What is an Educational Development Plan (EDP)?
An Educational Development Plan (EDP) is a very useful tool to assist students with their career preparation process. It provides a place to record results of assessments, career research, reflections on exploration activities, etc., and to correlate this growing body of information with a plan of action to achieve educational and career goals.
Students need answers to important questions: Who am I? Where am I going? How do I get there? By being involved in career preparation and in creating their EDPs, students can become engaged in a process that assists them in exploring and examining their interests, skills, and abilities and in beginning to make decisions about selecting a career path for the future.
Ongoing career development helps students to become involved in learning a process that will prepare them for the choices and decisions they need to make regarding careers and setting goals. In schools, this process includes participation in career pathways, career awareness and exploration, assessment and guidance, and integrated learning (which combines academic and career-related content and is presented in coordinated learning activities.) An EDP, whether on paper or electronic, provides an ongoing record of career and educational decisions and guides the learner in accomplishing goals based on an informed plan of action. Setting goals and recording them in an EDP helps students become more intentional about being successful in their classes and in selecting extracurricular and employment activities. To be effective, EDPs do not stand alone. They are dependent upon participation in the larger, ongoing career development process and they should be reviewed and updated annually.
Essential EDP Elements:
- Personal Data / typically includes name, address, birth date, and grade level
- Career Goal(s) / Young students choose interest areas by listing career pathways in order of preference. Older students who have had opportunities to refine their choices over time should be asked to become more specific about occupations, stating both desired career pathway(s) and related job titles.
- Education/Training Goals / long-range goals regarding the formal education or preparation needed, (i.e. apprenticeship, certificate program, 2 or 4-year degree program, military, etc.)
- Career Assessment Highlights / Learners need opportunities to use the results of formal assessments and informal observations to assist in choosing career goals. Watching for consistency of career assessment results over time, the learner will be aided in confirming career decisions.
- Career Awareness, Exploration, & Work-Based Experiences / listing of activities that he/she has and intends to participate in order to gain a better understanding of career options and characteristics, (i.e. researching career information, volunteer/community service, job shadowing, internship, CTE program, internship, part-time employment, etc.)
- Course Selection / (required and elective) a sequential plan of courses that provide academic and career-related preparation relevant to goals and continuing education
- Parent Consultation/Endorsement / Parents of middle and high school students should have the opportunity to review and endorse their child's EDP.
- Student Portfolio / a place to document acquired skills and showcase selected meaningful material.
Career Cruising (www.careercruising.com) is an amazing internet-based career resource and EDP tool, which Chippewa Valley Schools subscribes to for all of our middle and high schools. Each school has its own unique password. Our license agreement allows students, parents, and staff to utilize this resource from home as well as school. To learn your school's password, please contact your guidance counselor.
To access an explanation of the Chippewa Valley Schools' Career Cruising Program, please click here.
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