Oklahoma students complete an Individual Career Academic Plan (ICAP) to graduate from a public high school with a standard diploma. The requirement applies to students who entered ninth grade in the 2019-2020 school year or later. Students build the plan with a parent or legal guardian and with school counselors, school administrators and teachers, and the career assessment, career goal and coursework are reviewed each year.

The challenge: a plan without exploration

The ICAP asks a student to name a career goal and line up coursework behind it. That is hard to do well when a student has seen only a few options. Without real exploration, the career goal can be a guess, and the annual review becomes a form to update instead of a plan to grow.

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

Dual enrollment

Dual enrollment in Oklahoma

Oklahoma's Concurrent Enrollment program, governed by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, allows high school juniors and seniors who meet admission and course placement requirements to earn college credit at Oklahoma colleges and universities while still in high school. State Regents' policy allows exceptions for younger, high achieving students. Under 70 O.S. § 628.13, eligible seniors receive a tuition waiver for up to 18 credit hours in their senior year, and eligible juniors may receive tuition waivers for up to nine credit hours, subject to available funding.

Students who explore careers and majors before junior year can use their waived credit hours on concurrent courses that count toward a goal they have already tested, and short daily exploration (for example on a 13th Year™ kiosk) helps them get there sooner.

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 career goal is set. The ICAP career assessment and career goal are reviewed annually. Give students time to explore colleges, skilled trades, military service and careers before each review.
  • Tie pathway units to real interests. Students entering eighth grade in 2025-2026 and later complete six pathway units aligned with their ICAP. Exploration helps students choose units that match a goal they understand.
  • Use exploration to find a service learning or work experience. The ICAP includes at least one service learning or work environment activity connected to the student's career interest. Students who know what interests them can look for experiences that fit.
  • 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 a more informed career goal to the ICAP and its annual review. It supports, and does not replace, the Oklahoma 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 Oklahoma high schools, or request a kiosk for your school.