Broadening Career Horizons for Students in At-Risk Environments

Researchers and practitioners embarked on a collaborative venture to develop, implement, and evaluate a career intervention program for 7th grade students who were at-risk for vocational underachievement. Students participating in the Career Horizons Program demonstrated enhanced confidence in performing tasks related to investigating, selecting, and implementing a career choice. They also considered a greater number of careers and selected those that were congruent with their interests. No change was found in confidence regarding degree of self-knowledge. Suggestions are provided for improving on the development and evaluation of career exploration programs to enhance career self-efficacy and broaden the career horizons of students in at-risk environments. Children today face many challenges and societal problems that impinge on access to educational and vocational opportunities. Increasing numbers of children fail to complete high school, with factors including socioeconomic status, gender, and ethnicity contributing to high school attrition (DeBolt, Pasley, & Kreutzer, 1990). Although researchers have focused on children who are experiencing emotional or behavioral problems, few studies or interventions target students who are clearly at-risk but not currently demonstrating difficulties (Black & Krishnakumar, 1998). Many of these students may evidence low levels of confidence in their ability to pursue careerrelated tasks (Arbona & Novy,1991; Hackett & Byars,1996; Lauver & Jones, 1991). In addition, students in at-risk environments (due to socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity, or parents' educational status) may circumscribe their career choices (Betz & Fitzgerald, 1987; Church, Teresa, Rosebrook, & Szendre, 1992; Smith, 1980) or select careers that are incongruent with their abilities and interests (Betz,1994; Bowman,1995; Leonard,1985). Unfortunately, few middle schools adequately address the career development of students in at-risk environments despite evidence to indicate that interventions can enhance academic performance, facilitate high school completion, and encourage postsecondary education (Evans & Burck,1992; Hoffman & McDaniels, 1991; Rea-Poteat & Martin, 1991). Thus, the purpose of this article is to describe the development and evaluation of the Career Horizons Program for 7th grade students who were at-risk for vocational underachievement. The Career Horizons Program is predicated on the assumption that career development is an ongoing, life-long process in which students must accomplish a series of tasks appropriate for their developmental level, to progress successfully in vocational decision making (Starr & Gysbers, 1992). The recommended focus of vocational development for middle school students focuses on learning more about the skills and attitudes needed to engage in the process of career development (e.g., accessing career information, understanding gender role stereotyping), and obtaining self-knowledge and skills to engage in vocational planning and success (e.g., decisionmaking skills, positive self-concept; National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee [NOICC], 1989). It is also important for middle school students to begin to connect their aptitudes and abilities with broad areas of occupational interests to enable students to later consider careers that are congruent with their abilities and interests (NOICC, 1989). Within these broad areas of occupational interests, middle school students also are encouraged to increase the number of careers under consideration (NOICC,1989). In fact, researchers have pointed to exploration of career choices as critically important for students at this age (Isaacson & Brown,1997). Historically, many students in at-risk environments and girls in general have limited their careers in math and science-related occupations (Betz & Hackett,1981; Hill, Pettus, & Hedin, 1990). …