Career Awareness & Exploration (CAE)
Our team of career development consultants meet with K - 12 educators providing resources, training and support to help build a culture of career development throughout their district. These efforts identify a comprehensive K–12 career development framework that engages all students at all grade levels which can be implemented throughout Kalamazoo County public school districts, public charters, and in collaboration with other community partners.
We support K-12 career development countywide by providing transformative experiences, resources, and systems needed to promote self and option awareness that learners need for lifelong career development. We encourage young people to understand the various clusters of high-demand, high-wage occupations and what education, training, and skills it will take to acquire those positions in the marketplace.
CAE Career Development Consultants
When it comes to implementing the innovative Career Awareness & Exploration curriculum in local school districts, Kalamazoo RESA CAE career development consultants are the boots on the ground.
These talented individuals are meeting with principals, counselors, educators, and more to get these experiences incorporated into every elementary, middle, and high school classroom across the county.
For more information, please contact Jeni Opel.
Say Hello to Xello
An evolution of Career Cruising, Xello is an academic and career planning program that prepares K-12 students for success through an engaging platform that builds self-knowledge, personalized plans and critical life skills. As part of the Kalamazoo RESA Career & Technical Education rollout, Xello is now available to every K-12 student across Kalamazoo County.
The innovative career planning program provides students with a wide range of tools and data trackers to assist them on their journey to personal understanding. From assessments to help identify learning styles, storyboards for students to build a professional talent portfolio, recognize career pathways of interest, upload videos, projects, letters of recommendation and much more, Xello has the tools students need to gain a better understanding of their interests, how they fit into career fields and eventually potential occupations.
Benefits of Xello:
- Students gain career awareness, exploration and preparation all in one platform. Xello grows with students throughout their K-12 curriculum.
- Students can create and revise their Educational Development Plan (EDP) and Talent Portfolios easily every school year.
- Educators can review students’ interests, skills and abilities over the course of their K-12 curriculum to help guide them in their career readiness journey.
Educational Development Plans and Xello
Our Career Awareness and Exploration Team supports ongoing career development to prepare K-12 students for the goals and decisions they need to make regarding post-secondary pursuits. In schools, this process includes participation in career awareness and exploration, assessment and guidance, career pathways, and integrated learning (which combines academic and career-related content in coordinated learning activities). The State of Michigan calls this process an Educational Development Plan (EDP). In Kalamazoo RESA districts, students have access to Xello to create their EDPs. Students and their families are welcomed and encouraged to explore Xello during classroom lessons and at home on their own time.
An EDP is an individualized approach to learning that documents a student’s ongoing process of identifying both career goals and a plan of action to achieve them. It guides a student in accomplishing goals based on exploration, experiences and an informed plan of action. Setting goals and recording them in an EDP helps students become more intentional about being successful in their classes and in selecting extracurricular and employment activities. To be effective, EDPs do not stand alone. They are dependent upon participation in the larger, ongoing career development process, and they should be reviewed and updated annually.
- What is an Educational Development Plan (EDP)?
- Who Is Required to Have an Educational Development Plan (EDP)?
- Why Do Students Need an EDP?
- How can students start/update their EDP?
- What is Xello?
- How can families get involved?
- Is Xello safe and secure?
- What are the benefits of using Xello?
- Want to know more?