ICAP and IEPs: Coaching for Success (2020)

The IEP is really ICAP on steroids!

Special Education teachers and administrators are building connections between ICAP and IEP. Consider their guidance, which is based more on a coaching philosophy of collaboration and sharing, rather than a template or checklist.

Learn about the ICAP process in your building or district:

Identify the main implementer of ICAP in your environment.
Invite yourself to an ICAP implementation team meeting(s). Look in your own building first.
Show the teachers, counselors, administrators, and CTE practitioners that you want to be part of the process.
Consider the programs and initiatives that are connected to ICAP. In which activities are you already involved? Which ones make sense for your students? How can you collaborate? Who else should you invite to IEP conversations?
Find out how students with IEPs fit into your district's Graduation Guidelines policies. Become familiar with Graduation Provisions for Students With IEPs.

Integrate these competencies into your teachings as outcomes and expectations

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Explore what alignments exist within the current ICAP activities plan and within your current IEPs:

Note the overlaps and duplications
Showcase that alignment and convey the message that SpEd/Transition is a collaborative match with the ICAP process/experience

Incorporate Meaningful Career Conversations (MCCs) into your IEP process:

Consider these MCC resources, including career conversation training modules developed by the Colorado Education Initiative.
You'll learn strategies for "bringing to life’" the IEP process with career conversations.

Remember that ICAP is about DEMONSTRATION, not documentation:

When students engage in PWRful Demonstrations of Learning, they:

build portfolios of collected and curated artifacts, and/or
showcase their knowledge, skills, and abilities in a presentation

ICAP results in each PERSON demonstrating Postsecondary Workforce Readiness (PWR); it's not a plan written on a piece of paper.

photo of lauren jones

Hear from Lauren Jones, ICAP Champion from the Community College System, about the evolution of ICAP and how ICAP changes lives.

Promising Practices for ICAP and Demonstrations of Learning

ICAP is the foundation for Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness

Consider helping students build a culminating capstone as a vehicle for collecting and curating evidence of their learning - with ICAP at the core. When districts create capstone processes, they must be accessible to each student in the district - for students with disabilities, English Learners, gifted students, CTE stars, honors students, athletes, artists...

Use your IEP meetings to introduce and develop the ICAP and capstone processes, so that each each student can take ownership of this learning:
- Start the conversation early! Many districts start with the transition meeting from 8th to 9th grade (or 5th to 6th grade)
- Consider including transcribed career conversations, articulated experiences, coursework, and/or reflections.
- Talk about whether a portfolio and/or a presentation makes sense.
- Involve family members and teachers who are part of the IEP team.

Consider these Capstone practices as culminating ICAP practices:

D49 Digital Portfolios

Students in District 49 create Digital Portfolios to take ownership of their learning by demonstrating mastery of a skill and/or subject, by reflecting on and matching their strengths to their postsecondary world. "Anyone can use portfolios - young, old, and each person in between! Because they are customizable, districts and schools can include what they need and leave out what they don't."

Jeffco Capstone Process

In the Jeffco Schools Capstone for Graduation Toolkit learn about the philosophical reasoning as well as the general criteria for implementing the district's capstone. You'll find the Capstone Rubric, specific components, and a checklist.

Otis - Senior Capstone

There are six required components of the Otis Senior Capstone - The Six Ps: Proposal; Product, service, or fieldwork; Paper; Portfolio; Poster; and Presentation.

Lonestar - Badges

In Lonestar, students complete six badges: Financial Literacy; Life Skills; Workforce Readiness; College/Career Readiness; Critical Thinking; Community Service. This process is designed for Graduation Guidelines capstone, for ICAP, and for lifelong learning.

Cañon City Capstone

"The Cañon City High School Capstone Project ...validates a graduating student’s ability to apply math in a workplace environment, design and complete a project, educate others about the project through a formal presentation, and then reflect and assess performance and learning." Students begin the process in 9th grade.