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Cypress School District expands K–6 career-readiness curriculum with OC Pathways grant
Summary
District staff told trustees Jan. 14 that Cypress is embedding John Holland’s RIASEC career-awareness framework across TK–6 classrooms under a three-year OC Pathways grant, reporting early uptake in grades 3–6 and plans for a district showcase and an April walkthrough for visiting counselors.
Jean Wu and Melinda Steele, district instructional leaders, told the Cypress School District Board of Trustees on Jan. 14 that the district is embedding career-awareness lessons in TK–6 classes using the RIASEC framework developed by John Holland and supported through a three-year grant from OC Pathways in partnership with the Orange County Department of Education.
The presentation said the RIASEC model — ‘‘realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional’’ — is being used to structure hands-on classroom activities and short career conversations linked to existing STEM units. ‘‘The RIASEC refers to John Holland’s 6 personality types,’’ Jean Wu said as she summarized how the approach connects classroom content to potential careers.
Melinda Steele described how the rollout has progressed: every STEM unit TK–6 now ends with a career-embedded lesson, and district materials include demonstration videos and teacher slide decks. Steele said 100% of teachers have reported RIASEC codes and that about 51 of 67 third- through sixth-grade classes had reported student RIASEC codes; staff reported that more than 75% of third–sixth grade students have submitted codes in some form. ‘‘We plan on making more videos like this to share all the great things happening at Vessels,’’ Steele said of the instructional resources.
The grant-funded work includes play-based rotations and activity centers for TK–2, small-group stations for older students, family workshops to explain RIASEC to parents, and a plan to upload demo lessons to the district website so teachers can model the approach. Steele said the district expects to collect baseline and end-of-year student surveys through OC Pathways; staff have not yet received the survey results.
District staff also said Cypress was invited to a schoolwide walkthrough on Monday, April 14, when OC Pathways will bring approximately 30 middle- and high-school counselors to view elementary-level career-readiness work, and that Cypress will participate in the OC Pathways Showcase. Steele said staff are working with Anaheim Union High School District to smooth transitions so elementary career awareness aligns with middle- and high-school pathways.
Trustees asked how the curriculum is created and whether it adds work for teachers; staff said it is primarily developed by the district’s teachers of standards and assessment (TOSAs) in collaboration with the educator cooperative and is designed to be embedded in existing lessons rather than layered on as extra work. Staff said student RIASEC reports are captured in Seesaw or Google portfolios so progression can be tracked when teachers use those platforms.
Next steps listed by staff include conducting demo lessons across sites, collecting and reporting baseline survey data, holding family workshops, preparing the April walkthrough and the OC Pathways Showcase, and uploading lesson exemplars to the district’s MTSS/curriculum site for teacher access.
