Help Your Child Identify Interests Explore Careers and Develop Plans for the Future

1. Help Your ChildIdentify InterestsExplore CareersandDevelop Plans for the Future

2. Why Should You be Involved in your Child’s Education and Career Planning?

3. Why Parent Involvement? • Research shows that you have the greatest influence on your child’s career choices • As a parent, you have the best knowledge of your child’s interests and abilities • You have more interest than anyone else in your child’s well-being and success • Your child’s future is too important to be left to luck or chance

4. When Parents are Involved. . . Children have: • Higher grades and test scores • Higher graduation rates • Better attendance at school and get more homework done • Fewer placements in special education And: • Are more likely to enroll in postsecondary education • Show more positive attitudes and behavior Source: The Family is Crucial to Student Achievement, National Committee for Citizens in Education, 1994

5. Elementary Career Awareness In Elementary School Your Child Needs to: • Identify personal interests, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses • Describe how work at home and/or school relates to jobs in the community • Describe how work is important and attainable to all people • Demonstrate a positive attitude • Describe how personal beliefs and values affect decision making Source: American School Counselor Association

6. Middle School Career Exploration In Middle School Your Child Needs to: • Demonstrate effective skills in working with others • Show an appreciation for the similarities and differences among people • Describe individual skills and aptitudes required to fulfill roles • Identify strategies for managing personal finances • Describe skills needed in a variety of occupations • Demonstrate skills needed to obtain and keep a job Source: American School Counselor Association

7. High School Career Exploration In High School Your Child Needs to: • Understand how individual personality, abilities and interests relate to career goals • Demonstrate skills that can apply to a variety of occupations and changing work requirements • Understand how high school education relates to college majors, further training and/or entry into the job market • Be able to use a wide variety of career information resources Source: American School Counselor Association

8. Ask Your Child: What are your favorite school subjects? What extracurricular activities do you enjoy most? What are your favorite hobbies? What do you like to do with your friends? What special skills do you think you possess? What have you done that you are most proud of? What do you like to do with your free time? What interests you the most? Discuss Your Child’s Interests

9. Nurture Your Child’s Interests If your child has an interest in animals, he or she might like to: Elementary School • Feed and care for a family pet Middle School • Join a 4-H Club • Walk or care for a neighbor’s dog High School • Volunteer at a local veterinary clinic, animal shelter or zoo

10. Nurture Your Child’s Interests If your child has an interest in art, he or she might like to: Elementary School • Make birthday or holiday cards for relatives and friends Middle School • Create graphics for the school newsletter • Design invitations for a special event High School • Design a personal or school website

11. Nurture Your Child’s Interests If your child likes to help people, he or she might like to: Elementary School • Join a Girl Scout or Boy Scout club Middle School • Teach a younger child to read • Volunteer to read to nursing home residents High School • Be a summer or vacation camp counselor • Assist at a day care center

12. Nurture Your Child’s Interests If your child likes to build or repair things, he or she might like to: Elementary School • Use Lego's or Lincoln Logs to build things Middle School • Build a radio or computer from a kit • Take apart an old appliance and put it back together High School • Design and build a robot or a piece of furniture • Help repair or remodel things in your home

13. Nurture Your Child’s Interests If your child likes sports, he or she might like to: Elementary School • Play on a sports team Middle School • Assist a coach • Take a fitness class High School • Umpire or referee community games • Coach a youth sports team

14. What if My Child’s Interests Change? • If your child has been exploring interests, and he or she decides that interests have changed — hurray! • It is just as important for your child to know what he or she does not want to do as it is to know what he or she does want to do • Exploration is the key to helping make informed decisions

15. Help Your Child Explore Careers To help your child with career exploration: • Encourage your child to make independent decisions • Involve yourself in your child’s future planning • Encourage exploration of all kinds of post-high school education opportunities • Give your child economic responsibilities • Encourage job awareness • Be flexible as the decision-making process evolves

16. Career Exploration Resources To find your state’s office of America’s Career Resource Network: • Visit www.acrnetwork.org • Click on Network andthen click on your state Your state’s Career Resource Network office can direct you and your child to career exploration resources

17. Parent Resources Visit www.acrnetwork.org for Parent Resources Click on Parent Involvement Guide to learn about: • Helping Your Child Identify Interests • Helping Your Child Make Career Decisions • Helping Your Child Make a Post-High School Plan • Finding the Right College • Locating Financial Aid • And more

18. Career Exploration Resources • America’s Career InfoNet at http://www.acinet.org/acinet • Occupational Outlook Handbook at http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm • Your local library has career information books and publications, as well as Internet access to explore careers online

19. Help Your Child Plan for the Future

20. What Parents Need to Know About Education and the Labor Market

21. Parents Need to Know Unemployment rates for non-institutional civilians ages 25 & older Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, July 2003

22. Parents Need to Know Of the 22.2 million jobs to be generated between 2000 and 2010...

23. Parents Need to Know ...17.5 million will require some postsecondary education. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2001

24. Parents Need to Know 8 of the 10 fastest growing occupations between 2000 and 2010 will require some form of postsecondary education Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2001

25. Parents Need to Know 48 of the 50 best paying jobs will require a college degree Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2002

26. About College Although over 97% of students (and their parents) aspire to college • 63% enroll in college the fall following their graduation from high school • More than a third leave within two years without earning a degree • Only about half earn a bachelor’s degree by the time they are 29 years old Source: The Condition of Education, 2002

27. About College • Community or technical college can lead to well-paying jobs, and may be all a child needs to reach his or her career goal • Community college can also be the path to a 4-year degree • Many students start out at a community college to save costs or get a handle on college-level work Source: Higher Learning=Higher Earnings, Center on Education Policy, Sept. 2001

28. College Preparation • Freshmen who enter college without a career goal or an academic major in mind have higher college dropout rates • More than 22% of college freshmen need to take remedial courses — these do not count as credit toward a degree • Your child should take challenging courses in high school to prepare for college-level coursework

29. College Preparation • 83% of students who take Algebra I and Geometry in high school go on to college • Students who don’t take Algebra and Geometry in high school are much less likely to go to college — only 36% do • Taking challenging courses in high school not only helps children get into college, but also increases the chances they will complete college

30. Help Create Post-High School Plans • Discover the training that is required for your child to meet his or her career goals • Find colleges or career schools that provide training specific to your child’s goals • Think about the school’s atmosphere, does your child do better in small classes or large groups? Will he or she do better at a school in a large city or a small town?

31. With your help, your childcan create asolid planthat will guide him or her tosuccessful post-high school trainingandrewarding career.