THINK Postsecondary

Our school district has encouraged elementary counselors to push a prekindergarten to 16 initiative and promote college and career readiness.  A ballpark estimate regarding the education and training experiences of the parents of our students would be over 90% attended a four-year, over 5% served or are military  (but 98% of them eventually graduated from college), and less than 5% other.  I avoid promoting only college as a postsecondary option.  I do not want to give students the impression that everyone must go to a four-year college after high school.  If you have not read the 2011 Harvard study Pathways to Prosperity I highly recommend you do so. It speaks to postsecondary education being the key to the American dream but raises questions about how much and what type of postsecondary education is needed in our current economy.  I discuss postsecondary options in career lessons at grades 2-5.  Students need to know early that they will need more education and training after high school graduation and begin to develop a sense of what are the options. This bulletin board outside my office shows the start of this pathway (elementary, middle, and high) as well as community college, vocational school, military, college, and advanced studies.