Academic and Career Planning
for College and Career-Ready Graduates
Kevin Miller
Dual Enrollment Consultant
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
Agenda:
• Diamonds in the Rough
• Setting the Table
• Overview of Academic & Career Planning (ACP)
• A Shift
• The ACP-Transition Connection
• Questions
Diamonds in the Rough
Consider the Diamond
• Laid out on a soft cloth or viewed through a
magnifier
• Set amongst other beautiful gems
• Set in a ring, necklace, or earrings
• The Hope Diamond or the Crown Jewels
• Maybe industrial applications
The Rest of the Story
• The beauty and/or utility requires extensive
processing by skilled craftspeople
• There is natural beauty before refinement, but
there is also great potential
• The right person with the right skills can bring
out the potential
Children as Diamonds
• Genetics and early nurturing form unique
characteristics of each child
• There is natural beauty in each child
• Children bring smiles and joy
• Children hold incredible potential, but it is
sometimes hidden deep inside
Finding the Potential
• Good teachers – like good jewelers –look
deeply and carefully at each student
• They find the unique characteristics
• They apply different tools and techniques
tailored to the unique characteristics
• They constantly reassess and adapt their
approach for each child
Some Have Personal “Jewelers”
• Receive refinement and polishing outside of
school
• Caring nurturing adults
• Surrounded by books, reading, etc.
• Challenged by games and activities
• Access to camps, trips, cultural events, sports,
drama, clubs, etc.
Schools not Always Conducive
• Increasing academic demands
• Directed or mandated instruction and
assessments
• Limited time to carefully discover each
student’s unique characteristics
• Limited opportunities to develop meaningful,
trusting, mutually respectful relationships
Opportunities Better than Ever
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Web-based and other technology tools
New ways to deliver instruction
New contexts for students to learn
Increasing acceptance of innovation
Academic and Career Plans and ACP Planning
Process
ACPs – Polishing for Every Child
• ACP only as good as process that created it
• Generic diamond cutting instructions won’t
achieve max potential for most diamonds
• Same is true for students
• Caring adult needs time to discover student
characteristics, guide development of
personalized ACP, then bring the ACP to life
Strength and Beauty
• Regardless of treatment (neglect, abuse, or
just poorly skilled craftspeople), diamonds
remain strong with potential for beauty
• Humans are the same, however…
• Both can be crushed beyond repair if
subjected to enough of the wrong types of
pressure
ACPs as a Means to Success
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Caring Adult relationship
Self-Awareness and discovery
Vision, skills, desire
Achieving potential and satisfaction
Setting the Table for ACPs
Challenges Facing Schools:
• Pervasive achievement gaps
• High drop-out/low graduation rates in some places
• Post-secondary school performance
– High need for remedial coursework
– Poor program completion rates
• Skills gaps
• Low CTE enrollment
• Truancy and student conduct concerns
What’s Been Tried:
• “Bring to scale” successful initiatives
• Increased academic instruction
• District-wide, school-wide, program-wide
“reforms” and initiatives
• Initiatives based on test scores
• Academic standards and standardized
assessments
The Results:
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Incremental improvements
Occasional successes
Strained resources
Initiative overload
And…
ACP Overview
The World Before ACPs
The World with ACPs
• Students have a realistic vision of their future
• Students know the skills, knowledge, and habits
needed to achieve that vision
• Students have access to the instruction needed to
develop the skills, knowledge, and habits
• Students are an active participant in determining
how to meet their needs
What is Academic and Career Planning?
• An ongoing process to actively engage a student :
– in his or her instructional and learning opportunities both in
and out of school
– in career development opportunities that incorporate selfexploration, career exploration, and career planning and
management activities.
• A product that documents and reflects a student’s:
– coursework, learning, and assessment results
– post-secondary plans aligned to career goals
– record of the student’s college and career readiness skills.
