DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION RULES GOVERNING STANDARDS FOR INDIVIDUAL CAREER AND ACADEMIC PLANS 1 CCR 301-81 [Editor’s Notes follow the text of the rules at the end of this CCR Document.] _________________________________________________________________________ Authority: Article IX, Section 1, Colorado Constitution. The statutory basis for these rules is found in section 22- 2-106(1)(a), C.R.S., State Board Duties; section 22-2-107(1)(c), C.R.S., State Board Powers; section 22-2-136, C.R.S., Additional duty – state board – individual career and academic plans; 22-30.5- 117, Charter Schools – basic skills placement; section 22- 30.5-525, C.R.S., Institute Charter Schools – Individual career and academic plans; and sections 22-32-109(1)(oo)(I) and 22-32-109.5. C.R.S., Board of Education – specific duties.

1.00 Statement of Basis and Purpose.

Pursuant to 22-2-136(1), C.R.S., the State Board of Education is required to promulgate rules to establish standards for Individual Career and Academic Plans (“ICAP”) for all students enrolled in public schools in the state. The intent of this provision in the legislation is to ultimately decrease dropout rates and increase graduation rates by assisting students in developing and maintaining a personalized postsecondary career and educational plan that ensures readiness for postsecondary and workforce success and aligns to requirements set forth in section 22-7-1001 et seq. C.R.S. and section 22-11-101, et seq. C.R.S. Pursuant to section 22-2- 136(1). C.R.S., an ICAP shall be designed to assist a student and their parent or legal guardian in exploring the postsecondary career and educational opportunities available to the student, aligning course work and curriculum, applying to postsecondary education institutions, securing financial aid, and ultimately entering the workforce.

2.0 Definitions.

2.1 Approved Postsecondary Service Providers: Representatives of pre-collegiate service-providing programs who support middle and high school students’ postsecondary objectives and planning and who have a formal service agreement with the schools they serve.

2.2 Contextual and Service Learning: Activities performed by the student that establish connections between school-based instruction and the world of work, careers, and learning that occurs beyond the school itself (i.e., Career and Technical Education, expeditionary learning, experiential education, internship or externships, and apprenticeships).

2.3 Department: The Department of Education created pursuant to section 24-1-115(1), C.R.S.

2.4 Individual Career and Academic Plan (ICAP): An individualized plan, developed by the student and the student’s parent or legal guardian, in collaboration with their school counselors, school administrators, school personnel and/or Approved Postsecondary Service Providers that is used to help establish personalized academic and career goals, explore postsecondary career and educational opportunities, align course work and curriculum, apply to postsecondary institutions, secure financial aid and ultimately enter the workforce school.

2.5 Institute Charter School: A charter school authorized pursuant to section 22-30.5-501, C.R.S.

2.6 Portfolio: A digital or paper record that includes, at minimum, the components required by these rules. The Portfolio may include student-created information and/or reflections (e.g., websites, documents, surveys) as well as records created by the district or school. The Portfolio may be maintained in different systems by the district or school. For example, some components of the Portfolio may be maintained in the student record system and other components may live in an electronic or paper file. All components of the Portfolio should be accessible as defined in rule

3.02 of these rules. The district or school should communicate to students and

parent(s)/guardian(s) in writing how the information contained in the ICAP Portfolio can be accessed.

2.7 Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness (PWR): Colorado high school graduates demonstrate the knowledge and skills (competencies) needed to succeed in postsecondary settings and to advance in career pathways as lifelong learners and contributing citizens.

2.8 Progress in Visual Arts and Performing Arts Courses: Evidence of having participated in and grades earned in Visual Arts and Performing Arts Courses as defined in 22-1-104.5 (1)(a) - (c), C.R.S.

