Develop Life Readiness Pathways: Prepare and Empower Students for Their Futures

Inflexion February 11, 2021

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Four diverse high school students smiling and walking side by side as a group with a college building behind them.

Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.

– Bobby Unser

INTRO

Develop schoolwide Life Readiness pathways, so students feel prepared and empowered for their next steps. Reflections and activities from all of these experiences should be aligned with the school’s shared vision for readiness and collected in portfolios that each student adds to throughout their school journey and are used in Senior Exit Interviews.

GO skills and behaviors include elements of student agency– self-awareness, self-knowledge, and an understanding of who you are in the context of the world around you, including your family and your community. This includes leadership skills, advocacy skills, self-care, and healthy habits as well as skills like kindness and empathy. Many of these skills are necessary to successfully navigate big life transitions such as attending college, enrolling in a vocational program, starting a new job, or even beginning a new personal relationship.

OBJECTIVES

Develop schoolwide Life Readiness pathways, so students feel prepared and empowered for their next steps

RESOURCES

PDF: GO

ACTIVITY

Reflections and activities from all of these experiences should be aligned with the school’s Shared Vision for Readiness, collected in portfolios that each student adds to throughout their school journey, and are used in Senior Exit Interviews.

This type of pathway could be structured as follows:

All freshmen explore careers and how they relate to their interests and aspirations
All sophomores get hands-on experience with postsecondary education such as a tour of a local college and or informational sessions with students currently in postsecondary education (should not be limited to only “traditional” college/university education)
- Assign specific questions as a blog post or journal prompt
All juniors get a career related hands-on experience such as a mini-internship
All seniors apply for some form of postsecondary education, and receive support
navigating options for financing postsecondary (FASFA, grants, loans, etc.)

TIPS

Big Plays are substantial efforts that take 6-18 months to fully accomplish.

Like this activity? Check out Inflexion’s full-page GO document for more ideas.

Categories: Organizational Structures

Tags: 21st Century Readiness, School Leaders, Shared Vision for Readiness, Student Empowerment, Student Experience

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INTRO

OBJECTIVES

RESOURCES

ACTIVITY

This type of pathway could be structured as follows:

TIPS

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