For the Monona Grove School District, Academic and Career Planning is grounded in our district strategic plan. The two key strategy areas that connect with ACP are 1) Engaging the Community and 2) Guaranteeing Equitable Opportunity, Access, and Outcomes.
Strategy Area: Engaging the Community
Goal Statement: The District and its stakeholders will engage regularly in responsive and ongoing two-way communication so that students, families, district employees, and the community are united with common goals and purpose.
Strategy Area: Guaranteeing Equitable Opportunity, Access, and Outcomes
Goal Statement: Staff will recognize and effectively respond to personal, implicit, and systemic biases and barriers that limit access and opportunities in order to ensure an equitable learning environment and school community for all students and families.
The ACP Model is based on the principles of KNOW-EXPLORE-PLAN-GO
KNOW - Who am I?
- Self-awareness activities
- Individual reflection and goal-setting
EXPLORE - What do I want to do?
- Career awareness assessment
- Career research
PLAN - How do I get there?
- Connecting middle and high school instructional activities with opportunities to explore or learn more about a particular field of interest.
- Work-based learning opportunities
- Extra-curricular and community-based learning experiences
- Postsecondary training options
- Financial plan to cover cost of postsecondary training
GO - Do It!
- Update regularly
- Adapt/Modify Intentional Sequence of Courses
- Adapt/Modify Personal Goals
- Adapt/Modify Postsecondary/Career Goals
- ACP Conferencing with families
ACP focuses on the process of building relationships that inform, support, and mentor students through activities and experiences that help them to plan for their educational, training, and career goals. MGSD will assist students with their career planning portfolios, their course selections and sequencing, and their self and career explorations. The career portfolio is accessed through the Career Cruising software which each student, in grades 6-12, and his/her family will have an account.
Staff understand and support both the ACP process and philosophy, and continue to learn through professional development opportunities. Our staff will help all of our students navigate through the process using Career Cruising, team building initiatives, self-advocacy strategies and group discussions.
One of our goals is to strengthen the connection between students and their community, through work experience and education. As students work on their academic and career planning portfolios, they will have opportunities to identify career fields in which they have interest. Once a student finds these areas, we want to engage them by giving them the opportunity to go out into their community to see what the profession actually looks like. Ideally, students could spend time with persons who work in their identified fields. In the future, we plan to have more community professionals come into our building and talk with our students and share their profession as well as their paths to get there. In time, one of our goals is for all students to visit at least one postsecondary institution, whether that is a technical, state, or private college.
Students need to learn how their interests and skills can guide them to a successful career. They will research post-secondary learning institutions, apprenticeships, military, and other options to see what may fit their needs the best. ACP has the capacity to spark conversations between students and parents regarding students’ futures, including which classes they need take now in high school and what jobs they can find now that will help their future career goals. Students will also learn what they can expect for beginning salaries and job outlook in their areas of interest.
We believe that ACP will get our students thinking beyond high school and the much bigger world outside our school walls! We want to expand their thinking and dreaming to help them find their passion!
