Ed Hidalgo

Adolescence is an important stage in forming one's identity and developing career inspirations. The current empirical study aims to investigate gender and socioeconomic status (SES) differences in adolescents’ occupational possible selves. A total of 3336 sixth- to eighth-grade students participated in the survey research and reported (1) hoped-for occupation, (2) desire for the hoped-for occupation, (3) likelihood of attaining the hoped-for occupation, and (4) whether and what actions were… Show more

Adolescence is an important stage in forming one's identity and developing career inspirations. The current empirical study aims to investigate gender and socioeconomic status (SES) differences in adolescents’ occupational possible selves. A total of 3336 sixth- to eighth-grade students participated in the survey research and reported (1) hoped-for occupation, (2) desire for the hoped-for occupation, (3) likelihood of attaining the hoped-for occupation, and (4) whether and what actions were taken toward the hoped-for occupation. A series of regression models and advanced natural language processing techniques were applied to the survey data. Results revealed evident gender differences and some nuanced SES differences in the named occupational possible selves with a significant interaction between gender and SES on adolescents’ career-related actions. However, this study did not find gender or SES differences in adolescents’ desire to pursue their occupational possible selves. Show less

The Cajon Valley Union School District serves a diverse community of 17,000 TK through 12th year students across 28 schools in eastern San Diego County. Since 2017 we have integrated a modern curriculum known as the World of Work™ (WoW), a career development framework grounded in career theory for every child in every grade starting in kindergarten. The unique approach is deployed by teachers who integrate the experiences and a gateway technology in classrooms.

This is the story of how one school district, with leadership from the superintendent and support from their school board and community, created a K-12 career development model, the World of Work™ initiative (WoW), for their 16,000 students across 28 schools.

The World of Work model was created by the Cajon Valley Union School District with guidance and support from teachers, business, education consultants and counselling professors and researchers. As Hartung et al. highlighted in their 2005 paper, “a sizable proportion of grade-school children are capable of employing their emerging understanding of interests and abilities to engage in both a cognitive and physical exploration of the world-of-work and to state career aspirations,” and the Cajon… Show more

The World of Work model was created by the Cajon Valley Union School District with guidance and support from teachers, business, education consultants and counselling professors and researchers. As Hartung et al. highlighted in their 2005 paper, “a sizable proportion of grade-school children are capable of employing their emerging understanding of interests and abilities to engage in both a cognitive and physical exploration of the world-of-work and to state career aspirations,” and the Cajon Valley model and research has revealed this reality. As teachers integrate the World of Work process starting in the early grades, students make natural connections between what they are learning and the world of work, and they begin to develop a vision of their future possible selves. Show less

Deploying the World of Work Initiative (WoW) in the Cajon Valley Union School District is a significant innovation because education experts used to think that career education began in high school. We start in kindergarten, and we make a point to avoid pouring kids into career buckets. Instead, we begin early to help students understand their strengths, interests and work place values and to use those self-discovered qualities to illuminate potential career opportunities. We keep the feel of… Show more

Deploying the World of Work Initiative (WoW) in the Cajon Valley Union School District is a significant innovation because education experts used to think that career education began in high school. We start in kindergarten, and we make a point to avoid pouring kids into career buckets. Instead, we begin early to help students understand their strengths, interests and work place values and to use those self-discovered qualities to illuminate potential career opportunities. We keep the feel of exploration because through exploration comes excitement and through excitement comes engagement. Show less

This is the story of how I, along with a team of passionate colleagues at Qualcomm and school administrators and educators in the San Diego community worked together to develop Thinkabit Lab, a maker space, lab and program designed to expose middle-school students to the world of work and have hands-on experiences with science, technology, engineering, art and math.