The infrastructure that
makes belonging possible.
For every student. By design.
WHAT IS MyCAP
My Career and Academic Plan -
a framework for the whole student.
MyCAP (My Career and Academic Plan) is a student-driven process that begins in Grade 6 and continues through Grade 12. It spans three interconnected domains, and is designed to help every student build a personalized, purposeful path forward.
🪞 Personal & Social
Identity, belonging, self-efficacy, and interpersonal skills. Who am I? Where do I belong? What do I believe I'm capable of? These are the foundational questions — and the hardest to answer without structured support.
🧭 Career Development
Interests, strengths, skills, and exposure to real-world pathways. Students explore diverse careers, build connections with professionals, and develop the social capital that typically comes from accident of birth.
🎓 Academic & College Planning
Goal-setting, pathway planning, and connecting academic learning to future possibilities. Students articulate where they're headed — and understand how their coursework gets them there.
WHY IS IT URGENT
The policy landscape is changing fast.
Massachusetts is in the middle of a significant shift in how it thinks about student success — and MyCAP is at the center of it.
Critical Policy Context — 2025–2026
MyCAP planning tools and resource library
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MyCAP is proposed as a REQUIRED component of the new Massachusetts graduation framework (Graduation Council, December 2025).
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MCAS is no longer a graduation requirement (as of December 2024) — districts urgently need new frameworks to replace it.
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Over 200 schools across 150+ districts are engaged in MyCAP planning — most lack dedicated implementation support.
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DESE actively funds MyCAP through Fund Code 0598 grants — districts can contract with external partners to deliver coaching and implementation support.
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The Healey administration has made MyCAP central to its Reimagining High School initiative.
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Dr. DiPilato helped develop the Grades 6–8 MyCAP framework — giving The Belonging Network unmatched positioning in this space.
WHY MIDDLE SCHOOL
The window that determines everything else.
Middle school is a pivotal developmental period — the years when identity, belonging, confidence, and academic motivation begin to crystallize. What students believe about themselves at 12 shapes how they show up at 16. Career-connected learning at this stage doesn't narrow options — it opens them.
Students who engage meaningfully in MyCAP activities report stronger goal-setting skills, increased motivation to attend school, and greater academic self-efficacy.
The research is clear: the earlier the investment, the greater the return.
Our model is designed intentionally for middle school — not a watered-down version of high school pathway programming, but something built from the ground up for young adolescents: their developmental needs, their identity questions, and their capacity for genuine engagement when they're given a real reason to show up.