Career Mapping........ for First Graders?

Did you know that half of all states require students to create an ‘Individual Learning Plan’ as early as middle school? ‘Individual Learning Plans’, also known as ‘Student Learning Plans’, are computer based programs that allow to students to create a portfolio of their work and grades, as well as guide them in selecting classes based on possible career paths. These programs are 100% controlled by the student and also allow students to research careers and organize their college search.

School officials are finding the purpose of these plans has become two-fold. Having a ‘plan’ for mapping and completing courses has helped ‘at-risk’ students to visually see the ‘road-to-graduation’ as a path set before them. Having made this plan and marked milestones along the way, students begin to develop a sense of personal accountability in terms of their school career. It can help these students decide a career path, even if college is not the goal for them. For college preparatory students, having a ‘student learning plan’ helps them to create a virtually limitless portfolio of grades, test scores, art work and any other information they wish to add. It also helps these students select the appropriate courses they may need based on possible career paths in which they have indicated an interest in. Often times, students will be prompted to enroll in ‘advanced placement’ classes based on a possible career choice. While student-led learning plans were often thought of as a ‘reform strategy’ in the past, state policy makers are beginning to tout the concept as way to drive career and college readiness.

Student-led plans are just beginning to gain some real momentum, though some significant strides have been made in terms of making program software available to all students and in some cases, mandatory.  Typically, students begin working on their ‘plans’ as early as middle school by taking career surveys which give students a broad idea of the kind of career path that might interest them. However, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., recently introduced a bill to pilot a project in which students beginning in 1st grade could start portable online college-planning and -savings accounts.

Still there are many issues that need to be addressed such as funding for software, licensing, technical support and training.  Policy-makers hope that by making these student-led plans mandatory, funding will be made available to better train educators on how to help students properly develop their plans use the software effectively. “Kids are saying the plans helped them to know the process and it challenged them,” says Shelly Landry the leader counselor in the office of secondary transformation in Minneapolis school district’s guidance and counseling department. ““It opens their eyes to careers they hadn’t considered and just the idea of going to college.”