BURLINGTON WEATHER

How Burlington Works

If you've ever wondered whether high school is preparing Burlington students for the world ahead of them, and not just the next test, Burlington Public Schools is asking the same question. And next fall, they're doing something about it.

Starting in the 2026–27 school year, Burlington High School will launch MyCAP blocks for all students: short, recurring sessions designed to help students think intentionally about who they are, what they're good at, and where they might be headed after graduation – and how to harness their time in high school to get there.

TL;DR

  • Starting in 2026–27, all BHS students will participate in MyCAP blocks — 30-minute sessions twice a month focused on career exploration, academic planning, and self-reflection.
  • Students will be matched with a small group and a consistent faculty "primary person" who will follow them through all four years of high school.
  • MyCAP connects to Burlington's Portrait of a Graduate initiative; students will build a digital portfolio of work demonstrating key competencies.
  • For the Class of 2030 and beyond, the portfolio will be a graduation requirement.

What is MyCAP?

MyCAP stands for My Career and Academic Plan. It's a structured, student-driven framework designed by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to ensure every student gains the knowledge, skills, and experiences needed to navigate their own individual path to success — covering personal and social development, career exploration, and academic planning.

The goal, in plain terms: make sure students leave Burlington High School with more than a diploma. BHS graduates should also leave with a sense of direction, a plan to get where they're going, and the skills to make it happen.

What will MyCAP look like at BHS?

Shannon Janovitz, BHS's Director of High School Curriculum and Instruction, has been helping lead the implementation work. Starting next year, students will meet twice a month in small groups — eight to ten students — with a consistent faculty member called their "primary person." That same adult will follow their group through all four years of high school. The time is carved out of the existing schedule — each class period on MyCAP days will be trimmed slightly to make room for the block.

"We wanted a starting point where students were potentially with faculty members and other peers who shared their interests," Janovitz explained. A survey going out to students this June will help match kids with a group that fits their learning style, interests, and how they work best — a deliberate fix for what went wrong with past advisory structures, where students met too infrequently with too random a mix of people to build any real community or trust.

The 30-minute sessions will be structured around grade-level lessons and activities — some pulled from programs like Wayfinder, some developed in-house — covering things like career exploration and goal-setting. Students will also have the opportunity to reflect on their strengths and growth areas and how their work at BHS has demonstrated the key competencies articulated by the district's Portrait of a Graduate.

Financial literacy is also on the horizon — it's part of Massachusetts's own vision of a graduate, and Burlington has identified it as a future component of the program.

The portfolio piece

One of the most concrete outcomes of MyCAP is a digital portfolio that students will build and maintain throughout high school. As part of Burlington's existing Portrait of a Graduate initiative, students will be asked to select work from their classes that demonstrates skills like collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving — and reflect on their own development over time.

For the Class of 2030 and beyond, demonstrating growth in these competencies will be a graduation requirement.

Shereen Tyrrell, Burlington's Director of Career Pathways, has helped secure funding and programs that will make this possible. Through Career & Technical Education and early college grants, the district is building out career-specific lessons and expanding options for students who want to pursue pathways beyond the traditional four-year college track.

Why now?

For a long time, the unspoken message at many high schools was: Go to a four-year college, or you're on your own. Burlington is trying to change that. Students will have dedicated time to explore what's actually out there — trades, early college, senior internships, entrepreneurship, sustainability careers, the kinds of jobs that didn't exist ten years ago — and connect those possibilities to the classes, electives, internships, and experiences they're choosing right now.

Students will be able to access interest surveys and career exploration tools through Naviance, a digital platform the district has used in the past and is bringing back. The results of these inventories will be used to inform conversations during MyCAP block and help shape students' ideas of what they might do post-graduation.

"Careers and opportunities sometimes don't fall in our laps," Tyrrell noted. "It takes work, research, planning, determination, perseverance, and follow-through." Part of what MyCAP aims to do is give students the structure and support to actually do that work — during school, with guidance, before they're thrust into the great big world at 18.

The bigger picture

The state recommends MyCAP for all districts, and it's designed to support goals like increasing graduation rates, improving student attendance and engagement, and increasing the number of students who go on to earn a postsecondary credential of some kind — whether that's a college degree, a certification, or a career pathway credential. Burlington has tied it directly to graduation requirements, with the Class of 2030 as the first cohort for whom the portfolio will be required.

Janovitz is candid that it will take time to get right. "We're trying it next year," she said, noting she is open to refining the details of the class component as the program matures. The curriculum will be shared publicly as it's developed, so families can follow along with the work their kids are doing.

But for Janovitz, the logistics are secondary to a bigger shift in how students might come to see high school itself — not as a series of tasks to get through, but as an intentionally-built pathway they can own.

"We really want students to have a meaningful experience at high school and to view it as meaningful," she said, "and not like tasks to complete or something we just have to get through till we get to the next place."

Continue reading →

Editor's Picks

ALL STORIES

See all