Career Techinical opportunities at Farmington Public Schools: FPS CTE

DISTRICT CAREER GUIDANCE PLAN

The district career guidance plan provides an opportunity for each high school student to explore their interests, abilities, talents and desired level of education through the Michigan Career Pathways.  Career pathways were developed by the state of Michigan and are the structure around which careers are organized for use in K-12 classrooms.

Career paths are clusters of occupations/careers that are grouped because of the people in them share similar interests and strengths.  All paths include a variety of occupations that require different levels of education and training.  Selecting a career pathway provides an area of focus along with flexibility and a variety of ideas to pursue.  It is emphasized that career pathways and careers within them are tentative choices which students make that can be changed at any time, and perhaps several times over the course of a student’s high school years, and indeed, over the course of a life time. 

Career Pathways Descriptions
 
Benefits of Career Pathways for students:

1. Career pathways provide a plan for all students regardless of their interests, abilities, talents, or desired levels of education.  All paths have equal dignity.
2. Career pathways provide all students with areas of focus, along with flexibility and a variety of ideas to pursue as they make decisions regarding course selection.
3. Career pathways allow students to see a relevance to their selected school courses.  Thus, students are more apt to have a reason to do better in school.
4. Career pathways help parents and other adults provide better assistance to students as they discuss careers.

Career development tools or planning and self-management tools are used to empower students so they can be in control of their own future.  Empowerment is a process that comes through EXPLORATION - PLANNING - ACHIEVEMENT.
Tools used at Farmington High School are:

PLANNING  

EDP – Educational Development Plan   Every FPS student begins their EDP in 7th grade and has an opportunity to update this document in school at least one time a year.  The EDP is accessed online through Xello. EDP’s are a very important component of your student’s career educational process.  Students are asked to answer a series of questions ranging from their course selections in each grade to their interests, skills, and goals.  The EDP makes career suggestions for students including links on Xello to colleges’ websites.   Take the time to explore opportunities with your student.   

FRESHMEN:  Freshman meet in small groups with counselors in the fall of 9th grade during their EDP lesson.  They discuss post secondary options and opportunities at FHS to help navigate their career and college goals. Freshmen meet in small groups again with counselors in February to review graduation requirements, check off requirements they have met and to sign up for the courses they need to stay on track for graduation.  All students are encouraged to visit the Counseling Department to see their counselor whenever they have questions and/or need help.  

SOPHOMORES – Sophomores meet in small groups with counselors in the fall of 10th grade during their EDP lesson.  They discuss post secondary options and opportunities at FHS to help navigate their career and college goals. Sophomores meet in small groups again with counselors in February to review graduation requirements, check off requirements they have met and to sign up for the courses they need to stay on track for graduation.  All students are encouraged to visit the Counseling Department to see their counselor whenever they have questions and/or need help.  

Every December, FHS hosts a  Oakland Schools Technical Campus (OSTC) meeting for all Sophomores. This assembly provides information about OSTC's career technical education programs  for high school students from Oakland County’s 28 public school districts, public academies, private learning institutions and home schools. Enrolled students spend part of their day studying at their home district and the other part actively involved in one of several career clusters. Students receive a brochure with details about all of the programs at OSTC as well as an invitation to OSTC's Career Night/Open House. Interested students are given the opportunity to take a field trip to OSTC to learn more about the programs offered. 

OSTC Program offerings:

Agriscience & Environmental Technologies

Automotive Technologies

Collision Repair and Refinishing

Construction Technology (Clarkston, Pontiac, and Royal Oak campuses only)

Cosmetology (Pontiac campus Only)

Computer Networking

Computer Programming

Criminal Justice (Royal Oak campus only)

Culinary Arts/Hospitality

Cybersecurity Networking (Royal Oak campus only)

Energy-Electrical Technologies (Pontiac and Royal Oak campuses only)

Engineering, Robotics, & Mechatronics

Entrepreneurship & Advanced Marketing

Health Sciences

Machining

Medium/Heavy Truck Equipment

Visual Imaging

Welding

JUNIORS– Juniors meet in small groups with counselors in the fall of 11th grade during their EDP lesson.  They discuss post secondary options and opportunities at FHS to help navigate their career and college goals. Juniors  meet in small groups again with counselors in February to review graduation requirements, check off requirements they have met and to sign up for the courses they need to stay on track for graduation.  All students are encouraged to visit the Counseling Department to see their counselor whenever they have questions and/or need help.  

Junior Meeting: ALL Juniors meet in February with their counselors to review their college/post-secondary plans, resources for college searches, scholarships and financial aid. 

Information is given about:

• the MME exams they will take in the spring and how to best prepare
• sending their SAT scores for free to 4 post secondary schools
• SAT test preparation resources including free practice tests
• taking individual college visit tours

Junior Meeting:  ALL Juniors meet in June for a Post-Secondary Transition Meeting where they go over completing college applications online, how to send SAT and ACT scores and how to request transcripts through Parchment.  Information is given on how to apply for FAFSA and financial aid. Students learn how to request letters of recommendation and go over a college application checklist.  Students are also encouraged to fill out a College Comparison Worksheet to help them consider all the different factors that go into considering which college to attend.

SENIORS - Seniors meet in small groups with counselors in the fall of 12th grade during their EDP lesson.  They discuss post secondary options and opportunities at FHS to help navigate their career and college goals. 

Senior Meeting:  ALL Seniors meet in September for a Post-Secondary Transition Meeting where they go over completing college applications online, how to send SAT and ACT scores and how to request transcripts through Parchment.  Information is given on how to apply for FAFSA and financial aid. Students learn how to request letters of recommendation and go over a college application checklist.  Students are also encouraged to fill out a College Comparison Worksheet to help them consider all the different factors that go into considering which college to attend.

SAT -  The SAT is a segment of the MME (Michigan Merit Exam) given to all 11th grade students in the spring of their junior year. The SAT reflects what Michigan students are already learning in their classrooms and measures the skills and knowledge that colleges are looking for today.

WorkKeys  (Reading for Information and Applied Mathematics) WorkKeys is a segment of the MME (Michigan Merit Exam) given to all 11th grade students in the spring of their junior year.  WorkKeys is a job skills assessment system measuring “real world” skills that employers believe are critical to job success.  These skills are valuable for any occupation-skilled or professional-and at any level of education.