Career Key High School Welcome Kit

Overview
A. Getting Started
B. Implementation
List of Teacher Downloads
C. Related Resources
D. Research You Can Use

Want to learn how to use Career Key Central to view and manage your students’ activity? For the CDP, see Support> Manage CDP Clients, for CKD, see Support> Manage CKD Discoverers.

Time to Complete

4 minutes

Overview

This Welcome Kit helps you implement Career Key with high school students. Whether you use one or both of our assessments, Career Decision Profile (CDP) and Career Key Discovery (CKD), you’ll find implementation guidance and downloads here.

Depending on your available class time and curriculum needs, adapt these Career Key resources to fit your program. If you’d like to suggest a resource, let us know by submitting a feedback ticket here.

Takeaways

Get started with our implementation planning guide
Implement using lesson plans and activities that you can download
Take advantage of related resources for interpreting assessment results, school counseling, parents, and funding for Career Key
Learn how Holland’s Theory and career well-being lead to long-term, positive student outcomes from our research e-Books

A. Getting Started

Implementation Planning Guide
Student/Parent Letter about Career Decision Profile and Career Key Discovery

Implementation Planning Guide

Overview – combine assessments to maximize benefits

Get to know your high school students better, faster as they build their college and career plans

With Career Key, your students can gain life- and career-changing insights about their career decision status, personality, interests, skills and values. They can use this information to move forward on their decision journey, identifying best fit career options and postsecondary programs where they will thrive.

Research shows that a close fit between a student’s strongest Holland personality types and postsecondary education programs predicts higher grades, persistence in a program and higher on-time college graduation rates.

Career Key’s career decision platform combines two scientifically valid assessments,

the 5-minute Career Decision Profile (CDP) measure of career decision status, and
the 10-minute Career Key Discovery (CKD) interest inventory based on Holland’s Theory,
whose results are all displayed in the group administration portal, Career Key Central.

You can administer either one on its own, but we recommend administering both to maximize their benefits.

For maximum benefit, consider making a pre/post “sandwich”, where a student’s 1st CDP completion (pre-intervention) is the bottom slice of bread, the intervention (CKD) is the filling, and the student’s 2nd CDP completion (post-intervention) is the top slice of bread.

You get data to measure the impact of Career Key Discovery and your activities on students’ career development, and students get to share what’s changed for them as a result of the activity. All with 5 minutes of additional student time retaking the CDP.

Key Facts: How the Career Decision Profile assessment works

Takes students about 5 minutes to complete the inventory
Mobile and tablet friendly
Self-interpreting, individualized explanation of assessment results, recommended next steps to keep making progress on their decision-making journey
Students receive a shareable PDF report with results and their recommended next steps
Advisors see estimated levels of service for each student in Career Key Central, in addition to detailed results
Pre and post intervention administration provides scientifically valid data on multiple dimensions of career decision status including:
> Decidedness
> Comfort
> Self-Clarity
> Knowledge of Careers and Education Options
> Decisiveness
> Career Choice Importance
> Existence of barrier(s) (Capacity for Progress)
> Other Factors (optional fill-in)

Key Facts: How the Career Key Discovery assessment works

Takes students about 10 minutes to complete
Mobile and tablet friendly
Scientifically valid Holland personality and interest inventory
Self-interpreting, individualized explanation of assessment results, including environments that the student will find thriving, promising, and challenging
Students can filter and explore best-fit careers and education programs by education required, duration, type of award including postsecondary non-degree awards and credentials
Students receive a shareable PDF report (sample) with results and their selected options

Shared Learning Goals

Practical goals teachers and administrators have shared with us include…

Help students explore how they feel about where they are, and understand they are supported
Understand how ready each student is to make a decision about a career or education program
Learn more about students’ unique decision needs, including other factors not otherwise known to the advisor
Increase students’ awareness of themselves – their interests, personality, and values,
Help students relate their personal characteristics to occupations and education programs,
Expand the career and postsecondary education options students are considering,
Stimulate students’ career exploration, such as, discussing possible careers and training programs with others and doing online research,
Help students create an individualized learning plan or personal graduation plan
Increase students’ confidence in their ability to make good career choices

Career Key meets American School Counseling Association (ASCA) Mindsets and Behaviors, as part of its professional counseling National Model for College and Career Readiness (2019). See our chart mapping them and student competencies to Career Key’s resources for more details.