2.9 State Board: The State Board of Education created pursuant to Section 1, Article IX of the State Constitution.

3.0 Standards for Individual Career and Academic Plans.

3.1 Each ICAP shall include a career planning, guidance and tracking component and portfolio that reflects, at a minimum, standards as required, but not limited to section 22-2-136, C.R.S. 3.01(1) Documentation of the student’s efforts in exploring careers, including: a written postsecondary and workforce goal for the student; yearly benchmarks for reaching that goal; interest surveys that the student completes; and anticipated postsecondary studies; 3.01(2) The student’s academic progress including the courses taken, any remediation or credit recovery and any concurrent enrollment credits earned;

3.01(3) The student’s progress in visual arts and performing arts courses; 3.01(4) An intentional sequence of courses reflecting progress toward accomplishment of the student’s postsecondary and workforce objectives;

3.01(5) Relevant assessment scores; including basic skills placement or assessment tests. For schools districts and charter schools that choose to administer the basic skills placement or assessment tests, the student’s scores on the basic skills placement or assessment tests administered pursuant to section 22-30.5-117, 22-30.5-526 or 22-32- 109.5(4), C.R.S., any intervention plan created for the student and the student’s progress in meeting the intervention plan;

3.01(6) The student’s plans for and experiences in Contextual and Service Learning, if applicable;

3.01(7) A record of the student’s college applications and resume, or alternative applications as they are prepared and submitted;

3.01(8) The student’s postsecondary studies as the student progresses through high school; 3.01(9) The student’s progress toward securing scholarships, work-study, student loans and grants;

3.01(10) Other data reflecting student progress toward postsecondary and workforce readiness, including the student’s understanding of the financial impact of postsecondary education;

3.01(11) The student’s scores on basic skills or assessment tests and based on an analysis of the scores (if a district chooses to administer), the student’s level of PWR at the time of the test. If a student’s scores indicate that he or she is at risk of being unable to demonstrate readiness prior to or upon high school graduation, school personnel shall work with the student and the student’s parent or legal guardian to create an intervention plan that identifies the necessary courses and education support services that the student requires to achieve readiness prior to or upon high school graduation to be prepared to continue into a postsecondary education option. 3.01(12) Assisting the student and the student’s parent or legal guardian in exploring apprenticeship programs registered through the United States Department of Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship or a state apprenticeship agency recognized by that office.

3.2 Each ICAP shall be accessible to educators, students, parents, legal guardians, and Approved Postsecondary Service Providers; and may be shared in compliance with the “Federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974”; and the student data privacy law section 22-16-101 et seq., C.R.S.

3.02(1) Each ICAP portfolio shall be transferable in print and/or electronic form for internal and external district use so that when a student transfers from one school or district to another, the ICAP follows the student.

3.3 Each public school, in assisting students and parents in creating and maintaining ICAPs shall comply with the requirements of the Federal “Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974”, 20 U.S.C. 1232g.

3.4 As part of the process of establishing the ICAP, the student and the student’s parents must be made aware of the importance of completing the free application for federal student aid or the Colorado application for state financial aid, or successor forms for accessing federal and state financial aid, and be provided help in completing the forms, if requested.

3.5 The ICAP process shall begin no later than ninth grade, but can begin earlier if the district or institute charter school chooses to do so.

3.6 The documentation in the Portfolio can be used to support funding for a student’s work-based learning course, pursuant to 1 CCR 301-39. For purposes of supporting funding, the documentation in the Portfolio should include, at minimum, the student’s name, the term for which it applied (i.e., Fall 2024), the date the documentation was created/updated, the work-based learning the student pursued; and a description of how the work-based learning course connected to the student’s postsecondary workforce or education goals.

3.7 Districts shall comply with all requirements set forth in sections 22-32-109(1)(oo)(I) and 22-32- 109.5(4)(b), C.R.S.

3.8 Institute charter schools shall comply with all requirements in sections 22-30.5-117(2) and 22- 30.5- 525, C.R.S.

4.0 Model Approach to Implementing State Board ICAP Standards

4.1 4.1 The State Board directs the Department to create a model approach to implementing the State Board’s ICAP Standards. A district or institute charter school can elect to follow the model approach developed by the Department or it can develop its own approach to compliance with the standards in these rules and other expectations set forth in state statutes. _________________________________________________________________________ Editor’s Notes History Entire rule eff. 03/10/2010.

Entire rule eff. 06/30/2011.

Entire rule eff. 04/15/2013.

Entire rule eff. 03/02/2018.

Entire rule eff. 01/14/2025.