Nevada law directs each school district to adopt a policy for developing an academic plan for every ninth grade pupil. Students and parents are told they can work with a school counselor on the plan, and it is reviewed in an individual meeting at least once each school year during grades 9 through 12. Done well, it is a living plan that grows with the student. Done in a hurry, it becomes a form that gets filled in and forgotten.

The challenge: a plan without exploration

A ninth grader can only set goals around the options he or she has seen. When the academic plan is written before a student has explored colleges, skilled trades, military service and careers, the goals tend to be generic. That matters in Nevada, where the choice among diploma types, including the College and Career Ready diploma and its endorsements, rests on knowing where a student wants to go.

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

Dual enrollment

Dual enrollment in Nevada

Nevada law provides for dual credit programs through which high school pupils may enroll in courses at a community college, state college or university that has been approved for dual credit under NRS 389.160, and districts and charter schools make an application for enrollment in a dual credit course publicly available. Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) policy states that Nevada high school students enrolled in a formally established dual enrollment program are charged a discounted dual enrollment registration fee. NSHE also has a reduced pricing schedule for dual enrollment students who qualify for free and reduced lunch.

Students who spend time exploring careers early, for example through daily exploration on a 13th Year™ kiosk, can choose dual credit courses that line up with a pathway they want to pursue after high school.

Official program information: Nevada Department of Education and Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) →

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

  • Explore before the ninth grade plan. Give students time to look at careers, colleges and training options before the academic plan is written, so the goals in it are their own.
  • Bring something new to each review. Nevada's academic plan is reviewed in an individual meeting each school year during grades 9 through 12. Ask students to arrive with one option they explored since the last meeting.
  • Connect goals to a diploma type. Use what students discover to talk through the Standard, Advanced, and College and Career Ready diplomas and the College-Ready and Career-Ready endorsements.
  • 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 academic plan and to each review meeting. It supports, and does not replace, Nevada's academic plan 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 Nevada high schools, or request a kiosk for your school.