Career Readiness Takes Time. Pennsylvania’s Montour School District Is Giving Students Room to Explore.

“We’re not just focusing on helping students put together a career plan that may be executed down the road somewhere,” said Dominic Salpeck, Montour School District’s Director of Instruction and Academic Achievement. “We want students to actually be ready for careers upon high school graduation.”

The suburban western Pennsylvania district is building a robust career readiness system that starts with elementary school exploration, grows through middle school, and helps students build a concrete postsecondary plan as they move through high school. Key to this work is MajorClarity, the comprehensive career exploration and readiness platform they'll be rolling out to about 2,700 students in the 2026–27 school year.

Why the District Chose MajorClarity for Career Exploration

Montour was using multiple tools to support career planning, related student services, and Parchment-related transcript needs, and they wanted to address the fragmentation with a solution that could bring all that work together. They piloted MajorClarity and found that it checked all those boxes—and consolidating the tools even saved the district a few thousand dollars.

But cost wasn’t the only reason they’re moving from pilot to full implementation. 

“When we initially looked at MajorClarity, I was most enamored by the career clusters,” Salpeck said. “They would give our kids the ability to get a deep look and some really high-level exposure.”

He also points to MajorClarity’s planning tools, artifact collection, and customization as important parts of the decision. “It’s not just a canned program,” he said. “The Edmentum team has been very willing to work with us and tailor to our specific needs.”

Career-Connected Learning Starts Long Before High School

Career exploration will begin as early as second grade, as young students begin exploring career clusters through age-appropriate materials, videos, classroom conversations, and take-home resources. They don’t choose career paths at that age, of course, but they can simply begin to notice what interests them, learn about different kinds of work, and see how their learning connects to the world outside the classroom.

Teachers will help guide the process, especially with reading and discussion, and families will be part of the early work. Montour plans to send materials home so students can continue the conversation outside of school.

Salpeck believes strongly in bringing families into career exploration early on, rather than waiting until high school, and the value of doing so is backed by research. “When you begin to initiate that at an earlier age, families continue to talk to their kids more frequently about career,” he says, “and are more apt to have open dialogue with the schools about career planning and future planning for their students.”

What the Student Progression Looks Like

“The ninth-grade counselor will begin to produce a career plan with the students,” Salpeck said. “That plan will follow them all the way through 12th grade.” 

Montour’s model will build year upon year. MajorClarity will support career cluster exploration, individual career planning, and artifact collection tied to the Future Ready PA Index, including several key junctures:

• Elementary school: Students begin career cluster exploration and start building awareness.
• End of grade 5: Students collect six career readiness artifacts.
• End of grade 8: Students collect six more artifacts, while interest inventories and skill-related assessments help inform the transition to high school.
• Grade 9: Counselors begin creating individual career plans with students.
• High school: Those plans follow students through 12th grade as they connect interests to courses, credentials, and work-based learning opportunities.
• End of grade 11: Students collect eight additional artifacts.
• Graduation: Students check back in with their counselor to review their progress and think about what comes next.

Career Readiness Beyond the College-or-Career Divide

One thing Montour isn’t doing is framing career readiness as an alternative to college. The goal is to give students more options before, during, and after postsecondary education. 

“Give them a real profession while they pursue the profession they want,” he explained, sharing the example of a student interested in electrical engineering. For that student, career readiness could mean pairing college preparation with hands-on electrical training during high school. An industry-recognized credential or pre-apprenticeship experience wouldn’t replace the engineering goal, but it could give the student practical field experience and a stronger foundation for the advanced concepts they’ll encounter later on.

That idea is shaping how the district approaches career-connected learning and existing high school classes, with plans to use Edmentum Courseware to expand CTE course options. For instance, the district’s physics teacher is exploring whether electrician-related programming could fit into Physics 2, where students already learn about electrical concepts.

And Montour is looking beyond the classroom. Existing local partnerships include BotsIQ, which is connected to a Department of Labor-recognized robotics technician certification. As students earn credentials through programs like that, those partnerships could open more doors to local companies, apprenticeships, employment, or additional training after graduation.

Making Career Readiness More Than a Graduation Requirement

Montour knows that a diploma means more when it comes with direction. They're building a system that starts career exploration early and follows each student through high school with a concrete structure for planning, giving students plenty of time to explore their interests and gain a deep understanding of their options. 

And when graduation day arrives, those students will be ready to turn all that exploration into plans they can carry forward with confidence.

Districts interested in MajorClarity can learn more about it here.