Purpose

Pennsylvania School Counselors are asked daily to help students get ready for college. Helping students in this multi-year college transition gets more complicated each year.

This website focuses on easing the Pennsylvania school counselor’s role in getting students to college, providing free downloadable resources that can be modified to meet your needs. Students, parents and other educators will also find the website invaluable as a single source of resources and links to help get Pennsylvania students to postsecondary education.

Career Development

Getting into any college in any major is not enough. Students need a strong foundation in career development to select the career that fits them, and then build the educational pathway to reach that career goal.

Career preparation is a process that takes time. Hence, integration of the Pennsylvania Career Education and Work Standards as part of the transition process is critical. Many elements of this integration can be found in this material. Students should be directed to the timeline and each year encouraged to follow the steps in the timeline.

Career & Technical Education

Pennsylvania career and technical education students can earn free college credits in their CTE curriculum. These credits, accepted in over twenty-five 2- and 4-year institutions in Pennsylvania, underscore that CTE students can go to college or go to the workforce.

The Career and Technical Education page provides information on the SOAR/POS program, the CTE programs, the colleges that accept the credit and the number of credits accepted. Most students can earn over 9 credits.

CTE is a great college option for students!

About Us

Outreach for K-12, Pennsylvania College of Technology, builds relationships with school districts, provides leadership to Penn College’s dual enrollment program and provides leadership to PDE in the implementation of the PA Career Education and Work Standards.

The office is funded by Penn College and a wide range of grants and contracts. The materials on this website combine materials created as part of contracts with Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency’s Creating Postsecondary Access Grants (PHEAA – CAPS) and materials created through the Career Development Leader’s Network with PA Department of Education’s Bureau of Career and Technical Education. Monica McCarty, a PA school counselor and school psychologist was a key contributor.

The office also manages the content on PA’s Toolkit for the implementation of the PA Career Education and Work standards, and manages the review process on the curriculum resources and materials for the CEW standards on the PA Standards Aligned System.