Career Development

Career Development

According to Chapter 4 of PA Title 22, it is mandatory in the state of Pennsylvania for all school districts to directly address career development in all students. These efforts are focused with the help of the PA Career Education and Work (CEW) Standards, which describe what students should know and be able to do at the end of grades 3, 5, 8, and 11, and focuses on these four areas:

• Career Awareness and Preparation

• Career Acquisition (Getting a Job)

• Career Retention and Advancement

• Entrepreneurship

The state requires that each of the four areas listed above is addressed in some way within each grade band (PK-3, 3-5, 6-8, 9-11), and that students are able to present at least two pieces of evidence that they have progressed through these areas in each grade level (i.e. two pieces in 9th grade, two pieces in 10th grade, etc.). Additional requirements exist at the Benchmarks for grades 5, 8, and 11:

• a minimum of 6 pieces of evidence must be collected between grades K-5

• a minimum of 6 pieces of evidence must be collected between grades 6-8, including an individualized career plan

• a minimum of 8 pieces of evidence must be collected between grades 9-11, including 2 pieces of evidence that demonstrate career plan implementation

To help meet these standards, Lakeland utilizes Smart Futures, an online career development platform. This platform also serves as a career portfolio, as any experience can be uploaded to the platform. All students are required to complete certain aspects each year, but students have access to the full platform at any time. They are strongly encouraged to utilize it on their own time, and collaborate with their counselors to help them develop their career goals. To learn more about the high school career development at each grade level, please visit the LHS Smart Futures website.

The primary goal of this career development programming is to help students develop career goals. As they enter 9th grade, students will ideally have a general understanding of what career pathway they would like to follow. This allows students to choose courses that are aligned with their goals. Grade level electives in this guide are broken down into five pathway options. An overview of the five career pathways can be found below. Some of our courses also require a strict progression through high school. Those program pathways are also described below.