Ninth Grade Career Portfolio

Tim Stoesz                                                      Jenny Johnson

Professional School Counselor                       MSUM Intern 1998-99

NRHEG High School                                    NRHEG High School

New Richland, MN                                        New Richland, MN

Description of the Career Portfolio

The career portfolio is a collaboration between school counselor and teachers. The portfolio will serve as a cumulative file for students to add materials to during their ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade years. In order to establish a portfolio, the ninth graders took part in a series of classroom guidance activities as well as out-of-classroom work. The classroom activities involved interpreting standardized test results, completing a worksheet on work values, completing a student booklet, and using information obtained from the MCIS and the Minnesota Careers Booklet to do a written report on three careers. The written report was completed on the students’ own time. The school counselor’s responsibilities included: (a) administering and interpreting the standardized tests, (b) doing the work values activity, (c) introducing the MCIS and Minnesota Careers Booklet to students, (d) instructing students on how to complete the student booklet, and (e) collecting items to place in the portfolio. The classroom teacher was responsible for assigning and correcting the written report on careers.

The results of two standardized tests were used. The IDEAS interest inventory and the DAT were used. The IDEAS measures career interest areas and the DAT measures career-related aptitudes. The IDEAS was administered, scored, and interpreted within a 45 minute class period. Since the IDEAS is a self-scoring instrument, students were able to score their own results. The DAT, on the other hand, was administered on a separate day several weeks before doing the classroom activities. The DAT is a testing instrument that needs to be scored by the testing company. Interpreting the results for the DAT to a classroom of students would take about 30 minutes. Copies of the DAT and IDEAS results were placed in the students’ career portfolios.

Completing a worksheet on work values was another classroom guidance activity. Students were given the worksheet and were asked to complete it on their own. After students finished completing the worksheet, students were placed into small groups based on the work value they believed was most important to them. Grouping students together with other students who shared similar values helped the students process why a particular value was important to them. While in their groups, students were asked to discuss whether or not their career of choice matched their work value. After discussing work values in their small groups, students were asked to share what they had discussed with the rest of the class. The work values worksheet was also placed in the career portfolio.

Students were also asked to write a report on three careers. In their report, they were asked to include the following: (a) a general job description, (b) education and training needed, (c) pros and cons of the job, and (d) why the job would be a good fit for them. The written reports were placed in their portfolio.

Completing the student booklet was a closing activity to help reinforce what students learned about their career interests and aptitudes. In the booklet, students were asked to list their schedule of classes, future plans after High School graduation, short-term educational and career goals, work history, and community and school activities in which they participated.

Connections to Related Standards, Competencies, and Domains

The career portfolio directly relates to Minnesota Graduation Standard Learning Area Eight, Decision Making. Career Investigation is one of the topic areas listed under this content standard. The task of determining personal interests and aptitudes could be met through the career portfolio.

The career portfolio activities can also be linked to the career developmental domain of the Minnesota School Counselor’s Model of Developmental Guidance and Counseling (Rief & Enestvedt, 1993). The career portfolio will enable students to more fully understand how their career interests and aptitudes relate to the world of work.

The National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee Standards for High School (Zunker, 1998) also may be applied to the activities used to create the career portfolio. Using the MCIS and Minnesota Career Booklet directly relates to developing skills needed to locate, evaluate, and interpret career information.

References and Resources

Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning. Information available at: http://www.educ.state.mn.us

Rief, J. M. & Enestvedt, J. K. (1993). The Minnesota School Counselors’ Model of Developmental Guidance and Counseling. Minnesota School Counselors Association.

 Zunker, V. G. (1998). Career counseling: Applied concepts of life planning (5th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

For Further Information

Tim Stoesz

Professional School Counselor

NRHEG High School

New Richland, MN

Phone (507) 465-3205

Fax (507) 465-8633

tstoesz@nrheg.k12.mn.us