Workforce Readiness at Conard High School

Chelsea Rodriguez
 Conard High School
• Location: 110 Beechwood Road, West Hartford, CT 06107
• Enrollment: 1,425 Students
• Principal: Julio Duarte

Mission Statement: We challenge and guide our students to be active learners and
productive citizens.
School Demographics
 Dear Parent/Guardian of _____________,

Your student has indicated that they have chosen employment as their post-secondary plan.
As your student approaches their high school graduation and the workforce after high school,
we wanted to help support them by giving them the tools to navigate this process. Areas of
focus will include:

● Resume Building
● Cover Letter
● Modes of Transportation
● Job Search and Job Applications
● Interviewing Skills and Online Presence

Letter to
● Future Training/Educational Opportunities
● Understanding Promotions

Although these are the range of topics that will be discussed and focused on, each session will

Families
be tailored to your student so that they can gain the most knowledge and practicality out of
our sessions as possible. Our goal is to help them either find employment opportunities or
help put them on that path by the end of the school year.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us or your student’s
counselor. We look forward to working with your student and helping them prepare to enter
the workforce.

Sincerely,

Chelsea Rodriguez Simmi Miranda

Conard School Counseling Intern Conard School Counseling Intern
chelsea_rodriguez1@whps.org simmi_miranda@whps.org
ASCA Standards (Mindset Standards)

• M 2 Self-confidence in ability to succeed

• M 5. Belief in using abilities to their fullest to
achieve high-quality results and outcomes
• M 6. Positive attitude toward work and learning
ASCA Standards(Behavior Standards)
Learning Strategies
Learning strategies
B-LS 1. Demonstrate
critical-thinking skills to
make informed decisions
B-LS 4. Apply self-
motivation and self-
direction to learning
B-LS 5. Apply media and
technology skills
B-LS 7. Identify long- and
short-term academic,
career and social/
emotional goals
Self-Management Skills Social Skills
B-SMS 1. Demonstrate B-SS 1. Use effective oral
ability to assume and written communication
responsibility skills and
B-SMS 3. Demonstrate listening skills
ability to work B-SS 3. Create
independently relationships with adults
that support success
B-SS 8. Demonstrate
advocacy skills and ability
to assert self, when
necessary
B-SS 9. Demonstrate
social maturity and
behaviors appropriate to
the
situation and environment
Baseline and Projected Data
 Implementation
• The school counseling intern will work with the senior population.
• The project will be divided into 8 different lessons.
• The school counseling intern and the student will meet for a one on one
session for their lessons. If the student does not need a specific lesson,
the intern will then move onto the next lesson.
• The intern will collect data by administering a Likert scale questionnaire
after each session in order to measure the effectiveness of each lesson.
 Lessons
1. Meet and
2. Resume 3. Cover
Greet +
Building Letter
Introduction
6.
4. Modes of 5. Job Search Interviewing
Transportatio and Skills and
n Applications Online
Presence
7. Future
Training/Adva 8. Wrap Up
ncements
 Name: ____________________________________ Date: ___________________

Workforce Readiness: What Do You Know?

Dire c tio ns : Fo r e ac h que s tio n, ple as e g ive yo ur be s t re s po ns e . If the que s tio n has a
rating s c ale , ple as e no te that 1 is le as t c o mfo rtable and 5 is mo s t c o mfo rtable .

1.) How comfortable are you with building a resume?

1 ….. 2 ….. 3 ….. 4 ….. 5…..

2.) How comfortable are you in your knowledge of what a cover letter is?

1 ….. 2 ….. 3 ….. 4 ….. 5…..

Pre and 3.) What is your mode of transportation?

4.) Have you ever had a job interview?

Post Test 5.) If yes, how comfortable do you feel being interviewed on a scale of 1 to 5?

1 ….. 2 ….. 3 ….. 4 ….. 5…..

6.) How comfortable are you in using the internet to job search?

1 ….. 2 ….. 3 ….. 4 ….. 5…..

7.) How comfortable do you feel about asking for high up positions or advancements?

1 ….. 2 ….. 3 ….. 4 ….. 5…..

8.) How comfortable are you using social media tools for job searching?

1 ….. 2 ….. 3 ….. 4 ….. 5…..

 SMART Goal

BY 06/10/2020, employment seeking seniors who are not college

bound will increase their workforce preparedness and report a
job or jobs applied too when polled during the 2019-2020
academic year, a 100% increase from the previous school year.
 Specific Strategies
• School Counseling Intern- Intern will meet with students individually to implement lessons. School
counseling intern will work with other counselors as needed.
• Administrators- Intern will work with administration in order to get approval for the project as well
as funding for the field trip. Intern will further work with administration on an as needed basis.
• Career Specialist- Intern will work with business owners and leaders for ideas and/or feedback on
entering the workforce without a higher education degree. Intern will have 1 or 2 professionals sit in
on one meeting each with students.
• Parent/Teacher Association- Intern will work with PTO association for possible funding for field
trip if unable to obtain through school.
 Specific Strategies (cont.)
• School Psychologist and Social Workers- Intern will keep school
psychologist and/or social worker informed if something problematic
comes up regarding students’ mental health.
• Community Agency Members-Possible collaboration with outside
members for employment guidance.
• Resources-Grant money for transportation to travel to job fair as well as
technology access.
 Results
Due to the global pandemic of Coronavirus Covid-19,
results were inclusive. Due to the nature of this data
project, the intern aligned the eight-week project to
coincide with the ending of the school year. Therefore,
lessons were not able to be implemented before school
terminated in-school learning indefinitely.
 What Could Have Worked
• The one-on-one individual meetings. At first, the intern was going to
hold small groups of students in order to implement lessons. However,
since students are at different stages in their workforce readiness, intern
decided to meet with students separately.
• Bringing individuals from outside companies to explain the hiring
process as well as how to climb the career ladder without a college
degree.
What May Have Not Worked
If I were not able to coordinate business leaders or secure funding
for a job fair field trip, it would have changed the outcome of the
project immensely. These two significant pieces are fundamental to
the integrity of the project.
What Could Have Been Done Differently

Rather than meet individually, the intern could have met with
students in pairs. This could have helped with accountability and
motivation purposes.
 Possible Systemic Change
The goal of this data project is to put into effect a permanent model to assist
students going into the workforce. This project is intended to help students
prepare for the workforce and have the tools and skills necessary to enter it
without a college degree and to ensure that all students at Conard High
School have a plan upon graduation. Ultimately, the incoming school
counseling interns would be tasked to run this eight-week model for the
unforeseeable future under the guidance of the director of school counseling.