Promising Practices

Through quality college and career readiness programming we believe schools can increase student achievement. Quality college and career readiness programs expand access to high- quality instructional materials, creating seamless career pathways, and increasing student access to post-secondary opportunities. Since 2017 OSDE has led various initiatives and grants supporting districts in creating innovative partnerships with industry leaders, universities, career technology centers and public libraries to expand student access to rigorous college and career readiness courses and improve postsecondary success through building a quality CCR program.

There are four main components of building a quality CCR program to build academic achievement, OSDE has adopted the American Institutes of Research college and career readiness model to address those components:

Pathways and Supports must provide students with opportunities to master common skills while still allowing them to tailor individualized learning programs to pathway-specific goals based on their postsecondary aspirations.

• Academic Counseling A strong academic counseling process allows for strategic planning between local colleges, career technology centers, registrars and other academic supports to create a flexible schedule for all students.
• College and Career Counseling Framework A college and career counseling framework is essential for engaging students and families in post-secondary planning.
• College and Career Advising take a look at this helpful planning tool for tips Postsecondary Advising Calendar
• Examining inequities in college and career preparatory resources, here.
• Eliminating resource gaps using the College and Career Readiness Report (CCR Report) a guide used for planning best practices for creating seamless pathways from K12 to postsecondary. After viewing the CCR report, consider using the College and Career Readiness Audit Tool, to facilitate discussion around eliminating resource and opportunity gaps and creating strategies for under resourced students.

Outcomes and Measures for college and career readiness and success should be determined by a variety of factors and driven by Goals and Expectations. This content, and the measures that accompany it, should be developed in collaboration with stakeholders from K–12 education, postsecondary institutions, and industry.

• Data Strategy An effective data framework is key to evaluating the effectiveness of your CCR program. Using the Return to School Roadmap, consider identifying a small postsecondary response team (PRT) tasked with ensuring all CCR efforts are successfully transitioning your students to college and career.

Goals and Outcomes To achieve postsecondary readiness and success, learners must raise their expectations of themselves, identify rigorous educational and career aspirations, and meet goals.

• Work-Based Learning Work-based learning enables participants to gain or enhance their skills while employed or while engaged in an experience that is similar to employment. Through work-based learning, students have the opportunity to see how classroom instruction connects to the world of work and future career opportunities. A continuum of work-based learning can exist from Kindergarten through adulthood involving several strategies for exposing students to the world of work, view a list of strategies here.

Resources and Structures is the final of the four Organizer strands and is inextricably linked to the others. Resources and Structures are the institutional assets needed to implement successful academic programming and school improvement initiatives—including college and career readiness and success programs and beyond. One of the major assets to ensuring a quality college and career readiness model is access to quality and effective school counselors.

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View a few quality College and Career Readiness Models below:

Check out the Lawton Life Ready Center, to learn how to replicate this model view our guide here.

Early ICAP Success Learn more about how ICAP has helped prepared our students for life after graduation!