Seventh Grade Student Career Aspirations and Academic Achievement

The study examined the proposition that a direct relationship exists between the career aspirations of seventh grade students and their academic achievement. A career aspirations survey was completed by and collected from 39 students from a suburban middle school of a northeastern United States city. In the analysis, career aspirations were categorized by the level of preparation needed to perform the stated career. The survey responses were subsequently compared to the GPA‟s of each respective student. Results indicated that most students, regardless of GPA, aspired to careers that required considerable to extensive preparation. The students holding the top 5 highest GPA‟s out of the sample aspired to careers in these two categories giving evidence to the validity of the proposition. Seventh Grade Student 5 Seventh Grade Student Career Aspirations and Academic Achievement The role of a school counselor differs from district to district, school to school and many times are not even clearly defined. One basic, universal role however, is the responsibility of the counselor to advocate for the students. Since this advocacy takes place in a school setting it is most times related to the students‟ academic success. Having a better understanding of student motivation as it relates to academic achievement in school, could greatly assist counselors in this role. Identifying and using motivators to assist students in their academic achievement is generally a process to be dealt with on an individual student-by-student basis. However, counselor awareness of general developmental trends concerning student motivation is likely to lead to more effective and efficient individualized academic plans for student success as well as age-appropriate instructional programs based upon the specific developmental needs of the students. The researcher has concentrated the research on aspired careers, as one such possible motivator of academic achievement. In this study, 7th grade student career aspirations were drawn upon due to the seeming lack of research on this topic related to middle school students. Because a correlational study was used, the possibility to conclude a cause and effect relationship between career aspirations and academic achievement does not exist. In other words, this research was not intended to determine whether or not career aspirations are a motivator for academic achievement but the purpose was rather to identify the relationship between career aspirations and academic success of seventh grade students. Seventh Grade Student 6 Review of the Literature In order to develop a basis for the possibility of a correlation between seventh grade student career aspirations and academic achievement, the first point of interest reviewed was the developmental level of the 7th grade student as related to career aspirations. Past research on educational and career aspirations are then discussed and related to the academic achievement of middle to high school students. This population, from middle to high school was researched due to the scarcity of studies on career aspirations and academic achievement involving 7th grade or even middle school students. Finally, sex differences among career choice were reviewed as well as limited research relating this to academic achievement. Some of the studies used to examine achievement in this review have used the words intelligence or ability (Byrns, 1939; Feingold, 1923; Livesay, 1942; Moser, 1949). Though achievement, intelligence and ability have distinct and individual meanings, there are close, intertwining relationships between these words. First, although it has been argued that there are many different kinds of intelligence and ways to define it, it is generally universally thought of in terms of ability (Hood & Johnson, 2002). Because of the complex nature of the term intelligence, counselors may refer to intelligence tests in terms of mental ability, cognitive ability, school ability or academic ability (Hood & Johnson, 2002). Next, ability is defined by a capacity to perform a mental or physical act while achievement could be seen as the actual completion of that act or series of actions (VandenBos, 2007). Therefore, although achievement does not necessarily define ability, it can be used as a measure to describe it. In conclusion, there are times in which achievement can be thought of in terms of intelligence or ability. For the purpose of this Seventh Grade Student 7 review, the studies reviewed using the terms intelligence and ability have been discussed in terms of achievement. Studies implemented in this review have used the terms vocational aspirations, occupational aspirations, and career aspirations to discuss a very similar concept. In the APA Dictionary of Psychology, occupations are defined as jobs or professions, and vocations are described as occupations (VandenBos, 2007). Career Aspirations are defined as long-term individual work related goals (VandenBos, 2007). From these definitions it can be concluded that vocational aspirations, occupational aspirations and career aspirations are relatively interchangeable and for the purpose of this review are all referred to as career aspirations. Gottfredson‟s (1981) definition of an occupational aspiration has been therefore justifiably used to define career aspirations. Gottfredson (1981) stated that an occupational aspiration is the single occupation named as one‟s best alternative based on compatibility and accessibility at any one given time. Career Development Theory Career theory attempts to answer such questions as “What is the best career for an individual? ”, “Why? ”, and “What factors are influential and important in making career related decisions? ”. Depending on which theorist is called upon there are a number of ways to answer that last question. For example, Roe‟s (1956) theory concentrated on the impact of early family relationships on career choice. Roe (1956) stated that a person chooses either a person oriented or non-person oriented career based upon how the individual was treated by his/her family as a child. Person oriented careers may include teacher, counselor, and nurse while non-person oriented careers may include engineer, astronomer, and computer programmer. Another example is Holland‟s (1985) theory Seventh Grade Student 8 that viewed personality as the primary factor related to career choice. He reported that people choose careers that best match the needs of a person‟s individual personality style (Holland, 1985). Holland determined that there were 6 personality styles and matching work environments: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional. Yet another example includes Krumboltz‟s (1979) theory of career development, which was based on the social learning theory and behaviorism. This theory incorporated three major factors into the generation of career decisions beginning with genetic endowment, which includes sex, race, and innate talents, environmental conditions, including cultural norms and economy, and finally a person‟s individual learning experiences, which assists with the development of work habits and problem solving skills. Because the current research seeks understanding of the developmental characteristics of a specific age group (7th grade students) this review has focused on theories primarily based upon that process. The work of Ginzberg, Ginsburg, Axlerad, and Herma, (1951) and Linda Gottfredson (1981) will be reviewed in an attempt to better understand the developmental stage of 7th grade students as it relates to their career decision making process. Super‟s (1953) life span developmental theory also referred to career choice as a developmental process and outlined specific stages of career development through a person‟s life, but unlike Ginzberg et al. (1951) and Gottfredson (1981) he did not focus his work on early developmental stages. Ginzberg, Ginsburg, Axlerad, & Herma. Ginzberg et al. (1951) were the first theorists to view career development as a lifelong process and also emphasize early development. A review of Ginzberg et al. (1951) described this general theory of career choice as a developmental process involving a series of decisions with largely irreversible Seventh Grade Student 9 effects (“Review of Occupational Choice,” 2008). Ginzberg‟s (1951) career development states that the irreversible effects in the individual are due to investments of time, money and ego. Following these investments, a career decision is made when an individual arrives at a compromise between interests, capacities, values and opportunities. Ginzberg‟s (1951) career development process occurs over a span of about 10 years and is broken down into three periods. The first period, fantasy choices, is influenced much by the child‟s wish to be an adult (Ginzberg et al. 1951). Next is tentative choices, a period determined first by interests, then capacities, and finally values (Ginzberg et al. 1951). Realistic choices, the last period of career development, begins at age 17, and involves exploratory, crystallization and specification phases (Ginzberg et al. 1951). Osipow (1968) describes this process in terms of the development of specific behaviors such as the ability to perform the reality testing task, the development of a mature time perspective, the ability to delay the gratification of desires, the ability to compromise, and the ability to identify with appropriate adult models. In order for mature career behavior to occur these abilities must be met by adolescence (Osipow, 1968). If they are not, the individual will be dissatisfied with his career choice and pursuit of a career (Osipow, 1968). According to Ginzberg et al. (1951), 7th grade students are most likely in the interest stage of the tentative choices period. Some 7th grade students will be starting to enter the capacity stage. Career choice at the interest stage is based primarily on