Step by Step Implementation

Below we describe three steps to implementation. The List of Teacher Downloads in the next Implementation section contains all student and teacher materials mentioned below.

Step 1. Preparation

Decide when taking the CDP and CKD fit into your course schedule.
Review the Welcome Kit materials and adapt resources as needed.
You may wish to take the assessments yourself to see the student perspective (as well as the Profile report)
Know the URLs for each of your assessment plug ins, so you can share them with students. To find them, go to the Gear icon top right of Career Key Central> My Organization> Technical tab.
Learn how to use Career Key Central to monitor and follow up with students.

Step 2. Student Engagement

Send the Parent letter home to engage parents in supporting their students’ experience.
Optional: Administer the CDP
Administer CKD; remember you can invite students to take either assessment using Let’s Connect in Career Key Central.
Optional Post Assessment Activities
- Find My Fit – group activity on the six Holland RIASEC Types/ Work Groups
- Explore Texas (modify for your state) Career Pathways – individual activity sourcing your state’s relevant information

Step 3. Reflection: Gather and Share Data

Optional: Administer the CDP again; students have the option to share comments about what’s changed for them
- Group Discussion: Students share their responses to the CDP
Want students to learn more online after completing Career Key Discovery? Go to the Fit Focus Forward Resources section of Career Key’s website.

B. Implementation

First we’ll do a quick overview, and then provide links to all the downloads you’ll need.

Lesson Planning

Taking Assessments & Follow Up Activities

Depending on your course schedule, you can combine these activities into one or two class periods or space activities out across multiple days. The learning activities are optional and enable students to further explore how to connect their personality type with careers that fit.

You may wish to familiarize yourself with the assessments by …

Watching the CDP Video Overview: https://vimeo.com/480498917
Watching the CKD Video Overview https://vimeo.com/393492821
Taking both assessments yourself to see the student perspective (as well as the Profile report).
Watching a video overview of the CKD Career Profile section with its decision tool https://vimeo.com/409021237

Instruction

1. Introduction to Career Key and taking Career Decision Profile (15 minutes)

Introductory Power Point Slides: Take Career Decision Profile, Take Career Key Discovery, Introduction to Career Key (5 min.)
Take Career Decision Profile or other Pre-Assessment Career Survey: Online or on paper (5 minutes)
Watch Video: Career Decision Profile Overview https://vimeo.com/480498917 (2:10 minutes)

2. Take Career Key Discovery (20-30 minutes)

Watch Video: Career Key Discovery Overview https://vimeo.com/392542053 (2.25 minutes)
Watch video: Career Profile Decision Tools https://vimeo.com/409021237 (4:25 minutes)
Share the link to the Career Key Discovery assessment (Find it in Career Key Central> My Organization> Technical)
Students will progress through these sections: (10 minutes)

1. Welcome: Student sign in – first name, last name, email

2. Take Assessment – (allow 5-10 minutes)

3. Assessment Results – students learn about their thriving, promising and challenging environments; and their top 2-3 RIASEC Types (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional)

4. Explore Careers and Majors – students explore thriving and promising careers and college majors/training programs – and bookmark or save ones that interest them

5. Career Profile – a summary of their assessment results and selected careers and majors

Note: Students can sign in later to “Explore Careers and Majors”

3. Follow up Learning Activities: Students explore 2-3 careers in their strongest personality types.

Power point: Finding My Fit – Student Handout with Group Activity (30-45 min)
Explore Texas Career Pathways – Student Handout with Online Activity (20-30 min)

4. Reflection and Closing (10 minutes)

Students take the Career Decision Profile or other Post Assessment Survey
Discuss the Reflection questions (2-3 minutes)
Send the Parent Letter home to support student and parent discussions on their career explorations and next steps.

List of Advising Resources & Downloads

Videos

Teacher/Advisor: Career Decision Platform (https://vimeo.com/493172969)

Teacher/Advisor: Career Key Overview ( https://vimeo.com/393492821)

Students: Career Decision Profile (https://vimeo.com/480498917)
Students: Career Key Discovery (https://vimeo.com/392542053)
Students: CKD Profile Decision Tools (https://vimeo.com/409021237)

Student Materials

Parent Letter (pdf)

Student Surveys

Career Decision Profile web application, OR Pre and Post-Assessment Survey, with optional reflection questions (.doc)
Career Key Discovery web application

Student Activities