Using Individualized Learning Plans to Maximize College and Career Readiness Efforts

1. Using Individualized Learning Plans to Maximize College and Career Readiness Efforts V. Scott Solberg, PhD National Collaborative on Workforce & Disability for Youth School of Education, Boston University

2. Who We Are • National Collaborative on Workforce & Disability for Youth • A national technical assistance center • Focus on needs of ALL youth, including youth with disabilities and other disconnected youth to • Improve state and local policy • Strengthen workforce development service delivery • Improve competencies of youth service professionals • Engage youth and families • Supported by Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department of Labor

3. Research Partners

4. Should ILPs be considered a promising practice for developing college and career readiness? Are students with disabilities participating in ILPs? Should ILPs be considered a promising practice for college and career readiness among students with disabilities Questions Guiding Our ILP Research

5. Range of mixed methods strategies to identify college and career readiness pathways Interviews with students to identify career readiness processes Established a study group of schools in four states: educators, families and students participated in surveys and focus groups 50-state web review of ILP purposes and implementation strategies In-depth conversations with select state and district/school officials Research Strategies

6. History of ILPs • Individualized Education Plans • Personalized learning and school engagement • ASCA national model • Career and Tech Education • Changing graduation requirements • College and career readiness initiative

7. What is a Quality ILP? • A document consisting of a student’s: (a) course taking and post-secondary plans aligned to career goals and (b) documentation of the range of college and career readiness skills he/she has developed.  • A process that relies on a student’s understanding of the relevance of school courses as well as out-of-school learning opportunities and provides the student access to career development opportunities that incorporate self-exploration, career exploration, and career planning and management activities.

8. Individual Learning Plan (ILP) Components 1. 3. 2.

10. Career Exploration

11. Disengaged Students Reported Lower Social Emotional Learning Skills • Lower academic self-efficacy • Lower career decision-making readiness • Increased psychological/emotional distress • Increased academic stress • Lower motivation to attend school

12. Active Career Development Characteristics Youth who are able to: • Identify one or more careers of interest • Clearly describe plans to pursue the careers of interest • Connect career plans to personal interests, skills and values • Identify how current courses relate to career plan • Articulate skill and entry requirements for their careers • Engage in additional learning opportunities • Describe their needed skills & future development plan

13. Final Model General Sample

14. Engaging in ILPs General Sample GPA (std. est. = .027, p < .001). Career decision-making readiness (std. est. = .011, p < .000). Distress (std. est. = -.012, p. < .000)

15. Misti Ruthven Postsecondary Education and Success Manager, Colorado Department of Education Ruthven_M@cde.state.co.us

16. Effective Planning and Implementation • Resources • Tools • Monitoring • Professional Development • State Guidance • Partnerships: • CDE, CDHE, CIC, CCCS • ICAP Tutorials • CE Advisory Board • Endorsed Diplomas • Remediation Taskforce • College Admission • Data Sharing • Early College Design • Innovations and Individualized Learning • ICAP implementation • Expanded Learning Opportunities • ASCENT • Academic Guidance • Career Exploration Career & College Readiness • College and Career Preparation • Concurrent Enrollment (CE) • Career and Technical Education • Colorado Standards • 21st Century Skills • Legislation • CAP4Kids • Accountability Act of 2009 • Educator Effectiveness • School Counselor Corps Grant • ICAP • Concurrent Enrollment (CE) Act • Early High School Grads • Dropout Recovery • Basic Skills Testing • Tracking Results • School Counselor Corps Evaluation • Remediation Rates • School and District Accreditation • ICAP Study • Concurrent Enrollment Reporting 16

17. Individual Career and Academic Plan (ICAP) • Decrease the dropout rates and increase graduation rates by assisting students in developing and maintaining a personalized postsecondary plan • Assist parents and students in exploring the postsecondary career and educational opportunities available to the student • Align course work and curriculum to the students’ postsecondary goals • A way to determine if a student is on-track with the planning and preparation and readiness for postsecondary education and/or the workforce

