Iowa Department of Education

Choices Explorer, a Middle School directed product, motivates students by building awareness of a wide variety of education and career options. Sections include: Career Finder to narrow down hundreds of careers to those matching the characteristics of the student; Major Finder to see what majors match their interests; Your School Subjects to explore careers related to those courses they enjoy in school; Preparing for College to learn about the preparation , course selection and financial aid knowledge and procedures needed for college; Your Plans about skills, interests, resumes and courses collected into a portfolio; Activities about complementing your future direction with volunteer or extra curricular activities.

Choices Planner, a High School or Adult directed product, is a more focused planning tool with career and labor market information, course selection suggestions, postsecondary school options, job search tools and an electronic portfolio. Sections include: Career Zones to explore over 1200 different careers; Connection Yourself to Careers 5 different assessments that will help you find the right career for you; School Finder which gives students an opportunity to search for schools by tuition range, location, programs and other factors; Compare Schools or Careers a side-by-side comparison of schools to best suit the student's preferences; High School Planning or College Planning steps to start the plan process; Career Plan Builder a tool to create a career or educational plan, a High School or Adult directed product, is a more focused planning tool with career and labor market information, course selection suggestions, postsecondary school options, job search tools and an electronic portfolio.

Each user must create a portfolio when entering the career system of Choices. The first step is to select their city in a pull-down menu of Iowa cities, then to select the school in the pull-down menu within that city. The next step is to complete the student information, date of graduation, and creation of a portfolio name and password.  This will provide access to the product at any internet-access computer. Providing an email address on this page, supplies that specific school coordinator a backup route to the student to send forgotten portfolio names or passwords. The creation of the student portfolio provides a depository for career information, searches, assessments or any of the tools available to the students. Both Choices Explorer and Choices Planner have security systems that ensure confidentiality of all student data generated by the student or educator.

Educators can access administrative tools that will allow school personnel to communicate with the students, and/or tabulate data on portfolios created, and have access to educator tools such as lesson plans, research articles, and career development infusions in curriculum.

Professional trainers are available for regional, AEA or school training through the Iowa College Student Aid Commission at  877-272-4456. The Iowa Choices Administrator is Nancy Ankeny (nancy.ankeny@iowa.gov) for more information or training.  

Career Planning Resources