Personal Learning Plan

Almaden Country School is committed to providing every child with an exceptional education. To do this, our teachers create a Personal Learning Plan for each student. This plan includes input from parents and teachers on the student’s individual strengths and weaknesses, areas of interest, and learning styles. Teachers use this knowledge to create personalized learning goals for each child. Goals are set in three areas:

1. Academic standards: We set goals and create a plan to help the individual student meet or exceed grade-level academic standards. The same core curriculum is used for all students in a grade level; however, the curriculum is differentiated to address the student’s personal learning needs.

2. Personal “stretch goals”: We create goals and a plan for challenging the individual student to extend him/herself in a developmentally appropriate way to experience the greatest growth.

3. Expected Schoolwide Learning Results: We set learning goals to help develop the whole child in seven key areas of personal development.

Students still receive regular progress reports and report cards. These reflect growth relative to a basic grade-level standard. The Personal Learning Plan, on the other hand, reflects growth relative to personal achievement standards. The Personal Learning Plan guides instruction for the teacher, becomes the basis of regular parent-teacher communication, and provides a very personal basis for measuring each child’s growth.