Running Head: INTERVIEW !

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Counseling Interview

Melissa Hanson: 000810735

Drake University

College and Career Readiness: COUN 286

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I was able to sit down with the professional school counselor within the Urbandale School

District, Jill Duffield. Duffield has been a counselor for about 20 years. She first stepped into

the education field as a classroom teacher and knew right away it was not something she could

do forever. I could see myself burning out very quickly in that position, but I knew I wanted to

continue to work with children, (Duffield, J., personal interview, June 10, 2016). Luckily

Duffield had some great school counselors at the time, which encouraged her to pursue a

masters degree in counseling (Duffield, J., personal interview, June 10, 2016).

After she graduated, Duffield found her niche at the high school level, I was able to work

with children individually and felt like I was able to connect with them on a different level than

those students at an elementary or middle school level, she recalled, (Duffield, J., personal

interview, June 10, 2016).

In relation to career and college readiness, Duffield explained how the Urbandale School

District was a college-going district. It has a graduation rate of 98%, and of the students who

graduate, 87% of those graduates go on to pursue some sort of post-secondary education. The

highest being: 37% going to a 2-year degree. Next would be 29% going to a 4-year public

college, then 19% going to a 4-year private college, and lastly 4% go on to some other post-

secondary schooling (Urbandale High School Profile, 2016).

What the district does to promote college and career readiness in the Urbandale School

District starts in 8th grade. Students start thinking about a 4-year plan for their upcoming

entrance into high school. This is intended to promote thought about their future. Not all

students know exactly what they want to do as eight graders, but this process starts to refine their
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interests, what classes they feel they excel at, and possible future careers (Duffield, J., personal

interview, June 10, 2016).

Before students come to high school the plan is reviewed and may change as their interests

and thoughts around their futures change, it is a working document, she says, but it does get

them to start and relate classes and school to future endeavors (Duffield, J., personal interview,

June 10, 2016). Students also begin a college and career readiness program called Naviance, as

8th graders. Hobsons, the company which created Naviance, defines it as a comprehensive K-12

college and career readiness platform that enables self-discovery, career exploration, academic

planning, and college preparation for millions of students around the globe. Even though

students can use Naviance at a young age, Urbandale does not start having students begin the

program until they are in 8th grade. Urbandale went away with, I Have a Plan, and adopted

Naviance because, I Have a Plan never updated itself, explained Duffield (Duffield, J.,

personal interview, June 10, 2016). She explained how the program was out of date and did not

stay current with the most up-and-coming careers, as well as, salaries of careers now-a-days.

Both which are needed when looking at a comprehensive program to help guide a conversation

for school counselors or teachers around students future career plan.

Teachers of freshmen within the Urbandale school district decided to take on an entire unit

devoted to Careers. They bring in guest speakers, and allow all students to go to different

college visits with parent chaperones. Students start to define their future career goals and can

start to refine or edit their 4-year plan with their counselor, as interests in a future careers start to

be defined. Students also begin to see how their education is connected to the job they want to
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pursue and an intrinsic motivation beings to occur, (Duffield, J., personal interview, June 10,

2016).

Nothing is done at the tenth grade level to promote college and career readiness, and the

next time it is discussed is as juniors in high school. The counselors begin to meet with every

student in a class-size basis to discuss with them scholarships, financial aid, different post

secondary options, and future plans. When asked how the conversation goes with some of the

students who are not interested in doing anything after college, Duffield explained how

Urbandales at risk teacher does a nice job of promoting college and career options to those

students. It sounded like there were a lot of different things including: job shadows, guest

speakers, and field trips, that this particular teacher does. Duffield wished that this happened for

ALL students, not just the at risk students, but funds are limited (Duffield, J., personal interview,

June 10, 2016).

When speaking one-on-one with students who are hesitant to go to college, Duffield

usually says she can convince the student to just take a couple of night classes or online classes

while they are working so they can keep that college door open. They will slowly take

courses, anxieties about school will start to fade, and they are chipping away at a degree of some

sort, says Duffield (Duffield, J., personal interview, June 10, 2016).

I really liked her reasoning here; It is allowing students the time they need if they do not

know what they want to do yet, but is also keeping their foot in the doorway of college. When

asked about if she ever tells students to, take a gap year, she told me she hardly ever does that

unless they really have no idea, which is rare. I could understand this idea because, when
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students take a gap year they are removing themselves completely from the routine of school and

it could be very hard for them to return.

When asked if Urbandale does any college and career readiness at the elementary level,

Duffield explained she was unsure what they do at an elementary level or how they prep students

for college and future career endeavors. Knowing how important college and career readiness

is, I found this to be a hole in the college and career readiness plan of Urbandale school

districts. There must be a conversation around college and career readiness in all district, and it

should start occurring across grade levels!

When hearing everything Urbandale does for their students, I felt some of it seemed

routine; something every school mandates. Nothing stood out to me as the district going above

and beyond to promote career and college readiness for their students. The Iowa School Report

Card confirms this idea. Urbandale High School performed at 34% in college and career

readiness. Meaning 34% of their students are growing each year in their college and career

readiness. This number is interesting to me because if we look at the percentage of students that

go to some sort of post secondary education, Urbandale has 87%. Yet, I wonder how many of

those students, who go on to college, end up graduating with some sort of degree versus drop

out?

I also understand families like percentages in districts. It lets them know if their school is

doing a good job, but the real percentages we should be looking at are the percentages of

students who get some sort of degree or certificate after college. I wonder what percentage that

would show within Urbandale?

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When we talked about, noncognitive skills and the importance those play in the readiness

of students in college, Duffield told me that teachers usually embed those skills within the

classroom. The counselors also offer specific lessons teachers can do during advisory period.

She told me that there were certain barriers within the advisory period time frame though. It is

only nine minutes three days a week and 20 minutes the other two, so really instruction can only

happen only days a week. She also explained how all teachers were not doing the lessons, and

sometimes she would walk into an advisory period where the teacher was using the time as

another study hall. Nonproductive to say the least! (Duffield, J., personal interview, June 10,

2016).

Overall, as I did this interview I really thought what Urbandale school district is probably

pretty typical for most schools in the country. Yes, you can have freshman teachers who do an

entire unit on careers. Yes, you can have students create a long term plan to help them define

their future goals. Yes, you can meet with students to discuss this plan. Yes, you can start

students on a technology program which helps them understand their strengths and what possible

careers are in their future. Yes, all of these ideas are good ideas! But until you get ALL teachers

on board, ALL students excited, ALL students motivation, ALL students believing college or a

career is a possibility in their future, then you are not doing ALL you can do. For the sake of

future generations, more needs to be done for our students in the area of college and career

readiness.

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References

Department of Education. (2016). Urbandale High School 2015. Retrieved on June 15, 2016,

from: http://reports.educateiowa.gov/schoolreportcard/home/index/~

Hobsons, (2016). Retrieved on June 15, 2016 from: http://www.naviance.com/

Urbandale High School Profile. (2016). 2015-2016 annual report. Des Moines, Iowa: Author.