Creating an educational plan
In 2005, Harris Interactive polled over 1,200 eight to seventeen year olds. This survey revealed that our youth believe having goals is important to achieving success. Unfortunately, one-third of them do not feel prepared to develop a plan to achieve their goals. The obstacles they reported were:
- Not knowing how to get started.
- Deciding what their goals are.
- Fear of trying to achieve their goals and failing.
Planning is an important part of school, work, and life. Yet there are few situations in which your children are actually taught what a plan is or how to plan. Even students who have personal or career goals often move from middle school to high school to postsecondary education and work without a well conceived plan. Plans help connect the present with the future; and research has consistently demonstrated that connecting school to one's future has positive consequences for young people.
Oregon now requires that all students have an education plan in order to graduate from high school. This requirement recognizes that planning helps students succeed in school and out. It encourages students to explore who they are and where they want to go, and set a course consistent with those goals. It is at the heart of personalized, active, and meaningful education.
As a parent, you can help your children develop plans to achieve their goals
and support those efforts in their schools.