GUIDANCE CENTRAL

Students and Parents – Listen Up!!

Questions for Students to Consider
• What occupations relate to your interests?
• What high school classes should you take?
• How does math relate to all occupations?
• Why do I need communications skills if I’m going to be an auto technician?
• Where can I find the college program I need for my career goal?
• How can I prepare for the ACT test?
• How can my parents work with me on my career plan at home?

Need answers to these questions and more? Then Guidance Central is the tool for you!

What is Guidance Central?

Guidance Central is a complete set of Internet-based programs for career exploration and planning, education planning and ACT test preparation. These world-class programs are comprehensive and very easy to use – and – are available on-line, 24/7, to all high school students in North Dakota.

Guidance Central Components

Choices Planner
Choices Planner helps you build realistic plans for the future as you connect, compare and choose from a vast network of occupational and educational options. Choices Planner will help you:
• Identify occupations that relate to interest, aptitudes and personal goals
• Review occupational descriptions and links to postsecondary programs and schools
• Plan your overall future with the Career Plan Builder, which includes high school and postsecondary plans, and personal plans, such as where to live, recreation/volunteering, and family
• Develop employment seeking skills and documents, including resume builder, job interview practice, and letter creators
• Assess your interests, work values and basic workplace and transferable skills
• Identify postsecondary programs and majors
• “School Finder,” which helps you look for schools by many different criteria

Choices Explorer:
Choices Explorer helps broaden your knowledge and awareness of the thousands of occupations across the U.S., showing you how the skills you are learning in the classroom apply to the world of work. Choices Explorer provides you with:
• Tools to discover hundreds of new occupations and how to prepare for those occupations
• Routines to relate occupations to academic activities, such as math, communication and decision-making.
• New occupational articles written each week, written in a journalistic fashion.
• Tools to interact with persons currently employed in many different occupations and with professional career planners.
• Hundreds of classroom activities that link skills learned in an academic setting to those used in the workplace.
• Informal assessments to help locate occupations that relate to interests

testGEAR™:
testGEAR™ test prep gives students the practice (over 50 hours of instruction) they need to reach their full potential on college entrance exam. This online learning system adapts to each student’s needs by targeting their weaknesses with a personalized study plan. You’ll get access to standards-aligned curriculum as you are guided through an instructional program that strengthens content skills, introduces test taking strategies and builds self-assurance so that you can confidently walk into your ACT™ exam feeling prepared.
testGEAR™ provides you with:
• An initial diagnostic which asks a series of self-assessment and objective-assessment questions.
• A prescribed study plan, customized to reflect the ideal combination of skills, strategies and practice.
• A structured curriculum with flexibility to advance at a faster pace.
• A Progress Report which allows students to review and monitor their progress.
• Interactive lessons – Microcourses™ and Practorials™ -- to help students master the material.
• A VocabLab, to build critical vocabulary skills, helping students learn, review and reinforce vocabulary in a fast-paced game-like format.
• Practice tests, which help students confidently prepare themselves for the ACT™.

Who made all of this possible?

Student Loans of North Dakota (SLND) at Bank of North Dakota (BND) is providing North Dakota students access to Guidance Central through a three year sponsorship program with Bridges Transitions, Inc. This unique opportunity to access college preparation software is provided free of charge to all students and their parents who are registered at one of North Dakota’s 225 public and private high schools and middle schools throughout the state.

Not only will this exclusive sponsorship help guide students through important steps to a higher education, but it will include product distribution to high schools and training for North Dakota’s education professionals who will implement the software at local schools.

This purchase illustrates SLND’s commitment to North Dakota’s education system and willingness to enhance partnerships with schools, teachers and counselors for the betterment of North Dakota students and their parents.

SLND provides student loan services to families world wide through a variety of loan programs: Subsidized and Unsubsidized Stafford Loans; Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS); and the Dakota Education Alternative Loan (DEAL). SLND’s free College Information Service provides students, parents and counselors access to information concerning the financial aid process. Through this unique sponsorship with Bridges, SLND is maintaining its mission to educate people about the availability of student loans and the importance of their repayment obligations.
For additional information about services offered by SLND at Bank of North Dakota visit us online at http://mystudentloanonline.nd.gov/ or call 1-800-472-2166.