Tennessee Students Plan for Education and Career Success

Edsouth has announced that it will continue its commitment to helping Tennessee students reach their education and career goals by supporting the Tennessee College and Career Planning System , powered by Kuder ® . For the past five years, Edsouth has funded this Internet-based system, which has helped over 372,000 Tennessee students get a jump start on education and career decision making. The system, available at www.planningyourdreams.org , is currently offered to students in grades 7 through 14, free of charge, and has served as a widely used and invaluable tool for fostering success not only in education, but in the world of work.

“At Edsouth, we are driven to positively impact students and improve their opportunities to create bright, successful futures,” said Ron Gambill, chairman and CEO, Edsouth. “In order to do this, we need to look for creative, successful ways to engage our youth and get them excited about what lies ahead of them. The Tennessee College and Career Planning System gets students motivated about finishing their education and competing in a rapidly changing economy, not just in Tennessee, but around the world,” added Gambill.

Through the use of the system’s research-based assessments, students can explore their interests, skills, and work values. This information-rich resource also helps them create educational plans, build a lifelong, electronic portfolio, explore postsecondary opportunities, apply for financial aid, and search for jobs locally and across the state all from a single web site.

With close to 1,000 schools using the system, not only do students benefit, but so do the educators and counselors who are helping them to graduate from school and reach for their dreams. In the Washington County School District, the system has become an integral part of the middle school to high school advisement and transition program for a number of years.

“We utilize the system with all 8 th graders in the first semester of the school year, and prior to high school registration, an advisement packet is built for each student that includes their results on all three Kuder assessments,” said William R. Flanary, Washington County School District, assistant director of schools. “We schedule appointments with each family so that the student, their parents, and a guidance counselor can have individual meetings to discuss these results. We know that this has had a positive impact on freshman placement in both our comprehensive high schools,” Flanary added.

Program buy-in is widespread across the state; last year alone, over 1,600 face-to-face training sessions and 800 informational sessions were conducted by a full-time Tennessee Field Trainer and Edsouth’s Student Outreach Services counselors, giving educators and school counselors the ability to implement the system to its fullest capability.

“The Tennessee College and Career Planning System is an excellent tool for school counselors to get students and parents involved in the career planning process,” said Nicole Cobb, director of school counseling, Tennessee Department of Education. “One of the system’s greatest strengths is that it aligns with the Tennessee school counseling standards and to the Tennessee career clusters. The partnership between the Tennessee Department of Education, Edsouth, and Kuder is critical to helping our students be successful throughout their life,” added Cobb.

The Tennessee College and Career Planning System is available free throughout the state of Tennessee. For information on how your student or school can participate, please contact Kuder Customer Support at 877.999.6227 or support@kuder.com .

Edsouth

Edsouth is a non-profit corporation based in Knoxville, Tennessee that provides programs to encourage postsecondary education through Student Outreach Services, eCampus Tours and need-based scholarships for students. Edsouth has a focus to increase access to education throughout Tennessee and has supported educational opportunities for over one million students since 1987.

Kuder, Inc.

Kuder, Inc. was founded in 1997 with a mission to raise student aspirations and to provide career options to students and adults through self-assessment and education. Kuder offers customized, innovative, online solutions for career planners at all life stages, while facilitating communication and collaboration between key stakeholders in economic prosperity – education, business, industry, and state agencies. Kuder’s faculty conducts ongoing, relevant research to ensure that our products are reliable and effective. Kuder is headquartered in Adel, Iowa. For more information, visit www.kuder.com or call 800.314.8972.