(Editorís note: The following article is the first in a series of articles related to education in this country.)According to a study conducted by Georgetown University, 65 percent of the jobs in the nation will require a postsecondary education by the year 2020. The results also show that, in Colorado, 74 percent of jobs will require some type of schooling after high school. Amber Whetstine, executive director of learning services for Falcon School District 49, said the report on job projection makes obtaining a meaningful elementary, middle and high school education vital.ìColorado ranks 48th in the country for jobs for high school graduates (with no postsecondary education),î Whetstine said. ìColorado is one of the states that is highly dependent on a highly educated workforce.ìThe state of Colorado has come up with new graduation guidelines across the state to focus on the statistics so that all districts are preparing students with a more rigorous high school education so they have the option to go to some type of postsecondary education.îAccording to the Colorado Department of Educationís website, ìHouse Bill 07-1118 was passed into law in 2007 requiring the development of statewide high school graduation guidelines that local school boards must meet or exceed. During the 2014-15 academic year, districts will enter the first phase of Graduation Guidelines implementation, which includes utilization of Coloradoís Academic Standards, demonstrations of 21st Century Skills, and incorporation of ICAP as a college and career planning tool.îìICAP stands for Individual Career and Academic Plan,î Whetstine said. ìThrough ICAP, weíre really focusing on training teachers and counselors and talking to parents and students about creating an individual pathway to meet their (students) interests.ìWe really want to begin to help students shape a path beginning in middle school with their career and academic plans in their interest areas to put them on the path with many options. It could be a trade area or college.îìNot everyone is cut out for college,î said Mary Perez, D 49 director of concurrent enrollment. ìWe need the people with those (skilled trade) certifications. They are meaningful and important jobs. We need to give kids enough resources and experience before they finish high school so we can help them make those big decisions about what they want to do with their lives. Itís not about where you go to school anymore; itís about what you can do.ìICAP is becoming the basis around which all middle and high school is going, as far as helping students with the very difficult decision of what they want to do,î Perez said. ìWeíre trying to put some relevance into education.îConversations about future education and career plans begin in sixth grade, Perez said. ìWe ask them, ëWho are you, what do you like?íî she said. ìThey may not know what that means for college and college majors, but we can help them by figuring out what makes them tick Ö ICAP is the beginning of helping out students make a connection with what theyíre doing in school with what theyíd like to be one day. We start in sixth grade; and, by the time theyíve hit high school, theyíve been asked numerous times about what they are interested in.îThroughout the rest of their middle and high school careers, the ICAP process provides mapped-out grade level milestones and resources to help align parents, students and teachers with each studentís direction and goals, she said.ìWhen our students graduate high school, it will no longer be that they served the required amount of time in a seat but that they achieve goals for their academic plan,î Whetstine said. ìWe believe that every student is different and has different passions and different needs and different talents, and we want to foster that as a way to ensure that all of our students have the opportunity to be highly successful in the workforce.îPerez said of the estimated three million jobs that will be available in Colorado by 2020, 32 percent of them will require an associateís degree or some type of certification. She said that 29 percent of those jobs will require a bachelorís degree and 12 percent will require a masterís degree or higher.Whetstine said the ICAP process should allow all D 49 students a chance to meet the new graduation requirements, and prepare them for a place in the workforce of the future. ìWe are embracing the new graduation guidelines and are excited about them,î she said. ìThey really echo our philosophy that we want all of our students to be prepared for life after high school.î
