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903.295.5000 www.ptisd.org |
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January 17, 2008 PTISD has selected “Career Cruising,” an online career assessment to help students who want to find the right career, explore different career options, or plan future education and training.
During the month of January, Texas Eastman is sending a squad of volunteers to present Career Cruising to students at the high school campus. “Texas Eastman is partnering with us on this project,” says Carole Black, HS Counselor. “We have created a schedule of times, periods, and dates that we will be working with seniors on this career investigation project,” she says.
During the months of November and December, 2007, every 8th and 9th grader began building a portfolio of potential careers. Each student has an access code in which he or she may go “career cruising” and college shopping anytime of the day.
Ellen Gordon, eighth grade counselor at Pine Tree Junior High said, “You will be amazed at how easy it is to research colleges and universities, and get the straight facts on tuition and fees.” “Families are able to research which colleges in any state offer specific courses of study, and even research scholarships and financial aid!” she says.
Following the start of the 2nd semester in January, Junior High counselors will begin making individual Texas Achievement Plans for each 8th and 9th grader. The Career Cruising program gives students a questionnaire about their interests and abilities, said Debbie Connor, district Director Of Academic Achievement. After the students complete the survey, they are presented with about 15 career paths based on their answers. The program goes in depth about the careers, including what courses should be taken in school and which colleges have programs in that particular field. "Before, we had information like that but you had to make an appointment with a counselor, who would then point you in the right direction," Connor said. "This kind of brings it all in together on one Web site." For access to the program contact JH or HS Counselors.
According to materials from their website, Career Cruising is an interactive career reference guide available from the Internet.
Students can access it using a student ID.
Career Cruising provides: an inventory to assess your interests and skills and match them with occupations (Matchmaker) ability to search by favorite courses, interest areas, and specific requirements information on tasks, required education, salaries and more for hundreds of occupations multimedia interviews with real people in each and every career (over 800 interviews in total!) a portfolio system that allows you to save information on occupations of interest, as well as information on your jobs and activities. |