In January, we joined a youth participatory action research (YPAR) program led by EdTrust and Identity. In this program, we serve as co-researchers, investigating what hands-on experiences students in Montgomery County, Maryland, want their middle schools to provide for college and career exploration — and at the same time, we get actual hands-on experience with research. This program has helped us understand more about college and careers, and we believe there should be more programs like it so other students like us can benefit too.

Students need to learn about college and career options early. The path to college and a career is a very long process, and it should start as soon as students enter middle school — because students already have questions they don’t know how to ask. This program helped us start this process. It helped us figure out what questions we should have been asking all along, and what information our counselors should have already been giving us.

This matters because every student deserves the same quality of information. Right now, that’s not happening. Everyone does not get the same information. Some students are getting helpful, detailed guidance about college and careers while others are getting little to nothing — and that’s not fair. When some students are better prepared than others simply because of who helped them, it puts certain kids at a real disadvantage. All students should have access to the same information, because that information can shape their entire future.

So what can be done? Local government, Montgomery County Public Schools, and teachers all have a role to play — and the sooner they act, the bigger the difference they can make. The way we see it, there are two things that need to happen: schools need to bring in more programs like YPAR, and they need to fix the supports that are already supposed to be there.

More programs like EdTrust’s YPAR program would give students the chance to learn what research careers are really like, while also learning about other options they may never have considered. The exposure to existing careers can also vary depending on the topic of the YPAR project. But new programs alone won’t be enough if the basic supports in schools aren’t working.

School leaders should ask students what they want to learn more about and be responsive in providing what students ask for. For example, middle schools could host grade-level town halls to share college and career information directly with students. Shady Grove Middle School already does this a few times a year, and it’s a good model other schools could follow. Social media is another way to spread the word and reach students where they already are.

One of the most important changes schools can make is hiring more college and career navigators and school counselors and making sure they understand how best to support students. School counselors support students with their overall academic and personal well-being, but it’s also helpful to have someone who can more specifically focus on helping students explore careers and plan their path after high school. MCPS has career navigators to do this; but right now, even when students get access to a school counselor or navigator, the experience isn’t always helpful. One of us requested a meeting with a career counselor to get information she needed but was never given this meeting. When she saw the counselor in person, they had completely forgotten about it. In focus groups we conducted with other students as part of our research, we heard similar stories: students being called in to meetings only to feel dismissed; and in one case, a student described her career counselor yelling at her instead of actually helping her.

We are calling on schools, counselors, and policymakers to do better. Every student — regardless of which school they attend or which counselor they’re assigned — deserves real guidance and real support as they think about their futures.

Ana Blandon, Lixcy Pereira, and Samuel Lopez are students in Montgomery County Public Schools and youth researchers in EdTrust’s first YPAR cohort.

Photo by Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages