Innovative Learning Opportunities Pilot Program (ILOP)

The PWR of ILOP

The Innovative Learning Opportunities Pilot  program enables participating Local Education Providers (LEPs) to offer their 9th through 12th grade high school students a variety of learning experiences that usually occur outside of the classroom. These learning experiences should be designed to enrich students’ education and support them in successfully transitioning from high school to postsecondary education and/or the workforce.

Postsecondary & Workforce Readiness (PWR)

ILOP provides an accelerated opportunity for students to earn a postsecondary credential, helping students develop the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to be postsecondary and workforce ready.

Overview

Governor Polis signed SB19-216 into law on May 10, 2019 which created the High School Innovative Learning Opportunities Pilot Program, hereafter known as the Innovative Learning Opportunities Pilot Program.  This program enables participating Local Education Providers (LEPs) to offer their 9th through 12th grade high school students a variety of learning experiences that usually occur outside of the classroom. These learning experiences should be designed to enrich students’ education and support them in successfully transitioning from high school to postsecondary education and/or the workforce.

Innovative learning opportunities may include work-based learning such as apprenticeships or residency programs, competency-based learning or capstone projects, and other learning experiences that are designed to help students develop and demonstrate personal, entrepreneurial, civic and interpersonal, and professional skills as described in CDE’s Essential Skills Required in the Colorado Academic Standards.

Selected LEPs will be allowed to count their part-time high school students, that participate in the LEP’s Innovative Learning Plan, as full-time students regardless of the actual number of teacher-pupil instruction hours and teacher-pupil contact hours for each student.

It is the intent of the General Assembly to increase the number of LEPs that participate in this program to 100% by 2025-26.