Counseling enters computer age

By Lauren Radomski | The Daily Journal

Published 12:00 p.m., September 19, 2007

When seniors at Fergus Falls High School met with counseling staff Tuesday, it was to discuss the kinds of issues common only to the last year of school: college applications, graduation requirements and life after May 2008. While staff have long advised students on their academic and professional choices, there has been no systemic way to track students’ interests, high school courses and college materials — until now.

Because of the efforts of district staff, Fergus Falls High School students will soon use a new web-based planning system to map their high school and post-secondary careers. The system is called Naviance, a program counselors like David Thorpe believe will revolutionize the way administrators and students plan for the future.

“Naviance will allow us to better serve and assist students as they commence through the career and college planning process,” Thorpe said. “We can manage activities in the counseling office, track student records, analyze data about students and help them better manage their course planning, college searches and career planning throughout high school.”

What makes Naviance so promising is its capacity to organize the many steps in the college and career planning process, beginning with the identification of interests.

“Students will also have access to personality assessments and learning style inventories to help them better understand how they learn, as well as learn more about their interests in career planning,” Thorpe said.

As students begin the college search, Naviance can match students with colleges, track visits by college representatives and monitor school and scholarship applications.

Naviance will also improve communication between counseling staff, students and parents, Thorpe said, allowing staff to contact them via group e-mails, surveys and event announcements.

The program represents a marked change from career and college planning of years past. Students typically created mini-portfolios as eighth graders, Thorpe said, but were not required to re-visit college and career choices until the junior year of high school.

“There wasn’t a follow-through each year,” he said. “There was nothing in a formalized sense.”

While some students took the initiative to contact counselors about college and career goals, others waited until the end of high school.

“I’ve had seniors come in and not know what they’re going to do next year,” Thorpe said.

The Naviance program, approved by the school board last spring, has been purchased by the district, with staff training scheduled for October. Once teachers are familiar with the program, Thorpe said, they will introduce it to students in small groups. The plan is for current students to start creating personal portfolios this year, with the class of 2011 and beyond required to complete a six-year college and career plan before graduation.

“Students need to be looking ahead even at the ninth grade level to what they want to do,” said Greg Winter, high school principal. Naviance will help staff determine “a realistic expectation of what the student is going to be able do.” Perhaps more importantly, Winter said, the program will help students figure out the pathways to their goals.

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