<p>I disagree with happy1. My D’s school is a 6-12th grade school and they have a college/career readiness person who works with them beginning in 6th grade. The school has a large population of first-gen and low-income kids, so this is really important work. Of course, at that age, they don’t do a LOT, but they explore careers along the lines of what they’re good at, what they enjoy doing, and what kind of education is needed to do those jobs. They meet as a class about once every couple of months. But, the idea id planted to at least think about the future. The following year they start looking at colleges-btw, all of their work is done online-no books.By looking, they might choose an occupation, and do a search of what kind of colleges offer the major required. Also, and this would be free-they have people in a wide range of jobs come in and talk to the kids about their careers and education. It’s very popular and of course, gets kids interested.</p>
<p>In HS the kids meet with the counselor more often, and they are taught about the NPC, FAFSA, how to search out scholarships, in addition to more exploration of careers and colleges in general. They also take the PSAT for practice, and go to the district’s college fair. They continue with visiting professionals. Actually applying to colleges is part of the curriculum so each year they work on narrowing down the list-basically much of what we see here on CC. </p>
<p>I really can’t help with books, but my older D found some help in “What Color IS Your Parachute” for teens. But honestly, I think most kids today are more web-aware than wanting to read hard copy books. My high schooler and her friends love discovering new websites related to this topic. I can get the names if you’re interested.</p>