Date

9-2012

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Chair

Amanda Rockinson-Szapkiw

Primary Subject Area

Education, General; Education, Secondary; Education, Vocational; Education, Sociology of; Education, Guidance and Counseling; Education, Educational Psychology

Keywords

Adolescence, Career Development, Career Self-Efficacy, CDSE-SF, Middle School, Virginia Career View

Disciplines

Curriculum and Instruction | Education | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Educational Psychology | Student Counseling and Personnel Services

Abstract

Across the country students are graduating from high school without the career knowledge and skills they need to be successful in today's global economy. In response, school officials are considering career development as an essential component for adolescent education. In the state of Virginia, the Virginia Career View program has been designed to assist school personnel with the career education of middle school students. This quantitative research study measured the effectiveness of the Virginia Career View program on 7th grade students' career pathway identification and career self-efficacy. Upon completion of the program, students in the experimental group and control group completed the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale - Short Form. This study included 148 randomly assigned 7th grade students from Alpha Middle School. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to analyze the association between the dependent variable, career self-efficacy, based on the independent variable, Virginia Career View. A Pearson's chi-square analysis was used to analyze the relationship between the experimental group's and the control group's ability to identify a career pathway that matched their career interests and skills. Results showed statistically significant differences between groups, and the null hypotheses for both research questions were rejected.

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