How would somebody get that job? 

• Take time to point out different kinds of jobs that exist in the world around you.
  Yes, ice cream is delicious, and that's because someone out there has the job of inventing ice cream flavors!

Post-Secondary Awareness

• Build Awareness of what colleges and trade schools are. Talk about Colleges and Trade Schools as options in their future. 

  • Especially for first-generation students, more awareness about these options makes those pathways feel more open to kids. Talk to your child like they one day will be persuing a post-secondary school, even if family members have not explored them before. The more college or trade school is discussed casually in every day life, the more those pathways and opportunities feel open to them. 

Monetary Planning

As much as it may seem early, this is also a good time for parents to consider saving for post-secondary plans or to start thinking about how their child might pay for their education. Many banks offering savings plans for college. How much is being saved at the start is not as important as getting started, and building upon that savings as your child gets older. 

• CalKIDS

• https://www.savingforcollege.com/

You don't need to have your whole life planned out already in middle school, but now is when you should be starting to think about  

• what you care about/are passionate about

• what kind of things are interesting and engaging for you

Take time to understand yourself and what kind of jobs you would want to do. Are you someone who wants to work alone or with people? Would you rather work with your hands or solve complicated problems? Think about what you like doing, and think about what kind of jobs learning about what we care about, and developing good habits that we can use to make sure we are eligible for the life opportunities we want to have.

Continue to build your reading, writing, and math skills, as well as your positive habits like good attendance, study skills, and knowing how to self-advocate. This is also a good time to practice building rapport with teachers. Your relationships with your teachers in high school will have an impact on your ability to get into colleges.

Tracking and understanding your grade point average or GPA, should also become a focus. High school transcripts permanently record grades that will be used in applying to colleges and other postsecondary options. Middle school is the best time to learn how you learn so you can plan best for your own brain.