18. 18 ICAP Data • 85% of school counselors list ICAP implementation as a priority • Limiting Factors: • Lack of funding • Turnover in administration • Lack of administrator support. • Source: Colorado School Counselor Corps Source: Colorado Community College System

19. In what grade is your school district implementing ICAP? 17% 18% 18% 18% 11% 9% 7% 0% 1% N=400

20. Who is mainly responsible for implementing ICAPs in your setting? 77% 2% 9% 5% 2% 5% N=400

21. In your district, what is your level of ICAP implementation? 37% 46% 9% 4% 4% N=400

22. How are ICAPs being implemented? N=400

23. In what format is your district implementing ICAP? 20% 67% 25% 4% N=400

24. Mindy Larson Senior Program Associate, Center for Workforce Development Institute for Educational Leadership Project Manager, National Collaborative on Workforce & Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth) larsonm@iel.org

25. Emerging Promising Practices • Begin in middle school and continue through high school graduation • Provide access to online career information systems that use an ePortfolio for the ILP • Emphasize three career development processes: Self-exploration, Career exploration, and Career planning and management skills • Establish whole school buy in by incorporating ILP activities into advisory periods • Adopt student-led parent-teacher conferences

26. State Policy Recommendations • Est. mandates that start ILPs no later than 6th grade • Est. mandates that all students are to be included • Est. clear expectations that ILPs will be own by the whole school and not be segregated to school counseling alone • Est. Task Force of key stakeholder groups • Est. evaluation systems to determine ROI • Est. professional development systems

27. Resources on ILPs • Policy Brief: “Using Individualized Learning Plans to Produce College and Career Ready High School Graduates” http://www.ncwd-youth.info/ilp/produce-college-and-career-ready-high-school-graduates • How-to Guide: “Promoting Quality Individualized Learning Plans: A How to Guide Focused on the High School Years” www.ncwd-youth.info/ilp/how-to-guide • ILP Fact Sheet: http://www.ncwd-youth.info/fact-sheet/individualized-learning-plan • ILP Resources Home Page: www.ncwd-youth.info/ilp

28. Moving Forward: Three Actions to Support ILPs • Providing Sustainable Leadership • Setting Voluntary Standards of Practice and Identifying metrics to Measure Results • Supporting Capacity Development within Multiple Institutions

29. Setting Voluntary Standards of Practice/Measuring Results • Key Strategies Include: • Developing benchmarks to meet the needs of all individuals using the “ILP System” based on the specific institutional requirements • Using these benchmarks as building blocks to design specifications for technology platforms and monitoring processes

30. Supporting Capacity Development in Multiple Institutions • Key Strategies Include: • Improving content of career information systems • Improving staff competencies • Providing access to evidence-based resources

31. Web-based Career Information Systems • Accessible to all individuals statewide to address: • Overall cost containment • Quality control • Transferability • Student ownership of a portable document

32. Moving Forward: How National Collaborations Can Help • Multi-state organizations helped launch ILPs and can help move the effort forward. • The following areas emerged as the most important to center collaborative action: • Improving access to and use of technology • Developing common measures to track return on investment (ROI) • Develop materials and tools to be shared with states and localities to provide professional development opportunities and use web-based resources • Address the development or upgrading of voluntary standards of practice

33. States Repurposing Money • Providing services through content rich internet-based platforms • Building platforms to blend information from multiple sources to track people and programs • Increasing use of evidence-based research to drive program design and services • substantial reliance on a national network of non-governmental organizations

34. Recommendations for Including Family • Develop family- friendly ILP communication materials • Provide ideas for how schools can more effectively engage families in ILPs • Direct web-based career information system vendors to enable family participation in their child’s ILP and to allow for parallel ILP activities at home • Use ILP to establish annual student-led parent-teacher conferences

35. Recommendations for Including Students with Disabilities • Establish multidisciplinary task force to design accommodations for ILP activities and work-based learning opportunities to support students with significant disabilities • Ensure that web based career information systems adhere to universal design principles • Create advocacy policy to ensure “all students” have access to ILPs • Design and highlight demonstration projects

36. V. Scott Solberg, PhD National Collaborative on Workforce & Disability for Youth School of Education, Boston University ssolberg@bu.edu