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Positive Educational Planning: A Guide to Thoughtful Preparation for the Educational Planning Process

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Keywords:

Planning portfolio to guide family members, developing an education plan for children

Contact:

Mary Reed, Phyllis Guthman

Abstract

Parents are always a child’s first teachers. From the moment a child is born, they look to their family members for instruction, modeling and support in all they do and learn. Because of this, parents know much about how their child learns, including their abilities, strengths and interests, as well as their history, challenges and needs. Parents also know their children as family members; they are the primary stakeholders in their child’s future. Their perspectives are vital for identifying broad educational priorities, as well as targeting the most important new skills and learning experiences to address each school year.

Positive Educational Planning is a simple planning portfolio that guides family members to reflect and share what they know of their child as a learner and a family member. The portfolio is sequenced in a way that presents the child as a complete and unique individual first. It then addresses broad aspects of their learning characteristics and concludes with consideration of learning priorities for the future.

In it, you will find an example from one child’s family as illustration of the portfolio’s consideration points. You will also find a blank set of reproducible pages that can be used to create a portfolio for your own child. With the information gathered in the Positive Educational Planning portfolio, members of a child’s educational team can envision a rich future and develop an educational plan to serve as the road that will lead to it.