In Florida, promotion from the middle grades to high school includes one course in career and education planning, completed in grades 6, 7, or 8. By law, that course must result in a completed personalized academic and career plan for the student. The plan must use, when available, Florida's online career planning and work-based learning coordination system.

The challenge: a plan without exploration

A plan written in the middle grades reflects what a student knew at that age. Interests change, and high school opens choices the student had not yet seen, including different ways to earn a standard diploma. Without continued exploration, the personalized academic and career plan can become a completed course requirement that no one opens again.

What students tell us

Across the 13th Year™ network, students are most open early, and their options narrow as graduation gets closer:

  • 32%of 9th graders are weighing more than one path after high school. By 12th grade, 16% are.
  • 53%of 9th graders are interested in more than one career field, compared with 33% of seniors.
  • 11%of 9th graders say they are not sure yet what comes next. Only 2% of seniors say so.
  • 23%of students planning on college are also considering another path, such as the skilled trades, the military, work or a business of their own.

For planning, that means the most valuable exploration happens in the first years of high school, while students are still open to what they find.

Figures come from more than 3,800 responses students submitted at 13th Year™ kiosks and school links across the 13th Year™ network in 2026, not only Florida schools. Students could choose more than one answer, and some responded more than once.

Dual enrollment

Dual enrollment in Florida

Florida's Dual Enrollment program is established in section 1007.271, Florida Statutes, with program information from the Florida Department of Education; the statute also provides for career dual enrollment and early admission. The Legislature amended the section in 2026 (Chapter 2026-59, effective July 1, 2026), which specifies that the postsecondary institutions eligible to participate are Florida public postsecondary institutions and eligible not-for-profit independent colleges and universities. Students must meet the eligibility requirements in state law and in their college's Dual Enrollment Articulation Agreement, and counselors should check the Department's dual enrollment page and their local agreement for current eligibility, cost and instructional materials provisions.

Students who explore careers and college majors early can choose dual enrollment courses that build toward a specific goal instead of collecting unrelated credits, and short daily exploration (for example on a 13th Year™ kiosk) can help them arrive at course selection with a direction in mind.

Official program information: Florida Department of Education →

What students need before the planning meeting

The most productive planning conversations happen when a student walks in with something to talk about: a career they read about, a program that surprised them, a question about the military or an apprenticeship. That kind of curiosity comes from exposure, and exposure works best when it is frequent, self-directed and part of the school day.

Practical ways to build exploration into the year

  • Reopen the plan in high school. The personalized academic and career plan is completed in grades 6, 7, or 8, and state law has the course encourage students to update it at least annually through middle school and high school. Give high school students time to explore colleges, skilled trades, military service and careers, then revisit what they wrote.
  • Pair exploration with diploma choices. Florida students entering grade nine may choose from five options to earn a standard diploma, including a CTE Pathway option. Exploration helps students see why one option fits their goals.
  • Build on the state's online system. The plan uses Florida's online career planning and work-based learning coordination system. Encourage students to bring what they explore in the hallway back into that system.
  • Make exploration self-serve. Let students explore on their own time, so counselor time goes to the conversations that need it.

Where the Student Pathway System™ goes

13th Year™ places an interactive college and career kiosk in a school's hallway, a modern guidance resource students use before, during and after school. Students who explore colleges, skilled trades, military service, scholarships and careers on their own time have more to bring back to their personalized academic and career plan. It supports, and does not replace, Florida's career and education planning process and school counselors.

For administrators, the questions are usually privacy and workload. The 13th Year™ platform is FERPA aligned and designed with student privacy considerations in mind. It does not access the high school's student information system, and no student data is sold. Kiosks come at no cost to the school, and 13th Year™ delivers, installs and supports every kiosk, so it is built to support your counselors, not burden them.

See how 13th Year™ supports Florida high schools, or request a kiosk for your school.