Toolkit 8 Individual Learning Plans

Toolkit 8Individual Learning Plans A Program to Personalize Student Learningand Contribute to Their Academic, Career and Personal/Social Success

Why Plan? • Planning is a lifelong skill that is a requirement for personal growth and success • If planning is so important to our success in life and the world of work, it is our responsibility as educators to help students become better planners by helping them focus on their own futures

What Is anIndividual Learning Plan Program? • The Individual Learning Plan (ILP) Program provides students with guided and self-reflective opportunities to plan for their academic, career and personal/social development • Students use the ILP process to demonstrate their progress toward graduation requirements and the ASCA counseling standards

ILPs Are a State Requirement An Individual Learning Plan (ILP) is primarily authored by students themselves, with guidance from their school advisors, parents, and community contacts – such as a business or arts mentor, when applicable. Schools are creating structures and occasions – such as advisories – to revisit ILPs frequently and even rewrite them as the student chooses high school courses, documents his or her outside activities, prepares to meet graduation requirements, and generally plans for the future. The ILP helps students focus on goals and how to use the time in high school to accomplish their personal objectives, in conjunction with completing graduation requirements. If a student changes schools within RI, the student and new high school has the ILP to help avoid disruption in that student’s progress towards graduation. ILPs offer an excellent opportunity to engage parents in their child’s learning. [Source: RI High School Diploma System, 2005)

The ILP and Student Success • Students are more likely to succeed in school, work and life when they know how to plan for their future • The ILP: • is a structured process that enables students to plan for their future in three developmental domains: academic, career and personal/social • allows counselors and teachers to observe student progress along the learning continuum • is results-based with specific learner outcomes and functions as a pathway to personalization

ILP: A Results-Based Program • As a result of participating in the ILP Program, students can expect to: • Have meaningful interactions with school counselors and teachers who help them plan for their academic, career, and personal/social development • Learn how to plan for their future (set goals, develop action plans, monitor progress, reflect on one’s experience, use results of reflection to update plans) • Become skilled in identifying and addressing barriers to their learning and developing strategies to overcome them • Always know how they are progressing toward graduation and being able to make informed decisions about post-secondary opportunities

Student Outcomes • The ILP provides a structured process to help students plan for their futures through the: • acquisition of knowledge • development of skills • adoption of appropriate behaviors/attitudes • In order for students to demonstrate progress and be assessed as proficient, the ILP Program must first deliver opportunities for students to learn relevant content and practice applying what they are learning to real-world contexts • This content is called the “ILP Curriculum” and consists of learning opportunities already in use in other areas of the curriculum and new activities designed specifically for the ILP Program

Relation of ILP Program (TK8) and the Counseling Curriculum (TK2) • The ILP Program is an organizing principle for the counseling curriculum • It organizes what we deliver to students in terms of teaching them how to learn, how to plan for their future, and how to cope with the many challenges of growing up and preparing for life after high school • ILP activities are identified in the Scope and Sequence, aligned with ASCA and NCDG standards, and documented as part of the district’s Curriculum Framework for School Counseling

Knowledge We Want Students to Acquire • Essential information students will learn through the ILP: • Importance of planning for their future • Steps in a complete planning process • Standards which affect their future • Roles and accountability

Skills We Want Students to Develop • Tasks and skills that are essential for students to do in terms of individual student planning: • Envision the future • Identify developmental needs • Develop an action plan • Implement their plan and monitor their progress • Evaluate their progress and document their conclusions • Develop new plan • Provide evidence of progress toward results

Behaviors We WantStudents to Adopt • One’s behavior and attitude are critical to success in school, work and life • The ILP highlights behaviors/ attitudes required for success by business and educational communities

ILP—A Personal Challenge to Take Ownership for One’s Learning • The ILP provides students with meaningful and ongoing processes focused on their personal success in the future • It is a personal challenge to students to assume ownership for their learning and to learn self-direction as a life-long skill • Students are guided in their efforts by adults who interact with them to arrive at a mutually agreed-upon set of learning goals and developmental activities • Support for meeting this challenge also comes from parents who are encouraged to become more aware of their children’s plans through signing their ILPs

Six Steps in TK8 1—Complete TK8 Welcome Center activities • Gain relevant knowledge about ILPs • Diagnose your current ILP Program • Develop a plan for using TK8 in your school 2—Design your ILP Program 3—Develop scope and sequence for ILP Curriculum 4—Document the ILP Curriculum activities 5—Document roles and accountabilities, and policies and protocols 6—Implement the ILP Program and generatecompelling data

Essential Design Components The ILP Program design will focus on these essential components: • Documented ILP curriculum • ILP support infrastructure • ILP data management and reporting • Strategic and annual ILP implementation plans • Professional development on the ILP for counselors, teachers and building leaders • Family and community engagement

ILP Exemplar • TK8 uses the ILP Program developed by Hope High School, Providence (RI) Public Schools, as an exemplar • The following slides are examples of their critical processes and forms used to help students plan for their academic, career and personal/social development

Individual Learning Plans2 Components: ALP and I-PASS • The Academic Learning Plan (ALP) is a road map with detailed directions to graduation by monitoring quarterly through progress reports and report cards and recording grades and credits annually. • I-PASS (Individual Physical Academic Social Success Plan) addresses the physical, social, academic, and career goals of the individual on an annual basis. New goals and aspirations are modified and updated throughout the academic school year. The student completes a new I-PASS each September. Student success is personalized and individualizedand students learn to plan and become accountable for their futures.

Hope High School’s ILPProvidence, Rhode Island ALP Academic Learning Plan • Credit Audit of courses, grades and credits earned • Academic road map to graduation • One ALP for all 4 years that is updated annually I-PASS Individual Physical Academic Social Success Plan • Designed to promote a balanced individual • Mind (academics) • Body (physical) • Relationships (family and friends) • Spiritual is a personal goal that is not addressed with the I-PASS

Academic Learning Plan (ALP) • Students are accountable for understanding and tracking courses, grades and credits with help from advisors and counselors • ALP is updated annually by students and retained with advisors in individual folders • Road map of core courses required, small learning or theme choices, and elective options • Course of Study is enclosed with student’s file for detailed course description

Introduce the ILP through Advisories Beginning of Year ALP Packet (4-Year Plan, Transcript) I-PASS Packet (I-PASS Goal Setting Activity,I-PASS Template, Examples) ILP Folder Checklist During the Year Quarterly Academic Review by Students Parent-Teacher Conference at End of 2nd Quarter (Student, Parent, and Counselor Sign the ALP) 1-on-1 Assistance End of Year Written Reflection on I-PASS Activity Review ILP Folder using Checklist and Rubrics Student and Teacher Surveys on Impact of Using ILP Quarterly Academic Review with Students Start of Year ALP Packet 4-Year Plan Transcript ILP Folder Checklist How We Deliver the ILP to Students

Next Steps • Complete the steps in TK8 to design/enhance your ILP Program • Talk with your colleagues in other schools and districts to learn about their experiences and insights • Participate in the Rhode Island School Counselor Association’s (RISCA) professional development on ILPs • Ask for technical assistance on ILPs from the RISCA Professional Development Initiative (contact: Belinda Wilkerson at bwilkers@providence.edu)

Toolkit 8 Individual Learning Plans