Ohio law requires districts and schools to develop a graduation plan for each student in grades 9 through 12. The student and a district or school representative build it together, the parent, guardian or custodian is invited to take part, and it is updated each school year until the student qualifies for a diploma. The plan supplements the district's career advising policy and addresses the student's academic pathway to graduation.

The challenge: a plan without exploration

A graduation plan can track credits, competency and diploma seals and still say little about where the student is headed. When students have not explored colleges, trades, military service or careers, seal choices can be made by convenience instead of direction. The yearly update then becomes a status check, not a conversation about the future.

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

Dual enrollment

Dual enrollment in Ohio

Ohio's dual enrollment program is College Credit Plus, established in Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3365. Students in grades 7 through 12 who are accepted by a participating college can earn college and high school credit at the same time, and all public secondary schools and public colleges must participate. The state describes College Credit Plus as free for all public school students who attend a public Ohio college or university; fees may apply for homeschooled students or students who attend a private college.

Because College Credit Plus can begin as early as grade 7, early career and major exploration helps students choose courses that build toward a goal. Daily exploration, for example on a 13th Year™ kiosk, can help students arrive at that conversation with clearer interests.

Official program information: Ohio Department of Higher Education, with the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce →

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 yearly update. Give students time to look at colleges, skilled trades, military service and careers before the graduation plan is updated each school year, so they arrive with questions and interests.
  • Connect diploma seals to direction. Students show readiness by earning two diploma seals, at least one of them state-defined. Exploration helps a student choose seals that fit a goal they actually hold.
  • Bring families into the plan. Ohio law has schools invite the parent, guardian or custodian to help develop and update the graduation plan. Shared exploration gives families something concrete to discuss.
  • 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 have explored their options bring clearer goals to the graduation plan and to career advising. It supports, and does not replace, Ohio's graduation plan, the district's career advising policy 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 Ohio high schools, or request a kiosk for your school.