Individual Career and Academic Plan (ICAP)

ICAPs begin with a vision of what a student would like to do in the world of work. This could mean identifying a career cluster (grouping of careers) that interests them, or a specific career, and then linking what they are interested in doing in the world of work with courses, extracurricular activities and postsecondary plans. 

An ICAP includes:

• Four year academic plan 
• ICAP Goals and Yearly Benchmarks 
• Transcript and related scores 

It may also include:

• Interest Survey Results
• Financial aid and scholarship search results
• Post-secondary documentation
• Record of student’s college or alternative applications
• Record of student’s progress toward securing scholarships, work-study, student loans and grants (when shared by student)

 

During the 2009 Colorado Legislative Session SENATE BILL 09‐256 was enacted into law with a requirement that by September 2011 all students grades 9-12 would have access to a system within their high school to create and manage an Individual Career & Academic Plan (ICAP.) The legislation also authorized the State Board of Education to adopt rules to define the requirements and processes for districts to accomplish this task. Final rules were adopted on January 14, 2010.

Districts must provide ICAP access and assistance for every student (9‐12).

Learn more at the CDE website here

 

Development of Individual Career and Academic Plans is a team effort, with many people contributing to a students' postsecondary plan:

Students are the most important members of the ICAP team, both as contributors AND as beneficiaries. An important ICAP goal is for each student to learn the process of creating a vision for the future and to know how to make that vision happen.

Parents and guardians are key to the ultimate success of the ICAP. They are the primary advocates for their student's postsecondary vision.

School-based ICAP team members include:

Building Administrators (i.e., principals and assistant principals) as leaders of postsecondary planning;

Secondary School Staff (especially teachers) who promote informed postsecondary possibilities; and

School Counselors, who are students' postsecondary coaches.

 

Naviance is an online postsecondary and career exploration program that is provided for all 9th through 12th grade Boulder Valley students. The quality of career information and up-to-date college and scholarship information make this online service a premier opportunity for BVSD students to link their interests and skills with post-secondary opportunities.  Naviance is the “storage locker” for ICAP information providing teachers, parents, and students an opportunity to view a student’s four year plan, academic-extracurricular-postsecondary goals, and post-secondary preparation.  

Login to Naviance by searching for your school here

Your student's counselor should be able to answer any questions you have about your student's ICAP.