Personal Learning Plans: Changing Teacher Practice While Cultivating More Engaged Learners in Middle School

In 2013 the Vermont legislature enacted Act 77 mandating that students in grades 7-12 develop personalized learning plans (PLPs) to guide them toward high school graduation using proficiency based requirements. In a qualitative self-study the authors document the implementation of a personal learning framework integrating PLPs into a humanities curriculum on a 7/8 grade team at a Vermont middle school during a two-year period. The findings from this study suggest that: (1) teaching transformed over time -- it became more constructivist and integrated; (2) the personal learning framework required students to take the stance of a growth mindset; and (3) the use of the personal learning framework and the digital tools to facilitate the development of PLPs afforded students the opportunities to learn multiple and new literacies.