Link college and career advising structures

How will the strategy limit significant recurring costs while ensuring long-term sustainability?

There are ongoing costs associated with scaling high-quality career advising systems. However, there are also upfront investments that can pay dividends, including effective (on-demand) professional development courses, standing up certification programs for counselors that want to be certified as “career coaches” (or equivalent) and developing district- or school-wide professional learning communities anchored around ICAPs. The work on the front end should focus on building capacity with regards to knowledge and skills (e..g, around how to best support learners’ career development, engaging in career-connected conversations, connect learners with industry partners, use labor market information, etc.) and building capacity within schools beyond school counselors to support these efforts. Taking the time to broker partnerships with postsecondary and industry partners may also open up potential cost-sharing models for states and districts that want to stand up new positions, such as career coaches.

What is the anticipated timeline for launching the strategy?

3-6 MONTHS

States, districts and schools can begin this work on day 1, depending on where they want to lean in. Over 30 states already have ICAPs or equivalent in place. To ensure those are fully leveraged to support college and career advising, districts and schools can convene practitioners, learners and other stakeholders to take stock of current efforts and where there are gaps. Districts can embed ICAPs into their graduation requirements (like Chicago Public Schools) as a signal this is a priority and part of the culture. Districts should identify the lead a the district, as well as school leads to own this work and the overall strategy.

6-12 MONTHS

There are existing PD opportunities and modular courses, but states and districts can assume approximately six months to develop or build new opportunities. Same with web-based tools and resources. In the same time period, PLCs can be established at the district or local level to begin the practice of sharing responsibility for college and career advising across counselors, practitioners and administrators.

What internal and/or external capacity (e.g. personnel, infrastructure, training, etc.) is needed to launch the strategy? To monitor and sustain it?

Launch

• District and school leads are identified and given the capacity to lead this work

• Ongoing stakeholder engagement to understand current capacity and gaps and how supports are working

• Coordination of professional development opportunities and access

• Updating communications and resources around ICAP (if in place in state or district)

• Ongoing engagement of industry, postsecondary and community partners to understand what role they do and can play

Monitor and Sustain

• Tracking of ICAP-related activities and impact on learners’ outcomes

• Fidelity of implementation of ICAP as a process (rather than a set of discrete activities) at the school level

• Maintenance of professional learning communities

• Ongoing professional development

• Recruitment/onboarding/support of career coaches

• Celebration and sharing of best practices within and across schools and districts

• Continued engagement of stakeholders and key partners

What are the first 3-5 steps to take to implement the strategy?

1. Identify where the greatest gaps in capacity in providing college and career advising at scale (resources, information, tools, etc.)

2. Convene professional learning communities, with ICAPs as the anchor of those discussions

3. Invest in the necessarily professional development to attend to gaps in knowledge and skills among counselors and other implicated staff and partners

What are potential challenges for implementing the strategy?

1. Challenge: Limited capacity within current counseling professionals and other domains of advising take priority

Solution: Develop professional learning communities, engage industry and other community partners and leverage ASCA’s use of time template to better evaluate where time is being spent

Assign a lead at both the district and individual school levels to own and drive the overall strategy

2. Challenge: Limited capacity to develop effective professional development

Solution: Consider off-the-shelf options

Collaborate with other districts

Petition state to develop statewide PD and/or courses

3. Challenge: Concern about long-term costs associated with adding new positions

Solution: Consider braiding Perkins, ESSA Title IV and WIOA Title I funding for new positions and/or pooling resources with other districts and/or postsecondary institutions

What are models of schools, districts, and/or organizations that are successfully implementing this strategy?

• Chicago Public Schools’ Learn.Plan.Succeed

• Arkansas’ Career Coach program

• Colorado’s Postsecondary and Workforce Ready Playbook and Meaningful Career Conversations resources

What are some additional resources for districts/states interested in implementing this strategy?

• Promoting Quality Individualized Learning Plans Throughout the Lifespan

• Wisconsin has a wide array of resources for locals to support the implementation of their Academic and Career Plan: https://dpi.wi.gov/acp

• Colorado has a searchable database of processes, resources and tools that schools and districts have submitted around their ICAP: https://www.cde.state.co.us/postsecondary/pwrpractices

• ASCA’s Career Conversation Starters have been used in schools, districts and states across the country (and Colorado has further built on these resources)

• ASCA’s use of time assessment tool allows counselors to better track - and communicate - where they are spending their time.

• ESG’s Aligned Advising microsite provides a series of recommendations for district, state, and higher education leaders to connect college and career advising.