As with any academic program, regardless of the efforts put forth by teachers and administrators, Career Pathways depends on support from parents to be successful.

• Encourage your teen to investigate jobs and careers.
• Stress to your teen that for now, school is his or her work. Attendance is important.
• Explore with your teen, without being judgmental, his or her personal talents and strengths.
• Help your teen experience first hand as many different jobs, businesses and professions as possible through activities such as job shadowing, internships, cooperative education, mentoring, student apprenticeships, and taking your teen to work programs.
• Provide as many opportunities as you can for your teen to learn technology. Encourage computer literacy and technology exploration courses. Career Pathways combines the last two years of high school with two years of post secondary education to prepare students for many of the high-skill jobs that require more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year degree.
• Encourage your school administrators and teachers to expose students to career choices through field trips, career fairs, and class speakers who focus on careers and career paths.
• Guide your teen toward acquiring skills. Both "head" and "hand" skills are required to be successful.
• Talk to your teen about successful employment as a goal for his or her education.
• Give your teen responsibility, the more the better. Young people need to learn that we all have to carry our own weight, that we all are important, and that people rely on us to get things done.
• Suggest that your teen consider career opportunities previously associated with the opposite gender. There are often excellent job opportunities for those not traditionally associated with a particular career. For example, many men now study nursing, and many women study engineering.

Career Pathways can provide you with peace of mind since it prepares your teen for the rigors of college work and provides career preparation along the way. It saves your family money when your teen completes an articulated course in high school. The program helps motivate your teen by clearly defining educational and career goals, and students are able to build on their successes with a clear plan for the future.

Career Pathways also answers the age old question, "Why do I need to know this?" We all remember taking courses in high school thinking that they would never be applied in "real life." This program helps make the educational process clear for your teen.

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