New platform will help prepare SISD students, parents for college

“The three-year [plan will be met] if both parties agree that the relationship is working the way that it should,” Westbrooks said.

SISD expects to begin implementing Naviance in October with a needs assessment study and a staff survey. By winter, Naviance will start importing data from SISD’s in-house servers, and staff will be trained on the platform. Parents and students will be able to download the program by spring of next year, Hinojosa said.

Naviance follows students for six years from the beginning of middle school until they finish high school, Naviance officials said. The platform will allow students and parents to check grades, search for scholarships and rank themselves according to the admission standards of their preferred colleges.

Students  input their strengths and personality types, which the platform then uses to help identify the best colleges and career paths.

Naviance’s scholarship search function also made the platform attractive, Hinojosa said. The function connects students with scholarships that match their interests and qualifications.

Although SISD students received more than $32 million in scholarships last year, Hinojosa said the district hopes to increase that number.

The platform also features a scattergram that displays the admission statistics of the student’s chosen institution. The scattergram will tell students whether their SAT scores land within the range of scores the university typically accepts. 

Board President Ronda Faust said she used a similar tool when applying for law school and said it can be helpful.

“It’s helpful [to create] realistic expectations for students,” Faust said.