If the ACP goal that your team selected was "Improve access and support for students of color and/or from special populations to engage in the ACP/Career Readiness process in our district", then these five resources will assist with inclusion and engagement of special populations.

All students enrolled in grades 6 through 12 in a school district will participate in ACP. This includes students with disabilities who have IEPs and Section 504 accommodation plans. Use this Community of Practice webinar to make sure that ALL of your students have equal access to Academic and Career Planning opportunities.

In these lessons, you will learn about the numerous pieces of legislation that impact students with disabilities, including Perkins V. You will also learn strategies to support students with disabilities in secondary CTE through appropriate CTE program placement.

The purpose of Brave Dialogues: A Guide to Discussing Racial Equity in Career Technical Education is to provide state Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders with tools to engage in discussion around racial equity in CTE and to support state CTE leaders in creating an environment in which all stakeholders have the language and comfort to discuss challenges and opportunities related to racial equity in CTE. 

What do you think of when you hear the phrase "access and equity?" Use this Community of Practice presentation to learn more about equity and how it impacts ACP in your district.

Addressing equity in the Academic and Career Planning (ACP) process goes beyond offering a
scope and sequence of ACP activities that are available to all students. It’s important that you
meet the needs of each learner. Every child will approach the ACP process differently and will
require an individualized level of support to be successful.

Therefore, it’s essential that school leaders responsible for implementing ACP explore equity
issues. The following are short activities that can help ACP or career readiness teams and leaders
encourage their own stakeholders to learn more about what equity means, how to explore who
they are, what beliefs and assumptions they hold, identify their values, and consider how all of this
can impact the learners and families they serve. The goal of each activity is to help educators learn
a little more about their students and themselves and to leave with one simple action step to
improve equity within their district.

This resource builds on the success and impact of the Nontraditional Career Preparation Root Causes & Strategies, which focused on identifying evidence- and research-based practices to address equity gaps in nontraditional occupational pathways, especially for women in CTE programs of study leading to STEM jobs. The original “Root Causes” Resource is the backbone for NAPE’s Program Improvement Process for Equity™ (PIPE™). The new Equity in CTE & STEM Root Causes and Strategies is an in-depth analysis of the root causes of inequity and exclusion in CTE and STEM education through an intersectional lens.

All students need support to find their pathways to a fulfilling and successful life after high school. No matter what their abilities are, students need access to high-quality education and should graduate prepared for the best future that awaits them. In addition to core academics, students need to develop the attitudes, skills, and knowledge to be prepared for their futures.

Students who are receiving Special Education services deserve no less than their general education peers, and may require additional support along the way.

Whether it is considered part of IEP transition planning or broader college and career readiness initiatives, future planning for students in Special Education must be student-centered, giving them a voice in the process.

NAPE’s Program Improvement Process for Equity™ (PIPE™) is a research-based, effective professional development program designed for institutional teams to increase the participation and success of under-represented students in Career and Technical Education (CTE) and STEM (especially in nontraditional pathways). The process is built around five modules that help teams to use data to prioritize and act on program improvement to close equity gaps.

From 2015 to the Present, three cohorts of secondary, postsecondary, and STEM Hub partners have participated in PIPE in order to identify equity gaps (disproportionality) in CTE and STEM, and identify evidence- and researchbased strategies to close those gaps. This Promising Practices handout outlines the lessons learned, key steps for success, suggestions to avoid pitfalls, and helpful reminders for continuous improvement. Root causes are aligned with strategies that have been effective in increasing participation, retention and/or completion in nontraditional (by gender) and other CTE and STEM programs of study.

Does your district need to learn more about equity? This Padlet contains a learning guide and resources on equity and special populations to help your district learn more about providing career readiness programming for all students.

Once your district has identified special populations to target, use this Padlet to create an action plan for increasing equity and engagement of identified special populations of students in the components of your ACP program.

Centering equity is key to the purpose and mission of any collective impact work, no matter the issue area or focus. It is very difficult to move population or systems change without redressing disparities that exist in almost every community. Part of the challenge is there is not one path to achieve equity, and the work of advancing equity is an ongoing practice, built on work that is very personal, relational, and structural. Though it is a continuing journey without a definitive finish line, structured processes, goals, and metrics can support individuals and collectives to advance the work intentionally and strategically.

Work Makes the World Go Round is an original song written and performed by George Dennehy in collaboration with the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services, The VR Workforce Studio Podcast and Wilson Workforce and Rehabilitation Center Foundation’s Partners in Podcasting.