We seek to better know students’ story, and to use that story as a basis to help students set goals, explore pathways, and connect them to future opportunities.

PLP stands for Personalized Learning Plan, a key provision of Vermont’s Flexible Pathways Initiative created by Act 77 of 2013. This act charged Vermont secondary school educators with creating personalized learning environments that offer flexible pathways to graduation, and a planning process by which students and educators can reflect on and document student learning over time. In our CVU Values, we put it this way: “All learners have a strength, genius, and story; we uncover and grow those strengths in collaboration with our learners.” The PLP provides an occasion for learning more about student stories and translating this awareness into future opportunities. As Todd Rose, author of the book The End of Average asserts, “The only way to judge if we are on the right path is by judging how the path fits our individuality.”

A well-organized portfolio facilitates the goal of personalized learning by providing a place where students and educators can document and reflect on learning and growth over time.

With the guidance of your advisor and the support of your counselor, teachers, coaches, and other community members, you will build your online portfolio. Some of you will be doing this through a provided set of Google Slides; some will choose to use new platform called spikeview (What is spikeview?). In either case, your portfolio is all about you telling your story, and using this story to aid in future decision making. Your story isn’t just about school; it can include work experience, sports, activities, clubs, volunteering—whatever is important to you. In thinking about your experiences, we ask you to think about the four aspects of story:

1. Identity: Who am I? Who am I becoming? What makes me me?

2. Connection: Who are my people?

3. Direction: Where do I see myself going in the near term, long term?

4. Proficiency: What are my learning strengths, challenges, and accomplishments?

If you're ever drawing a blank about what to use for a story, try out one of these Alternative Story Activities!

Who is even going to look at my PLP? Actually, lots of people! We encourage you to develop this showcase of your learning and growth with a variety of audiences in mind, but here are some of the people who will be most interested in seeing your portfolio:

• Your Advisor: Advisors build relationships with their advisees and assist them in fostering growth and self-awareness in the four elements of story: identity, connection, direction, and proficiency. For this reason, your advisor will be the one who engages most frequently with your portfolio, replying to and providing feedback as you add to your portfolio; conferring with you about potential pathways, such as C3, RISE, and course selection; and preparing you to share your story through the Advisory Conferences and Senior Exit Experience.

• Your Family/Caregivers: Advisory Conferences, which occur in the spring of each year, are an opportunity for you to share your portfolio with your family/caregivers, using it to chart a course for further exploration, learning, and growth. At the end of your senior year, this culminates in the Senior Exit Experience, where you will present to an audience of your advisor, fellow advisees, family/caregivers, and other invited guests.

• Your School Counselor: Your counselor will use your portfolio to help develop an understanding of your values, strengths, and interests, using this understanding to help connect you with future pathways and opportunities. This includes but is not limited to course selection, college and scholarship applications, work-based learning, and internship opportunities.

• Recommenders: Before a teacher or counselor will write you a letter of recommendation, you must add your completed, updated, and organized PLP portfolio in Scoir, the platform the Direction Center uses to help you explore colleges, request letters of recommendation, and submit and track your applications. You will want your PLP to be polished, impressive, and uniquely you.

• Potential Employers, Admissions Officers, Scholarship Committees: An impressive online portfolio is a powerful asset when applying for jobs, internships, scholarships, or college admission. Because it allows you to tell your own story—rather than letting grades, transcripts, or tests scores tell it for you—a portfolio can help others appreciate your unique skills, interests, and attributes.

• YOU! Ultimately, you are the one who benefits the most from curating and reflecting on your growth, achievements, interests, connections, and skills over time. By organizing and sharing these experiences, you gain a clearer understanding of your strengths and areas for improvement, which helps with self-awareness and goal setting.