Career Exploration Strategies for Middle and High School: Tips from a Colorado CTE Director

Ryan Mandarich knows career exploration is inspiring students at Pueblo County School District 70 (D70) in Colorado; one of them lives in his house. His daughter is among the approximately 5,000 high school and middle school students who have access to MajorClarity, and she often comes home talking about the careers she’s learning about and the pathways she’s considering.

At a broader level, Mandarich, the district’s CTE director and a former science teacher, is paying close attention to what students explore, how staff are supporting them, and where the district can improve the experience to benefit more students. Here are a few things he shared about his district’s experience in fine-tuning their career readiness programs.

Early Career Exploration Drives Focused High School Conversations

At D70, many students, like Mandarich’s daughter, start using MajorClarity during middle school homeroom. At that point they aren’t choosing career paths, but they have room to look around, and Mandarich sees value in that exposure. 

When younger students can spend time noticing what interests them, learning about careers they may not have encountered before, and talking about it with their families, all of that informs the conversations they’ll have in high school, as counselors help them connect their interests with courses and potential postsecondary pathways. 

By the time students are transitioning from eighth to ninth grade, many have built years of career and college exploration history, and D70 is working with Edmentum to provide reporting to make that information easier for counselors to reference as students begin choosing high school courses. 

“Students have spent three years working through MajorClarity, looking at career pathways, college choices, and things like that,” he said. “It will be great to have all that information in hand as they go into the scheduling process.”

About 75% to 80% of the district’s high school students are now using MajorClarity, and Mandarich wants to build on that success by bringing career conversations into more classrooms.

Student Career Interests Can Surprise Even Experienced CTE Leaders

“Health, nursing, and medical fields are by far our biggest pathway areas right now,” said Mandarich, adding that he was surprised to see so much interest in medical and BioMed careers. He expected agriculture, engineering, and manufacturing to attract attention in the rural district, and they do, but health and medical careers have risen to the top.

That’s one reason he values the data students generate through career exploration in MajorClarity. It gives D70 a view of student interest that isn’t based solely on assumptions and expectations. Administrators and school counselors can review pathway selections along with platform usage, work-based learning participation, industry certificates, and college-going information to get a better understanding of what students are considering and which programs they should be expanding.

Teacher Buy-In Starts with Professional Development and Training

“If you want teacher buy-in, you have to make sure everyone is trained and feels confident using the platform,” Mandarich explained.

He has observed a significant improvement in this area since MajorClarity joined Edmentum. The tool is now incorporated into professional development in D70, and Mandarich plans to create more opportunities for educators and building administrators to optimize their use.

He also sees countless opportunities for teachers to connect academic content with the career paths that will require it. That doesn’t mean turning every class into a career lesson; it can be as simple as mentioning where a concept appears outside of school or pointing students toward a related field they may want to explore.

Ongoing Data Reviews Help Improve Participation and Engagement

D70 meets regularly with their Edmentum customer success team to review usage trends, pathway choices, and areas where participation is lower. Mandarich said those ongoing discussions have helped the district focus its efforts and build momentum.

“We saw improvement from semester one to semester two through the conversations we were having,” he shared, noting how regular check-ins encouraged the district to increase usage and prioritize teacher training.

Looking Ahead: Pueblo D70’s Priorities for CTE Expansion

Building on this momentum, D70 is focused on scaling the impact of its career readiness initiatives. The district’s next priorities include:

• Expanded training to ensure that all teachers and administrators are comfortable with the platform.
• Classroom integration that brings more career conversations directly into daily core instruction.
• Enhanced reporting to make better use of analytics to track progress and identify where usage is strong or uneven.
• Earlier exposure, bringing career exploration opportunities to students in fourth and fifth grade.

“We’re doing well with MajorClarity,” Mandarich concluded. “Our students are exploring careers, counselors are engaged, and overall participation has improved.” 

And now, the goal is to continue that momentum, leveraging MajorClarity to turn those early sparks of career interest into a foundation for relevant coursework and clear postsecondary plans.