The Individual Learning Plan What is it? How is it used? Where do we each fit in? The MMSD ILP is a powerful tool which students, their families, and school staff can use to help tie present school experiences with future opportunities. This is a brief glimpse at the ILP and some of its uses. ILPs came about from a concern that too many high-school graduates hadn’t completed the proper coursework to successfully enter postsecondary education and training opportunities. They had to take too many remedial courses prior to being able to enter a desired training program or major. This is a major expense of time and money. The ILP was conceived as a way to help high school students stay on track for direct entry into the postsecondary training or education their career choices required of them.

The Individual Learning Plan The ILP is best understood as the student’s suitcase… Consider that each of our students is on a journey…

The Individual Learning Plan …for his/her journey through grades k-12 on the way to further training and a career. …making 13 stops at points of interest along the way to the final stop on this portion of his/her journey.

The Individual Learning Plan The ILP stays with the student all along the way as he/she continues “movin’ down the highway.” At each stop, the student takes from the suitcase what he/she needs at that stop, discards some of the contents of the suitcase and acquires new items, and also picks up interesting and useful souvenirs. And this process occurs 13 times before the student arrives at the intersection requiring him/her to select a new highway on which to continue the journey.

The Individual Learning Plan After graduation, the student will take a new direction. However, some of the contents from the ILP will be in his/her new luggage. At many points on the students k-12 journey, various school staff will be talking about getting ready for the next stop along the road and about getting the right directions for the most appropriate road to take after graduation. The contents of the student’s ILP are very helpful in these discussions. Over time, the ILP will morph into a student’s application for a job or for further education, taking the form of a resumé or personal statement.

The Individual Learning Plan On the K-12 journey the ILP holds the student’s necessities and souvenirs. Some contents of the ILP go into the student’s new “suitcase” for the next part of his/her journey. At each stop, the student takes from the suitcase what he/she needs at that stop, discards some of the contents of the suitcase and acquires new items, and also picks up interesting and useful souvenirs. And this process occurs 13 times before the student arrives at the intersection requiring him/her to select a new highway on which to continue the journey.

The Individual Learning Plan The contents of the ILP fall into three major categories… academic achievement career awareness and education life planning and management There are three major types of items in the student’s ILP.

The Individual Learning Plan “Academic achievement” includes data about the student’s attendance, participation in extra- curriculars, performance on standardized assessments, and mastery of the concepts and skills from classes. Some are specifically about his/her school experiences.

The Individual Learning Plan “Career awareness and education” combines the student’s knowledge of how the world of work is organized with an understanding of his/her career interests, personal talents, and workplace values into a plan for making a successful career choice. Others are about what he/she has learned about the world of work and how one prepares for a career.

The Individual Learning Plan “Life planning and management” refers to our preparing the student to use his/her academic knowledge, self-awareness, and skill at problem-solving/decision-making to move effectively through the transition points in life. “Learning to learn.” And still others relate to skills and concepts the student has learned both outside and inside school to use during times of change and transition in life.

ILP Components Academic Achievement Career Awareness and Education Life Planning and Management The ILP is built around these three components.

Academic Achievement Establish learning and/or developmental goals in the three domains including action plans and review Academic Career Personal/Social The three general areas of the ILP are reflected in the student’s academic experiences throughout grades K-12.

Career Awareness & Education As students move into high school, the general planning from elementary and middle school becomes more detailed. Students explore various pathways to enter careers that may be of interest to them. The Plan of Study explains what specific education and training is needed in high school and beyond for careers in various areas. The Plans of Study are descriptions of preparation pathways, not pre-determined routes that students are required to follow to specific careers chose for them by their performance on inventories or tests or in high school courses. Plans of Study tell a student, “If you’re interested in being a gourmet chef, these are the courses you should take in high school. the clubs and activities you might want to investigate, and the courses you’ll need to take in culinary arts school or in the WI Technical College System. The student is then able to see if that preparation aligns with his/her interest in eventually being a gourmet chef. As a result, the student is more likely to understand the relevance of his/her high school courses and activities; he/she is more apt to be engaged in the classes and thereby learn more. Programs of Study are real-world information students can check out for themselves.

Life Planning & Management: The Portfolio/ePortfolio Transcript Assessment & inventory data Examples of work showing mastery of specific benchmarks and/or standards Student’s personal-goals statement Co-curricular activities showing leadership plus interest/skill development Service-learning experiences Work experience Awards/Honors Special skills The Portfolio/ePortfolio allows the student to assemble information for a resumé for a job or for a college application. This part of the ILP can follow the student after high-school since WISCareers allows graduates who wish to do so to maintain a WISCareers account for an annual fee.

The Individual Learning Plan Throughout grades k-12 many different adults help the student pack, unpack, and re-pack the ILP so it accurately reflects his/her progress on the journey toward positive, productive adulthood in an increasingly interdependent world. The ILP is available for use by all school staff associated with the student. It enables them to see many aspects of the student in one place. The ILP is an excellent source for information for staff to use in their work with groups of students or individuals. Because the WISCareers assessments and inventories will link student interests and experiences to specific Career Clusters and 21st Century Skills, the ILP can facilitate discussion between the student and school staff about the relevance of current high-school courses and activities to the “real world.”

The Individual Learning Plan Family Friends Teachers Bosses Coaches Mentors Students may include information about ways that non-school adults affect their lives—music teachers, bosses, neighbors, club coaches, clergy, etc.

The Individual Learning Plan No one adult can provide everything a student needs for successfully negotiating the transition from childhood to adulthood. The ILP is one place where the input from all the adults comes together for the student. In the ILP, the influences of may adults in a student’s life come together and may be powerful influences as the student plans for the fulure.

The Individual Learning Plan Research shows that today being ready for a career and being ready for college require the same preparation in high school. Gone are the days when some students went on to college for the white-collar world and others went into the blue-collar world by means of trade school or direct entry into the workforce. In today’s America in today’s global economy, the skills needed for success in a career and success in college are the same. The ILP is a tool for keeping track through grades k-12 of information about the student’s school experiences, awareness of the world after high school, and preparation for managing transitions and changes. All school staff provide the student and his/her family with valuable input along the way through school, and the ILP is a place to organize and use that input.

The Individual Learning Plan How can we use the ILP to give every student and family the best information and planning tools we have on the student’s K-12 journey? “Every Day is a Winding Road” The MMSD ILP is taking shape. We have the chance to set the foundation and direction for how MMSD uses this tool with our students. A chance like this is a terrible thing to waste!

Help your students prepare for their JOURNEY!