Congratulations to CDO's National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholar!
Maria Pakulis
The counselors are continuing our classroom guidance lessons this week. We are going into all grade level English classrooms to help students update/start their ECAP's, talk about graduation requirements, college entrance requirements, upcoming events, and other important grade level relevant information. If you or your students have follow-up questions, we encourage you to make an appointment with your counselor to get further assistance.
Topic of the week: ECAP
An Education and Career Action Plan (ECAP) is a graduation requirement for all Arizona students beginning with the class of 2013. On February 25, 2008 the Arizona State Board of Education approved Education and Career Action Plans (ECAP) for all Arizona students in grades 9-12 (R7-2-302.05).
The Amphitheater district will be using a combination of the internet based AzCIS program and a hardcopy "ECAP Plan" sheet, in addition to the many other ECAP supporting activities offered on a regular basis to students and parents (i.e. college fairs, evening presentations, classroom guidance lessons, resume writing, etc.), to help students meet this requirement. AzCIS allows CDO students full time access to exploring, creating, and researching their ECAP.
The CDO counseling department will work in partnership with classroom teachers to assist students in using this program throughout the school year as they develop their ECAP. Students and parents are encouraged to log on to this system at any time and work together in developing a functional ECAP.
To access the AzCIS system, please visit www.azcis.intocareers.org and use the user name: canyondohs and password: 4azcis02. Students will then create their own accounts for future use.
The overall goal for the ECAP is to formulate a post high school career pathway. Each student is expected to have a clear plan to either be prepared to directly enter the workforce, attend a junior college, trade school, technical school, university or enter the military. Research shows that a well thought out post-high school plan offers a student an opportunity to meet with early success as they begin their journey toward a rewarding career.
The state of Arizona offers the following information regarding ECAP:
Why an ECAP?
A student's plan helps to personalize education and enables the student to maximize the opportunities available upon high school graduation.
Who is Involved in the ECAP Process?
Students, parents, and school personnel (i.e. counselors, teachers, administration, or career center staff) can work together to help guide the student in his/her choices for career and educational experiences. When students, parents and the school staff plan together, each student receives needed support to meet his/her Education and Career Action Planning (ECAP) goals.
What are the benefits of student Education & Career Action Plans?
Personalized planning, using ECAPS, will help students reach their academic and career goals and can impact student achievement and school improvement. Implementation of student personalized planning can reap the following benefits:
Benefits to Students:
- Provides valuable learning experiences in setting and attaining goals.
- Encourages personal involvement in their goal decisions.
- Provides an understanding of how education is relevant to achieving career goals.
Benefits to Parents:
- Provides families increased opportunities to be involved in their children's education.
- Increases student success.
- Informs decision making for life choices.
Benefits to Schools:
- Improves course enrollment patterns.
- Increases student achievement.
- Improves relationships between students, parents, schools, and community.
- Increases student attendance, motivation, and engagement in school.
- Increases extracurricular activity participation.
- Increases the number of students meeting postsecondary entrance requirements.
Benefits to Community:
- Develops a more qualified and motivated workforce.
- Promotes opportunities to be involved with education.
- Provides resources for internships and job shadowing opportunities
Upcoming College Visits:
- October 4, 8:00 am - Northern Arizona University
- October 4, 9:00 am - University of Redlands
- October 8, 9:00 am - FIDM
- October 9, 9:00 am - Pima Community College
- October 10, 8:30 am - University of San Diego
- October 11, 11:00 am - Gonzaga University
- Many, many more the week after Fall Break!
