The personalized learning plan is the document at the heart of the EBIA advisory program. The PLP document is the product of a goal setting process that each EBIA student is coached through by his/her advisor. Each fall the advisor, student, and student’s parents meet to develop the document. The PLP document starts with the end in mind: students and their family start in 6th grade by discussing and setting goals for what type of life they envision for themselves. What type of job? Where are they going to live? What qualities will they be known for? How will they give back to the world? How will they support their community? From these questions, possible colleges are chosen, and then goals are set that need to be met in order to attend those colleges. Goals are then backwards planned to “what does your weekly schedule in 6th grade need to look like in order to obtain this kind of life?”

The PLP also pushes the student and family to set goals around social emotional learning, character strength development, healthy living, and family relationships. The PLP document becomes a living document that is constantly re-visited by students, advisors, faculty, and family.