Connection to 

ACp



Academic & Career Planning and

Redefining Ready


Go Hand in Hand




The Four Stages to Successful Academic and Career Planning Model include: Know, Explore, Plan, and Go.  These stages should be used as a guideline in the development and delivery of a comprehensive ACP Program. The KNOW stage focuses on the development of self-awareness.  Components in the KNOW stage included interest inventories, personality assessments, learning style assessments, goal setting, course choices, and standardized test results.



The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, via PI-26 legislation made Academic and Career Planning (ACP) a requirement for all public schools in the state of Wisconsin to offer students in grades 6-12.  The ACP requirements' purpose is to develop college and career ready graduates from all Wisconsin public high schools.  The Wisconsin DPI developed the Four Stages to Successful Academic and Career Planning Model to be used as a guide for the ACP implementation process.

The components in the EXPLORE provide students with an opportunity to gain more knowledge on specific careers of interest. The activities outlined in the EXPLORE stage include career research job shadowing, job fairs, service learning projects, volunteering, and work experience. The PLAN stage shifts from self-awareness and exploratory activities to activities focused on attaining one’s post-secondary goals. PLAN components included resume building, cover letter writing, application completion, campus visits, financial aid and scholarship completion. The GO stage focused on wrapping up what is necessary for the student to proceed into the workforce, military, technical or 4-year college. 

By using the College Ready Indicators and Career Ready Indicators, school districts are able to see how their students are doing as a whole but also drill down to individual students to see which indicators students have met throughout their educational career.  The initial indicators were for the high school level, but middle school and elementary school readiness indicators have been developed as well. 

 

Redefining Ready and ACP in Wisconsin are changing the narrative of public education.  Redefining Ready assists school districts in looking beyond the state-generated district report cards to student indicators that are vetted in research and link to high school graduates’ level of readiness for the world of work, military, or college.  Utilizing a Redefining Ready Lens and providing ACP programming to enhance individual student experiences in public schools is paramount for ensuring students are truly career and college ready.  

 

Districts are able to produce a district-level report card, school report cards, and individual student report cards based on the Redefining Readiness Indicators.  These report cards can be instrumental in the ACP process by allowing districts to look at the big picture of career and college readiness allowing for the development and implementation of programming in these areas as well as utilize the individual student reports via advisory periods or ACP conferencing for reflection, goal setting and planning purposes.