District ICAP Process - Westminster

Each student in middle and high school creates a “comprehensive and meaningful” Future Plan (ICAP). Their Future Plan is a level-appropriate progression of student’s academic and career awareness, exploration and planning that is available online or in print and captures the goals and aspirations of all students. At the heard of the Westrminster ICAP Process is The Future Center where students develop “My Life Map” in order to make better plans for courses that help them take advantage of the experiences and credits they need to further refine their ultimate goals.. Counselors team-up with the school based counselors and teachers to ensure that all students receive the instruction and take advantage of the supports available to them. The curriculum is comprehensive, engaging, meaningful, collaborative, intentional and integrated. And the counselors take the ICAP to the "action" level with students by promoting, enrolling, monitoring and managing the concurrent enrollment registration, FAFSA completion, and ASCENT eligibility and enrollment.

One central piece of the ICAP work is the student’s ability to use the information they discovered about themselves and their career aspirations to guide their course selection process when entering and continuing throughout high school. Students in 8th grade select the electives for all four years of high school based on their ultimate career goal. They are able to include college credit coursework, apprenticeships, special programs and industry credentials to fortify their postsecondary readiness. An extensive set of materials walks students through their course choices within the context of their career and industry clusters. The 9th-11th grade course planning document also includes the results of a student’s Myers Briggs, Work Values and Learning Style surveys. It includes their career names, industry cluster, postsecondary plan and PSAT/SAT scores. This body of information is reviewed with students annually so they are able to track any shifts in their plans. They use this data with counselors as they finalize all of their courses for the upcoming year. Each student meets with a counselor to review this plan at least once a year. This information is also at the heart of the Junior and Senior interviews regarding on-time graduation status and pre-planning for the transition from high school. Students appreciate that what they record and capture about themselves is preserved and reviewed with them often. They are able to get targeted support for their personal exploration and know the document is fluid and shifts as their interests, experiences and opportunities dictate. Students feel their voice is “heard” when it comes to their choices. They appreciate the personalized conversation and the support in working through the process of achieving their goals.

The ICAP curriculum is revised annually to include enhancements like:

the support for language arts development of students,
additional career exploration resources like the CDLE website and job forecast reports,
expansion of career exploration into a full year project so that students can dig deeply into research that is meaningful for them, and
the inclusion of new courses and programs at the high school.