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Incoming coordinator outlines plan to pilot Beable and World of Work, expand career-connected learning
Summary
At a Silver Lake Joint 1 School District board meeting, Samantha McGarvey, the district's incoming career and college readiness coordinator, described plans to pilot Beable and World of Work starting in junior high, integrate career awareness earlier in K—, and add a weekly career/college course in junior high. Pilot cost estimated about $3,000.
Samantha McGarvey, introduced at the board meeting as a grant-funded staff member who will serve next year as the district's career and college readiness coordinator, told the Silver Lake Joint 1 School District board the district will pilot career-connected learning tools and curriculum aimed at starting career exposure well before high school.
"We want to equip students with the academic, technical, and workplace-ready skills that they need for the 21st century," McGarvey told the board, saying the initiative aims to help students explore career pathways and make classroom learning feel more purposeful.
McGarvey and the district administrator said the district currently uses Xello, a state-paid college- and career-readiness platform, but plans to pilot alternatives that they said offer more hands-on, literacy-linked career exploration. The district administrator said the initial pilot cost would be modest: "So we—re just gonna pilot at ... I think $3,000 to pilot it." The presentation identified Beable (marketed as a literacy-plus-career platform) and World of Work (a career-readiness framework developed in Cajon Valley) as lead partners.
Board members asked about cost, evidence and scope. One board member urged third-party, peer-reviewed evidence before a wider adoption; the district administrator and McGarvey said the district plans to run a limited pilot next year for junior-high students and tie any expansion to observed outcomes and alignment with local labor-market data.
Plans described at the meeting include adding a career and college readiness course to the junior-high specials rotation (one day per week for all sixth through eighth graders), piloting Beable in junior high, integrating World of Work frameworks across grades, expanding employer partnerships and field experiences (including Junior Achievement BizTown and Build My Future trades events), and collaborating with local employers to build work-based learning opportunities.
The presenters said the long-term goal is to introduce career awareness as early as sixth grade and to integrate age-appropriate, career-connected learning into elementary classrooms so the work is not an "add on" but part of regular instruction. McGarvey said the district will involve the board, community employers, students and families to define a shared profile of graduate competencies.
The board did not take a formal vote on curriculum adoption at the meeting; presenters said next steps include a pilot, stakeholder conversations and a return to the board with details and cost estimates.
