Assessing Career Learning Without Tests

They reduce careers to trivia, teach kids that careers are facts to memorize, and reward students who already had career exposure at home.

Curiosity, Connection, Pathways thinking, and Self-awareness.

Whether a student can link a school skill (fractions, persuasive writing, teamwork) to a real job task.

Describing HOW a person gets into a job — training, apprenticeship, college, certification, or on-the-job learning.

A consistent 5-minute, low-stakes exit ticket after each career encounter, using sentence stems to lower the writing floor and raise the thinking floor.

Not graded for correctness — skimmed for growth in question quality over time.

Self-chosen reflections, an interview write-up, a pathway map, a hands-on simulation artifact, and a 'What I Noticed About Myself' letter.

Choosing their best work and explaining why is itself the assessment.

'What surprised you?' and 'Who would love this job, and why?'

3–4 rows, written in student language, and shared with students on day one.