Preparing for life after high school can be stressful. At Rochester Public Schools (RPS), a part of our strategic plan includes preparing students for life after their K-12 education. One of the new strategies we’re doing to improve our performance in this area is implementing a software known as Xello (pronounced Zello) to help plan for post-secondary education and career pathways.
Xello is an interactive online platform that allows students K-12 to explore career pathways. It will help students discover their strengths and interests to match them with post secondary education options and career pathways. The goal is to provide more information that they can use to help dream and plan for the future.
The work starts in elementary school where, using Xello, we show our young learners the different careers. They learn what roles different occupations play in our community and what skills they need for each. This work continues in middle school, where students get to explore how their personal goals and interests relate to various careers. They also prepare for their upcoming high school career in which this work will kick into high gear. Once they get to high school, they start planning for what comes next. Students learn how to make important decisions about their future and gain practical knowledge about the realities of these different career paths. They not only know what careers are out there, but also what education and skills they will need to work on to get there.
RPS will be piloting this program this coming January in 2024. Select schools will gradually implement this program up until next Fall. In Fall 2024, Xello will be available in all of our schools and will be funded by the district.
“The goal is that students and families will have as much information as possible about what the future can hold for students,” says RPS Lead School Counselor Alex Higano. “That they will see they have options, and what steps to take to put their plans for the future into action.”
One of the critical building blocks in RPS’ strategic plan is empowering people. Empowering students to plan their futures by building post-secondary education and career pathways. Xello will be a crucial piece to that goal as it will help students create a vision and an informed plan to achieve their dreams.
To learn more about Xello, visit: en