The key to succeeding at anything in life begins with knowing what you want to do but selecting a career path is a daunting task for students and families.
Prince William County School Board has adopted and adapted as system to help its students find what career path is right for them, and then what steps to take to make their dreams a reality. It even makes it user-friendly for all families, regardless of their language or education level.
Under the leadership of Superintend Dr. La Tanya McDade and the urging of the school board, Prince William County Schools created a comprehensive Student Vision Profile that will be made available to 6th-12th grade students beginning this year.
Rebekah Schlatter, Director of College Career & Student Support and Anaid D. Shaver, Supervisor of College & Career Services for PWCS, presented the overview of the Student Profile Reports at the Feb. 28 meeting of the Prince William County School Board.
The Student Vision Profile will inform and guide family choices by providing students and their parents with information about their grades and test scores, interests, inclinations, personality strengths and achievements. The platform, created by Pearson, derives information from personality/career aptitude assessments such as the Meyers Bridge test, but also considers students’ stated goals and interests.
High school students will receive a broad student profile on the cover. The self-discovery/career page contains the career cluster interests, Next, there is a pathway and action page, with step-by-step guidance for families. The Spotlight page pulls in data about careers and educational options. Finally, there is a GPA page. It will show the students if they are on track for success.
The profiles are tailored to the PWCS experience to help students choose classes and specialty programs, especially the ones students receive in middle school. Schlatter described the profiles as comprehensive and multifaceted. Parents will also receive a version in the language spoken at home, and profiles are provided for special education students as well.
The system should also save time for counselors (at least in theory) since they will have all the information about the student at their fingertips.
School board members were extremely impressed with how the school division fully integrated the platform.
Schlatter noted it took cooperation between multiple departments to bring the system to fruition.
Potomac member Justin Wilk. Wilk previously sold such applications to school divisions around the nation. He encouraged the division to invest in it for their future graduates.
He praised PWCS for going far beyond what other divisions have done and exceeding his expectations.
“I’m very, very happy, just overwhelmed. I’ve never seen anything like this,” Wilk said
Board members said they thought the information would provide equity for parents when making decisions that would help set their children
For instance, it has long been a point of grievance that some parents have well-researched specialty high school programs, whereas others know little about them. Wilks said that the profiles will help overcome major hurdles for families.
Woodbridge member Loree Williams was also extremely pleased. She said it would help overcome human bias in recommending career paths, something she said she experienced when she was in high school.
“I think this is one of the single most equitable projects,” she said, explaining she believes it will remedy inequity more than any other PWCS initiative. “It is absolutely a game changer.”
Chairman, Dr. Babur Lateef said many parents pay thousands of dollars to get this kind of specialized advice from career and college coaches. Now, all PWCS students will have that advantage at no cost to families.
“I credit Mr. Wilk on this,” the chairman said.
The student senate representative Fernanda Demorante was the first PWCS to receive a vision profile. Her peers said they take so many assessments that provide data for their school. In this case, the data inform them and their families, and they can see its usefulness.
Demorante also believes that will be very helpful and efficient tool for counselors. Because hers was provided in English and Spanish, it was easy for her parents to understand. Finally, hers offered her an alternative route to achieve her career goal that she had never considered, joining the military. She sees how it could open new options for students.
Dr. McDade said most college and career prep falls to the family, and this program meets PWCS's goal, “in strengthening our partnership with our families,” she said. “We have to remove the barriers and the complexity for them to be involved.”
Prince William County School has provided information on its Student Vision Profiles here.
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