This qualitative study explores career counseling and guidance services as provided to students engaged in career and technical education programs at three sites in the United States. The sites, consisting of high schools and community colleges, were part of the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education's 5-year studies of…

The respective roles of social cognitive career theory and cognitive information processing in career exploratory behavior were analyzed. A verified path model shows cognitive information processing theory's negative career thoughts inversely predict social cognitive career theory's career problem-solving self-efficacy, which predicts career…

Diesel engine technicians maintain and repair the engines that power transportation equipment such as heavy trucks, trains, buses, and locomotives. Some technicians work mainly on farm machines, ships, compressors, and pumps. Others work mostly on construction equipment such as cranes, power shovels, bulldozers, and paving machines. This article…

Vacation jobs often mix work and play. For some, the job is their ticket to career happiness. The article's first section describes four jobs specific to entertainment and leisure: (1) cruise ship musician; (2) destination marketing manager; (3) resort activities director; and (4) river rafting guide. The second section helps a person decide if a…

An educational initiative that is receiving increased attention nationally is accelerated developmental education, and the Community College of Denver (CCD) is at the forefront of this reform activity. As part of CCD's portfolio of developmental education strategies, the accelerated program called FastStart has become an important vehicle for…

Any student will tell people that one question they've been asked repeatedly is "What do you want to be when you grow up?" From a young age, adults expect children to think about their future and to work toward a career goal. If teachers expect their students to be goal driven, career-oriented individuals, they need to provide them with ample…

This paper explains the organization and execution of a summer engineering outreach camp designed to attract and motivate high school students as well as increase their awareness of various engineering fields. The camp curriculum included hands-on, competitive design-oriented engineering projects from several disciplines: the electrical,…

This paper focuses on findings from the first wave of a longitudinal study investigating high school students' perceptions and behaviors as they engage in a graduation project focused on exploring postsecondary options. Students (n=157) completed surveys regarding their achievement goals, sense of belongingness and career exploration endeavors. A…

For the last several years, concern has been brewing about America's underinvestment and underperformance in science, technology, engineering and mathematics--the fields collectively known as STEM. STEM can be described as an initiative for securing America's leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields and identifying…

The study investigated the predictive utility of interest profile differentiation, coherence, elevation, congruence, and vocational identity commitment and career maturity (career planning and exploration) on the 10-month interest stability of 292 Swiss eighth-grade students: profile, rank, and level stabilities were assessed. Controlling for…

The Urban Institute conducted an implementation and participant-outcomes evaluation of the Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program (ANSEP). ANSEP is a multi-stage initiative designed to prepare and support Alaska Native students from middle school through graduate school to succeed in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)…

There is a growing predicament among second generation Vietnamese American young adults desiring to study and work in people-helping professions. Although this population wants to maintain a sense of belonging, loyalty, and duty toward their ethnic heritage, they are essentially breaking cultural norms by pursuing occupations that are not readily…

This study investigated the level of congruency between scores on the Self-Directed Search--Form R (J. L. Holland, 1994) and scores from an online instrument, both of which measure Holland types (J. L. Holland, 1985, 1997). A reasonably high level of congruence was found. Implications for career counselors are briefly delineated.

ACT has been a leader in measuring college and career readiness trends for decades. Each August, ACT releases "The Condition of College & Career Readiness" (www.act.org/newsroom/data/2013), our annual report on the progress of the ACT-tested graduating class relative to college readiness. Nationally, 54.3% of the 2013 graduating…

This article examines the concept of career exploration in adult populations. In contrast to the prevailing positive view of career exploration, the authors present a more complex and balanced perspective of this process, addressing some of the barriers to career exploration and the applicability of this concept to different populations. They…