How Murrieta Valley Unified School District builds career-ready graduates one plan at a time

Challenge

Creating authentic career plans for every student

For decades, Murrieta offered a 9th-grade careers course to help students plan their future pathways. However, the curriculum lacked consistency, relying largely on students’ self-reported interests. Those interests were often limited to the small set of careers a young person encountered through family, friends, or media—meaning students were making choices based on a very narrow view of the world of work.

Without objective data, educators had little to guide conversations or make informed recommendations, so students were essentially guessing about their next steps. Rather than engaging in meaningful career planning, administrators noted that the class frequently centered on learning Microsoft Office programs and completing projects with little personal relevance.

As a result, many students completed the course and ultimately graduated without a clear, well-developed plan for life after high school.

“I was on the superintendent’s advisory student panel where we had juniors and seniors who had taken the previous careers class and freshmen and sophomores who had been in the new careers class—and it was a 180-degree difference,” said Mick Wager, Coordinator for Secondary Education Services. “For the new students, it was one of their favorite classes because it was so valuable to them. It helped them a lot, and the YouScience profile was a big part of that.”

Solution

Scalable, standards-based Brightpath implementation

In 2021, Murrieta partnered with YouScience to implement the full Brightpath platform, including Aptitude & Career Discovery, Industry Certifications, and Work-Based Learning. Since then, the district has built a thriving college and career readiness program that engages every student to pursue their own unique pathway, and delivers measurable results.

Murrieta now delivers Aptitude & Career Discovery to every ninth grader as part of a semester-long careers course designed to help students answer three critical questions: Who am I, What do I want, and How am I going to get it? Through the assessment, students uncover their aptitudes and pair those insights with their personal interests to build a realistic, individualized 10-year plan.

“In freshman year, students write a 10-year plan for their life using their Brightpath results,” explained Wager. “That plan informs their direction and is reviewed every year so that by senior year, students present a product they’ve spent four years developing.”

This plan is not a one-time exercise but a living document, reviewed and refined each year through the district’s Grade Level Projects. As students grow, their goals evolve, and counselors use the resulting data to guide course selection and place students in best-fit classes, including CTE pathways aligned with each student’s aptitudes and aspirations.

Murrieta also embeds Industry Certifications as pre- and post-assessments within CTE courses. These certifications provide concrete evidence of both student and program growth, while helping meet key graduation requirements in 21st-century skills, communication, and overall college and career readiness. By integrating certifications directly into coursework, the district gives students measurable achievements that validate their learning and continued progress.

Students can further benefit from an articulation agreement with the local community college, which allows them to earn college credit by passing Industry Certification exams. Because the certifications clearly demonstrate standards and competency, Murrieta established this innovative pathway, enabling CTE students who achieve industry-recognized credentials to enter postsecondary programs with credits already earned and tuition costs reduced.

To expand real-world learning opportunities, the district hired a dedicated CTE work-based learning facilitator to oversee internships and employer partnerships. The district plans to use the Work-Based Learning platform to manage student internships, apprenticeships, and career opportunities with industry partners.

All of these efforts are tied together through Murrieta’s “Profile of a Graduate” framework, crafted in partnership with YouScience educational consultants, which defines success across four readiness quadrants: Academic, Life, Workplace, and Civic. By aligning Brightpath activities to these competencies, the district ensures that students leave high school not only with a career plan and credentials but also with the broad skills needed to thrive as learners, workers, and engaged community members.

The impact

Self-agency, measurable growth, and future-ready graduates

The ripple effects of Brightpath have been powerful. Brightpath now reaches all high school students and select middle school programs, with more than 19,000 certification exams administered and 5,900 aptitude assessments completed to date.

Teachers and administrators use the data to:

• Track student growth and program impact across all schools
• Guide students in shaping personalized 10-year education and career plans
• Give counselors scalable, data-driven insights to support every student
• Provide clear, evidence-based metrics for reporting at the state and local level
• Enable CTE students to earn college credit through industry-recognized certification exams

Students gain far more than credentials. They leave high school with confidence and a concrete plan for life after graduation, a critical outcome given that 72% of recent graduates report low confidence in their post-high school plans.

This process builds a strong sense of self-agency. “Students can make choices and take actions that influence their lives,” explained Backus. “YouScience gives every student access to aptitude data in a way that’s objective, non-political, and empowering.”

Looking ahead, Murrieta’s system ensures that no student can graduate without a meaningful, authentic plan that reflects their aptitudes, informs their coursework, and prepares them for college, career, or both.

—Mick Wager, Coordinator for Secondary Education Services

Final results at a glance: