College Career Readiness

For a sixth grade student, college may seem like a lifetime away. Young people are navigating the challenging journey of middle school and college is the last thing on most students’ minds. School counselors are in a unique position to change that mindset. According to the U.S. Department of Education, college planning should begin in 6th grade (Wimberly & Noeth, n.d.). The state of Georgia has placed great emphasis on College and Career Readiness through the Bridge Bill which ensures that all Georgia students receive information about available college and career options (GCIC, n.d.). Many schools do what is necessary to comply with the Bridge Law, but there is more that can be done. The goal for a school is to create a college going culture where, “all students are prepared for a full range of post-secondary options through structural, motivational, and experiential college preparatory opportunities” (McDonough, n.d.). The following manuscript will give schools a framework for how to begin to do that.
The beginning will discuss the “whys” of college and career readiness in middle schools with a thorough review of the existing literature, followed by background information on the setting the curriculum was tested in. As the school is a predominately minority school, with a large number of Black and Latin@ students, social justice implications will be discussed. School counselors want practical, valuable, and easy to digest information and the primary focus of this manuscript will discuss activities, lessons, and events that a counselor can use to immediately to help develop a “college focused school” (McDonough, n.d.). The manuscript will conclude with possible barriers within a building to creating a “college focused school” and future