Virginia's Standards of Accreditation build planning in early. Students begin an Academic and Career Plan Portfolio in the elementary grades, and schools begin a personal Academic and Career Plan (ACP) for each seventh grade student, with the plan completed in the fall of the eighth grade year. The ACP is signed by the student, the parent or guardian, and a school official, and it is reviewed and updated as the student moves ahead.

The challenge: a plan without exploration

The ACP asks a seventh or eighth grader to connect courses to a future that can still feel far away. A student who has only seen a few options will list the few options they know. Without real exploration behind it, a signed plan can become a form that is filed in the student record and rarely opened again.

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

Dual enrollment

Dual enrollment in Virginia

Virginia's College and Career Ready Virginia (CCRV) program, created in 2024 and codified at Code of Virginia ยง 22.1-237.1 et seq., gives qualified high school students access to the Passport or the Uniform Certificate of General Studies (UCGS), which the Virginia Department of Education describes as 15-credit and 30-credit pathways, at no cost. Beginning in fall 2025, school divisions are required to offer qualified students access to no-cost dual enrollment courses that fulfill these credentials, and the law bars comprehensive community colleges, the Online Virginia Network Authority and local school boards from charging qualified students tuition or fees for program courses. Virginia also offers the Early College Scholars program, in which students pursuing an Advanced Studies Diploma earn at least 15 transferable college credits before graduating from high school.

Students who explore majors and careers early can choose Passport or UCGS courses with a clear destination in mind, and daily exploration (for example on a 13th Year™ kiosk) can help them get there.

Official program information: Virginia 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

  • Build on the portfolio. The Academic and Career Plan Portfolio starts in the elementary grades. Give students fresh things to add to it, so the grade 7 plan starts from real interests.
  • Pair exploration with career investigation. Virginia middle schools provide a course in career investigation. Let students keep exploring colleges, skilled trades, military service and careers on their own time once the class period ends.
  • Connect the plan to diploma choices. The Standard Diploma asks students to complete an AP, honors, IB or dual enrollment course, a high-quality work-based learning experience, or a Board-approved career and technical education credential. Students who have explored their options can make that choice with a purpose.
  • 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 colleges, skilled trades, military service and careers arrive at their Academic and Career Plan conversations with real interests to write down. It supports, and does not replace, Virginia's Academic and Career 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 Virginia high schools, or request a kiosk for your school.