EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS

An Educational Development Plan (EDP) is a secondary & postsecondary planning tool that is intended to:
Be a living document updated as student interests and abilities become more obvious and focused
Help students identify education and career goals; write a statement of career goals
Help students create a plan of action
Create awareness about the connectivity between career goals and rigorous educational requirements
Be a tool for self-exploration in relation to postsecondary and career goals
Illuminate career pathway options for students
Help students explore postsecondary education and training options
Highlight credit and class relevancy through credit coordination/streamlining beginning in middle school, bridging into
high school and then postsecondary thru career exploration
Highlight basic college and employment requirements
Work with an IEP for students with disabilities
Support traditional and nontraditional pathways of meeting the Michigan Merit Curriculum (Personal Curriculum)

FOR WHOM: All students are required to develop an EDP in 7
th
grade and is reviewed and modified in 8
th
grade and as
appropriate before the beginning of high school. When applicable, parents & community contacts should be included in
the EDP creation, review and revision or college & career readiness activities that support the student goals and
aspirations. Parents should have the opportunity to review and endorse their childs EDPs.
WHY: To document an ongoing process in which a student identifies both career goals and a plan of action to achieve
them. The primary emphasis of the EDP is to develop a students statement of career goals and a plan of action for
reaching them.

EFFECTIVENESS: EDPs are dependent upon a larger career development and planning process. Connecting the EDP to a
variety of other career development activities is critical to its meaning and success for students, such as: participation in
pathways, career awareness, career exploration, and career assessment. Connecting the EDP to a variety of other career
development activities is critical to its meaning and success for students. The EDP documents a students
accomplishments at any given time in an overall career development and planning process.

SCOPE OF STUDENT PLANNING:
CAN/SHOULD:
Include career awareness or exploration activities, work-based activities, and course selections that will prepare her/him
for greater understanding of career options and achievement of career goals.
Take the time to explore the opportunities for earning college credit while still in high school through Advanced
Placement (AP) courses, dual enrollment, International Baccalaureate (IB), and other programs.

Be encouraged to discuss career-related issues with their parents and share their goals and action plans

MAY:

Also investigate educational programs available within the school or college curriculum that will provide opportunities to
become more aware and skilled in a career pathway (e.g., an internship in a community agency or intensive project-
based learning in a particular course).

(Summarized from the EDP Fundamentals: Guidelines for the Use of Educational Development Plans. Michigan Department of
Education: 2009.)