Maine law says students must be allowed to demonstrate achievement of diploma standards through multiple pathways. It also says schools shall provide opportunities for learning in multiple pathways, which may include career and technical education, apprenticeships, dual enrollment and extended learning opportunities. Life and career readiness is a content area of Maine's system of Learning Results, and Maine Department of Education rule Chapter 127 defines a personal learning plan as a plan developed collaboratively by teacher, parent, student and other professional staff.

The challenge: a plan without exploration

Multiple pathways only help a student who knows what the options are. Without time to explore, a pathway choice can default to whatever is most familiar. A personal learning plan or a life and career readiness goal then becomes something to fill in instead of a direction a student has chosen.

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 Maine schools. Students could choose more than one answer, and some responded more than once.

Dual enrollment

Dual enrollment in Maine

Maine funds early college through the Aspirations Program, funded by the Maine Legislature, authorized under Title 20-A, Chapter 208-A, and administered by the Maine Department of Education. Eligible Maine high school students, including publicly funded students in grades 9 through 12, qualifying students at approved private schools, and home instruction students who meet state requirements, can take college courses on campus, online, or at their high school or CTE center tuition-free where course space is available. Beginning with the Class of 2027, students have access to 18 credits of Aspirations eligibility, and students in approved career and technical education pathways may earn 6 additional credits in pathway courses at the Maine Community College System. Tuition-paying students are not covered by the Aspirations Program.

Students who explore careers and majors early, for example through daily exploration on a 13th Year™ kiosk, can spend their limited Aspirations credits on courses that move them toward a specific goal.

Official program information: Maine 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

  • Make every pathway visible. Maine law lists pathways that range from career and technical education and apprenticeships to dual enrollment and adult education. Give students a simple way to see what each one can lead to after high school.
  • Explore before the Extended Learning Opportunity. Maine defines an extended learning opportunity as an experience outside of the traditional classroom, with an emphasis on community-based career exploration. Students who have explored careers first can choose an experience that matches a real interest.
  • Feed the planning standard. Maine's Life and Career Ready standards include a strand called Building Pathways for the Future, with standards for planning and for career awareness and adaptability. Use what students explore on their own as material for that work.
  • 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 can explore colleges, skilled trades, military service, scholarships and careers on their own time, then bring what they learn to pathway choices and life and career readiness work. It supports, and does not replace, Maine's multiple pathways, a school's own 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 Maine high schools, or request a kiosk for your school.