Personalized Learning Plans
Personalized Learning Plans (PLPs) or Personalized Education Plans (PEPs) include a range of planning tools within PK-12 and higher education. These tools often involve students and adults in collaborative processes to describe who the learner is, what motivates that student, what strengths and areas of challenge the students has, what supports the student needs to be most successful, what goals the student has (in and out of school, short and long term, including career and civic engagement), and what steps the student will take to achieve those goals. These plans can be at the classroom level, the school level, or the system level.
It is important to remember that PLPs are best implemented with a Universal Design for Learning approach so that learner variability can be taken into account. This includes the ways learners access information, engage in learning/doing, and express what they know and can do. For more on UDL, see the UDL Guidelines as well as the research on supporting learners with IEPs/504s on our website.
Getting Started
Personalized Learning Plans Manual.pdfVermont offers a full overview of PLPs and how to implement them with fidelity.
The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth) is composed of partners with expertise in disability, education, employment, and workforce development issues.
Future Ready
According to the guide: "ILPs enable the creation of personal learning plans and student-centered efforts to create a learning environment that is designed around the learning needs and learning style of the individual and places a premium on developing the competencies needed to pursue one’s goals rather than focusing on academic grades and collecting “seat-time.” ILPs help individuals perceive the relevance of these personal learning plans and student-centered efforts to helping them identify and seek out the learning opportunities that build their academic and employment competencies needed to realize their self-defined career and life goals." (p. 13)
This guide includes resources for elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and workforce considerations. Categories include self-exploration, career exploration, career planning and management skills, work-based learning, considerations for Universal Design for learning and practice, as well as implementation strategies for adoption, implementation, and evaluation. Also included are tips for communicating with students, families, employers, and higher education partners.
AC026-02 ISTE Sunrise Handout - Interactive.pdfExemplar Resource
Edmentum offers this how-to guide to getting started with personalized learning plans for all students at the classroom level.
According to the guide: "To truly personalize learning, we have to talk about the students: their specific academic journey, goals, and motivations. Then, pair each of these elements with performance data, and wrap it in a framework that records, monitors, and offers feedback as change occurs. Just like that, you’ve described the elements of a personalized learning plan (PLP). In their purest form, PLPs aim to facilitate greater student agency by providing a framework to help learners set, plan, and persist toward their academic goals.
Here, in 10 actionable steps, we will define essential components, offer guiding questions, and provide examples to help you build effective PLPs in your school or district." CLICK HERE FOR THE INFOGRAPHIC of the 10 steps.
PLPs and Self-Direction
When developing learner agency with the PLP process, it is crucial to engage learners in the building of their self-direction. Without increased self-awareness, initiative and ownership, goal setting and planning skills, personal engagement, self-management, and the ability to self-monitor and adapt (best-future.org), students will continue to be passive participant in their learning pathways rather than agents of their own learning.
By leading with activities, learning experiences, self-assessment, and goal-setting tools that relate to self-direction, PLPs become a deeply-embedded learner-driven process that increases all aspects of learner agency.
BEST Self-Direction Toolkit-v1.pdfBEST Self-Direction Toolkit
Click the image to access the full PDF. Click here to see the BEST Self-Direction Toolkit website with additional resources.
Exemplar Resource
According to the introduction: "Self-direction is a competency that includes both the intrapersonal skills of self-awareness and reflection and the interpersonal skills of collaborating with others to elicit feedback and support during the learning process. While exercising self-direction, students collaborate with and seek input from others, identify their interests and curiosity about topics under study, and apply their ideas to shape the learning process. This includes learning how to define learning goals and craft inquiries / driving questions, reflecting on their process, reassessing and adjusting their approach when needed, drawing on previous experiences to guide their decisions, and demonstrating care about the quality of their work and about meeting the deadlines they set. Teaching and learning focused on self-direction facilitates the process for students to take more ownership of their learning.
The self-direction tools provided in the toolkit support student pathways to becoming self-directed and self-determined learners."
In the Research
ilp_brief_designed.pdfAccording to the Executive Summary: "The changing economic and technological landscape has necessitated that schools provide students with the skills to navigate the complex requirements of the 21st century workplace. This report examines how states and schools have responded to these demands through schools’ use and implementation of Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) and expands upon two prior reports developed by Hobsons in 2009 and 2011. ILPs are personalized plans developed collaboratively by students and school personnel to set goals that help students focus on their academic and career futures and keep them on track toward these goals. ILPs are also known as Academic Achievement Plans, Personal Learning Plans, Personal Graduation Plans, or 4-Year Plans."
National Study Individualized Learning Plans nacacilpreport.pdfThis is the full research study and analysis of the Research to Practice Brief on the left.
PolicyBrief_NCWD.pdfResearch findings answer the following questions:
Should ILPs be considered a promising strategy for developing college and career readiness?
Are students with disabilities participating in ILPs?
Should ILPs be considered a promising college and career readiness strategy for students with disabilities?
Included are recommendations and state exemplars.
StudentLearningPlans_Rennie Center review.pdfAccording to the brief: "The emerging research on the effectiveness of SLPs to improve student outcomes related to college and career planning is promising. Evidence suggests that when implemented properly, SLPs that are supported by well-trained career counselors, educators and parents, and viewed as an integral part of a student’s educational experience may promote a range of positive student outcomes, including improved motivation and engagement, long-term planning skills, increased awareness of career options, and parental involvement in academic and career decisions."
personalized-learning-plans.pdfAt-Risk Students and PLPs
Please note: "This survey does not examine the effectiveness of personalized learning plans but instead describes the kinds of schools that offer personalized learning plans and their approaches to implementing the strategy. All findings are based on self-reported data from school principals. This analysis included an examination of four school characteristics: (1) size, (2) poverty, (3) locale, and (4) graduation rate. "