The MiSTEM StoryMap is a spatial tool that combines interactive maps, text, and other multimedia content for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) career awareness, exploration, and development for students, parents, adult job seekers, and the community. The StoryMap will function as a statewide database and tool to visualize and access workforce data in a unique and useful way. 

Designed to communicate the physical location of business partners and industry clusters in Michigan, users will have the tools to identify opportunities for making better career decisions. Students and adults can use these resources to help them prepare for higher education, credentials, and the future STEM workforce. 

The map highlights:

• high-wage and high-demand careers 
• apprenticeship and internship opportunities
• industry cluster data

The Michigan Career Development Model provides career development strategies and targets by grade level band:

• Career Awareness: Grades K-6
• Career Exploration: Grades 7 & 8
• Career Preparation: Grades 9-12
• Advanced Training & Employment: transitioning from high school to employment or advanced training

 Kent ISD's Career Readiness Framework contains resources and information for preparing students at various grade levels for exciting career and postsecondary education pathways. Each grade band has its own set of steps for guiding students through their career discovery and preparation. Some information is relevant to multiple grade bands, while other resources pertain to specific grade bands. 

Just as each content area creates a scope-and-sequence of what to teach and when and how it should progress, the Career Readiness team has created their own scope-and-sequence of learning opportunities and experiences that are introduced at appropriate times and which progressively build upon one another. In the Career Readiness Framework you will find 26 unique modules, broken into 3 different grade bands/levels. They are distributed per the Michigan Career Development Model’s (MCDM) suggested bands into areas of Career Awareness (K-6), Career Exploration (7-8) and Career Preparation (9-12).

In each grade band you’ll find content and resources on topic areas relevant to that level, whether it be links to valuable articles, lesson plans to use or videos to show. Each module contains an intro defining what the topic is and what it means, an explanation as to why it is important to know, and supporting content that explains how to use that information.

The West Michigan Employability Skills Network is a group of organizations committed to developing talent in the West Michigan Region.  While the backbone of the Network is made up of four Intermediate School Districts (ISDs) from West Michigan (the Allegan, Kent, Muskegon, and Ottawa ISDs), many local school districts, post-secondary institutions, and businesses are an integral part of the Improvement Community.

Developing Employability Skills Begins Young.

Even in kindergarten, students naturally work on Employability Skills such as Participation (demonstrating appropriate levels of participation in school) and Making Good Choices (thinking about one's actions and demonstrating empathy for others).   This work begins at these early grades and systematically progresses through post-secondary education and employment.  

K-12 Employability Skills Progression 

The West Michigan Employability Skills Network is taking an Improvement Science approach to their work - one in which communities of practice work together to develop, test, monitor and refine strategies that support Employability Skill acquisition.

The Networked Improvement Community is based on a simple theory of action - That in order to gain proficiency in specific Employability Skills, individuals need to:
(1) learn what proficiency actually looks like through opportunities that have value to them,
(2) practice those skills in a real-world context, and
(3) receive feedback and reflect on their performance in order to gain a greater awareness of self