Lexington County School District One

The role of the career specialist is to expose students in grades k-12 to college and career readiness information. At the elementary level students participate in career awareness activities; middle school students participate in career exploration activities such as interest and values assessments and the 8th grade Individual Graduation Plan conference; and in high school students receive career guidance services to include interest skills and values assessments, job shadowing opportunities, internships, youth apprenticeships and cooperative learning opportunities that support choosing a cluster and major within the curriculum frameworks, as part of their annual Individual Graduation Plan Conference. At all levels career specialists sponsor field studies. Field studies are different from field trips in that the field study is intended to expose students to career related information relevant to their age group.

Career specialists are part of the Education and Economic Development Act’s (EEDA) initiative of Personal Pathways to Success and are required to complete the 120 hour Facilitating Career Development(FCD/CDF) Course and become GCDF certified as a Global Career Development Facilitator. They serve as part of the School Counseling team and implement the “Learning to Work” portion of the SC Comprehensive School Counseling Model on behalf of the Lexington School District One school counseling team. In addition, career specialists are certified in numerous programs that facilitate student college and career readiness. Such programs include the Microburst EmployABILITY skills program and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Step 1 and Step 2.

Please visit the official Career Specialist and Work–based Learning page.