Missouri uses the Individual Career and Academic Plan (ICAP) as the student's plan of study. State law provides for a personal plan of study developed before the ninth grade year at a public school with help from school counselors and reviewed regularly, and the state's MSIP 6 standards look for an ICAP no later than eighth grade. Done well, the ICAP is a living plan. Done in a hurry, it becomes a form that gets filled in and forgotten.

The challenge: a plan without exploration

Missouri's MSIP 6 standards describe an ICAP that is based on career exploration experiences. That order matters. An eighth grader who has not yet looked at colleges, skilled trades, military service and careers has little to plan around, and the course sequence that follows can rest on a guess. The plan is only as strong as the exploration behind it.

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

Dual enrollment

Dual enrollment in Missouri

In Missouri, the Coordinating Board for Higher Education's Policy on Dual Credit Delivery sets statewide guidelines for dual credit courses offered in high schools for both high school and college credit, and dual enrollment lets high school students take coursework at a college while still enrolled in high school. Student eligibility may vary by the offering institution's standards. The Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development also administers the Dual Credit/Dual Enrollment Scholarship, which helps eligible students cover tuition and fees for these courses. Students must demonstrate financial need and be taking courses from a Missouri college or university, along with meeting other program criteria, and funding depends on annual state appropriations.

Students who explore careers and majors early, for example through daily exploration on a 13th Year™ kiosk, can pick dual credit courses that transfer toward the degree or credential they want.

Official program information: Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development (Coordinating Board for Higher 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

  • Put exploration before the plan. Give middle school students time to explore careers and training options before the ICAP is drafted, so the plan reflects real interests.
  • Make each review count. Missouri law calls for the plan to be reviewed regularly. Ask students to bring one new option they have explored to each review.
  • Keep the full range in view. An ICAP can point toward college, technical training, an apprenticeship, military service or direct entry to work. Make sure students have seen each of those routes before they choose one.
  • 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. That steady exploration gives students something concrete to bring to their ICAP and to each review. It supports, and does not replace, Missouri's ICAP 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 Missouri high schools, or request a kiosk for your school.