Each student’s process:
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Who am I? (Know)
What do I want to do? (Explore)
How do get I there? (Plan)
Let’s GO! (Implement)
Why Academic and Career Planning?
1.
RESEARCH! Students with a future focus show:
a)
b)
improved motivation, engagement in school, academic performance,
relevant course selection, understanding post-secondary options; and
engage in decreased risk-taking behaviors.
2.
ACPs are identified as best practice in the WI comprehensive
school counseling standards & in the WI Digital Learning Plan.
3. Academic and Career Planning adds relevance to other initiatives
(i.e. personalizing learning, PBIS, RtI, Dual Enrollment, Youth
Options).
4. WI Statute 115.28(59) supports Academic & Career Planning
Student Learning Plans: Supporting Every Student's Transition to College and Career Rennie Center for Education
Research and Policy, June 2011.
School Connectedness: Strategies for Increasing Protective Factors Among Youth
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009.
Wisconsin Statute 115.28(59)
• Includes $1.1 million in 2014-2015 funding for
software technology and professional development
supporting statewide implementation of ACP.
• Authorizes DPI to create administrative rule with
requirements for ACP services for all students in
grades 6-12 by 2017-18.
A Shift
4-Year Plan (Traditional)
ACP (Now)
Product-based
Process-based
Some or select students
All students
Acts as a 4-year plan of courses
Acts as a navigational tool for students from
grade 6-12 and beyond
Student “on own” for its development
Student-driven with collaboration
(mentor and parents)
HS Graduation = End point
HS Graduation = Check point
Student adapts to offerings
Options adapt to student needs
Career development is only the school
counselor’s job.
Career development is a systematic, wholeschool responsibility.
ACP Process Components:
• KNOW
– Self awareness (i.e., interests, aptitudes, strengths, weaknesses,
passions)
– Exploration activities (i.e., interest inventories, reflection exercises)
– Vision development
– Individual goal-setting
• EXPLORE
– Career awareness assessments and activities
– Career research
– Occupational and career experiences (i.e., investigative interviews, job
shadows, paid or unpaid work experience)
ACP Process Components Include:
• PLAN
– Connect instructional activities with the education and preparation
needed to successfully enter a particular field of interest
– Work-based learning opportunities
– Extra-curricular and community-based learning experiences
– Postsecondary training options
– Financial plan
• IMPLEMENT
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Update Quarterly (at least)
Adapt/Modify Intentional Sequence of Courses
Adapt/Modify Personal Goals
Adapt/Modify Career Goals
ACP Conferencing
Select ACP Resources
Work-based Learning
Dual Enrollment
Programs of Study
ACP Resources In Development
ACP Webpage
ACP Listserv
ACP on Facebook & Twitter
ACP Software
ACP Guidance (K-12)
ACP Guidance (parents)
ACP Guidance (community)
ACP Guidance (business)
ACP Challenges
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Buy in
Student engagement
Current structure of our schools
A shift in how we approach career
development
Quality Academic & Career Planning
• Includes and reinforces strong relationships between students
and the mentors/adults in their lives
• Increases the connections between student self-awareness,
daily instruction, and career/college goals
• Shows positive outcomes—students are more engaged and
autonomous in school
• Enhances student resiliency to overcome challenges & changes
• Provides qualitative and quantitative data regarding college and
career readiness paths
ACP Navigation Goal
All students understand themselves, explore
their world, establish goals for their futures,
and create a plan to achieve their goals;
while realizing that alternative
routes or temporary roadblocks
can mean that a recalculation is
necessary on one’s journey.
The ACP-Transition Connection
• All students must transition, but…
• Certain students are required to have a
transition plan
• ACPs = Transition Plans for all students with…
• All school staff dedicated to implementation
• In other words, ACPs will improve numerous
outcomes for all students, including SWD
Questions?
Kevin Miller
Dual Enrollment Consultant;
WI Department of Public Instruction
kevin.miller@dpi.wi.gov
608-267-3161