Date of Award

5-2018

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Curriculum & Instruction

Committee Chair

James P. Greenan

Committee Member 1

Eric D. Deemer

Committee Member 2

Yukiko Maeda

Committee Member 3

James M. Brown

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to identify and evaluate the effectiveness of a career development program at the middle school level. The intent was to provide middle school students with the necessary formalized support to assist them to develop self-awareness and self-efficacy, understand why they are in school, connect long-term goals with the steps needed to achieve those goals, and receive support from the teacher/advisor, counselors, and business community throughout the process. Further, through the tenets of Social Cognitive Career Theory and values-affirmation intervention, the purpose was to implement an introspective opportunity for students to reflect on their career development experience within the middle school course. This study used a sequential, exploratory quantitative methods approach. A pre-post-test design was used implementing the Childhood Career Development Scale (CCDS),(Schulthiess & Stead, 2004) to explore student changes in attitude towards career development and whether their self-efficacy was affected by the treatment. Additionally, a reflective essay was used to add insight into the data that were analyzed. The reflective essay was designed to understand whether writing a reflection after the career development experience impacted the students’ intrinsic value towards career development, self-efficacy, curiosity, and planning.

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