Navigating the Process of Incorporating Personal Learning Plans

The 2014 Minnesota Legislature adopted language requiring Minnesota school districts to assist all students no later than grade nine to develop a Personal Learning Plan leading to a “smooth and successful transition to postsecondary education or employment.” Recognizing that many teaching professionals are not well equipped to provide learners with guidance about the opportunities available across the career spectrum, the Advancing Career Development project provided a way to introduce a cadre of teaching/counseling professionals to career knowledge through guided work-site experiences so that they could help other education professionals and students to understand the breadth of career opportunities available. The project recognized Minnesota’s Perkins consortia, a unique-in-the-nation structure of secondary schools and 2-year postsecondary institutions, as an appropriate vehicle to give leadership to this effort. Minnesota’s Perkins consortia, in collaboration with state leadership, have developed excellent tools to help guide career development of secondary learners, including the Minnesota Clusters & Pathways Framework (the career wheel) that organizes careers into a structure of six career fields, sixteen career clusters and seventy-nine career pathways; the spectrum of work-based learning opportunities that diagrams the variety of worksite learning experiences ranging from field trips to youth apprenticeships; and other planning tools to assist in the implementation of the Personal Learning Plan legislation.

The Advancing Career Development project provided work-site experiences for groups of career and technical education (CTE) teachers and counselors from each of three Perkins consortia to improve the education professionals’ understanding of opportunities for future careers so that they may provide better guidance to students in their preparation of Personal Learning Plans. Participating teachers/counselors took part in professional development around implementation of the personal learning plan legislation, the career development spectrum, the six career fields, and an array of postsecondary/certificate options, followed by site visits of regional business/industries representing the six career fields.

Teachers/counselors were selected by the leadership of three participating Perkins consortia. Participating teachers were teachers of career and technical education for, while these individuals hold knowledge of careers within their own fields of expertise and also generally understand all aspects of the industry for which they are preparing students, they sometimes lack the broader understanding of careers across the six career fields. The training provided helped them to be able to transfer their knowledge of all aspects of industry to multiple industry sectors. Participating counselors have a solid background in the career development process, but may lack information about the world of work outside of education. Teachers/counselors participated in an introductory session pertaining to the personal learning plan requirement, career development spectrum and career fields held at a union training facility; at least five visits to business/industry settings (one for each career field: agriculture, food, and natural resources; arts, communications and information systems; engineering, manufacturing and technology; health science; human services; business, management and administration), and a follow-up session to guide development of a local implementation plan. A full day was required for the initial session, while other sessions were generally for a half-day with participants completing additional assignments on their own time.

A website was developed to contain necessary materials for the project as well as be a repository for assignments completed by participants. The website held background information on the project as well as the sponsoring organizations – the Citizens League of Minnesota and the Jay & Rose Phillips Family Foundation; held career development materials and information on the state’s career fields; gave links to career videos and other useful documents; gave information about the guiding state statute and other pertinent legislation; held information on experiential learning and the spectrum of work-based learning opportunities; and held all instructional materials used within the project for participant review. Business/industry partners were also surveyed to gauge their satisfaction with the activity.

Daniel Smith, CTE Consultant, Retired from the Minnesota Department of Education