Dear Parents/Guardians:

In the 21^st century, unlimited opportunities await your child. The decisions we make about careers and educational opportunities and activities are critical to our sense of well being and self worth. To help our students make responsible and informed decisions about the future, the Carman-Ainsworth Community School District has integrated career exploration and educational planning into your child’s K-12 curriculum. As part of this process, each year all 8^th-12^th graders will create and update their electronic Educational Development Plan (EDP). These EDPs are web-based and may be viewed and updated by students and parents at home.

Your child needs to create his/her own future, one connection at a time starting today. The best way to predict the future is to invent it yourself. Inventing your future takes courage and the ability to set goals and follow through on plans that help you meet those goals.

There are three central questions that your child needs to be able to answer:

• Who am I?
• Where am I going?
• How will I get there?

You will be receiving a pamphlet explaining the electronic EDP and how students and parents can access the system with their student’s ID and password. We encourage you to visit www.careercruising.com at home with your child. Moreover, we encourage you to talk with your child about this process and help guide him/her in making decisions about activities, classes, volunteering and work experiences. Increasing emphasis is being placed on EDPs by employers and post-secondary institutions.  Your support throughout this process becomes more imperative each school year. 

All eighth and tenth-grade students will take an interest and aptitude assessment. This test helps gauge a student’s ability to learn and/or succeed in various fields.  Parents will receive a copy of their child’s test results along with a comprehensive explanation about interpreting results and career planning. However, it must be understood, that it is natural for students to revise and change career interests as they grow and develop.

To ensure that your child gets the most from his/her high school schedule, the Guidance Department will be working with students to create a tentative Four-Year course selection plan for high school; connecting current career interests and aptitudes with appropriate high school classes. Please understand that this is only a tentative plan which will be reviewed/revised each school year.  Your child will bring his/her EDP and Four-Year plan home to be signed by you each year. The Federal “No Child Left Behind” legislation and our district require an up-to-date, endorsed, EDP/Four-Year plan for each student each school year.

Your child will complete their EDP in their Computers & Careers or Computer Essentials classes either 1^st or 2^nd semester; depending on when they are scheduled for the course.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us 591-3500.

Sincerely,

Mr. Taylor Chapman

Mrs. Wendy McCombs

Mrs. Crystal Abramson