Key Takeaways 

• SchooLinks provides a comprehensive, user-friendly CCR platform that integrates the full spectrum of CCR efforts while strengthening processes, empowering students and staff, and streamlining tasks. 

• The engaging student-centered approach encourages students to be in the driver’s seat of their CCR exploration and planning. The platform transforms key CCR processes, including course planning and selection and the creation of personalized, four-year plans from feeling like boring, checklist-driven tasks to meaningful and relevant experiences for students. 

• SchooLinks enables districts to be more efficient, effective, and student-focused by replacing paper systems, integrating with other data systems, and driving student engagement through its student-friendly interface. 

• Using SchooLinks at Indian River High School has broadened career awareness and exploration opportunities for students well beyond the available roles and fields in their immediate community, allowing them to expand what they see as possible. 

Empowering Students and Counselors in Northern New York

Indian River Central District is a rural school district serving 3,700 PK-12 students in northern New York. The district is situated about an hour north of Syracuse, NY and just 30 minutes south of the Canadian border. Sixty-five percent of the students in the district are from military families stationed at the nearby army base, which results in higher rates of student mobility. Indian River High School is the only high school in the district, with a student population of 750 students across grades 9-12.

As part of its overarching goals, the school district aims to provide students with educational programming that is “geared toward developing productive, successful citizens through a broad range of activities and educational opportunities.” The counseling staff at the high school has worked diligently to ensure that all students–regardless of postsecondary pathway–achieve this aspiration. As part of this effort and amidst a rapidly evolving landscape of college and career readiness (CCR) needs and processes, the school grappled with finding the right resource to enrich their mechanisms for student support–specifically one that would help students identify their strengths, passions, and career interests and integrate those variables into a cohesive four year-plan. 

A “One-Stop Shop” for Students and Counselors

Mary Ellen Hynes, one of the lead counselors at the high school, described that the district was looking for a system designed to prepare all students for their next step after graduation–whether going to college, enrolling in a trade school, or directly entering the workforce. They also wanted a resource that could improve efficiencies and alleviate some of the time-intensive tasks required of counselors and staff, while seamlessly integrating the full spectrum of CCR efforts. They hoped they could redirect the time saved into more meaningful, direct interactions with students. 

After exploring the array of CCR platforms, Indian River High School was excited to deploy SchooLinks because of the wide range of features it offered for all stakeholders. They were impressed by the comprehensive nature of the system, creating continuity from interest assessment to planning across all postsecondary pathways and the intermediate steps in between. The counseling team appreciated that, with this system, the students could see their own progress from year to year and that the platform helped them make connections between different components of the CCR journey. In short, Hynes explained, SchooLinks provided a “one-stop CCR shop” for students, counselors, educators, and staff.

Student-Driven CCR Exploration and Engagement 

Educational administrators and practitioners are keenly aware that the true value of a resource or tool–regardless of how sophisticated or impressive it is–hinges on whether students are willing to actively use and engage with it. Implementation of new resources often requires schools to repeatedly introduce the tools to students and prompt them multiple times to log in and complete steps. 

Hynes explained that the counseling staff was amazed and surprised that this process was quite different with the SchooLinks implementation. Rather than requiring a top-to-bottom approach, the school discovered that many of their students found the SchooLinks application on the district dashboard before it was formally introduced, and began using it, exploring features, and completing steps without ever being told to do so. This speaks to the engaging nature of the SchooLinks platform, the ease with which students are able to navigate and personalize use based on their needs, and the relevance they see in doing so. 

Transforming Student Engagement with Key CCR Processes 

Creating a four-year personalized plan is a key component of a successful CCR program as this plan guides students through setting goals and building a year-by-year roadmap to ensure their decision-making aligns with that goal. At Indian River High School, the school has all ninth grade students complete these four-year plans. In the past, Hynes shared that this was done on paper; she described the process as “painful” due to the amount of effort it took counselors to get kids to actually engage and complete their plans. With SchooLinks, the counseling staff had an entirely different experience. When it was time to do the four-year plans within the SchooLinks platform, to the surprise and delight of school staff, many students had already completed their plan and came to the meeting with questions for the counseling staff. Hynes reflected that, with SchooLinks, the students “have really embraced” these steps in meaningful ways. 

“were much more engaged with the course selection process…than I've seen in previous years.” - Mary Ellen Hynes Lead Counselor at Indian River

A similar trend occurred during course planning and selection, which had previously been done with paper course cards. The course selection process is crucial to students being college and career ready as the courses students take provide the content for what they learn, enable better options for subsequent years, and shape the opportunities they will have in the future. But oftentimes, students treat this as a mundane and boring task. Hynes described that students “were much more engaged with the course selection process…than I've seen in previous years.” As part of the course planning and selection module, SchooLinks allows students to see how specific courses fit into other courses and pathways down the line and how they overlap with various requirements. When students are actively thinking about the course options in this way, they are much more likely to make decisions that align with their four-year plan and future goals. And having these processes digitized rather than paper-based freed up secretarial time. Previously, countless hours had been spent entering the data into the school’s system, which allows for higher rates of human error. The process was thus more efficient, more accurate, and the faster timeline allowed the school to begin building its master schedule sooner. 

Expanding What is Possible for Students as They Reach for Their Dreams

A vital component of students planning for their future beyond high school is identifying a field, area of study, or career role that aligns with their strengths and interests. The rural nature of Indian River High School has, however, at times, meant that students are not exposed to the breadth of career options that exist in other communities. Hynes noted that SchooLinks’ extensive and engaging career exploration portal has transformed what students at Indian River High School see as possible. She explained that “to have something like SchooLinks where you're able to maybe watch a video of what an environmental scientist does because we don't have that readily available in our area…it's really helped us show students, ‘There are so many opportunities out there, outside of where we are.’”

Hynes shared that the truly comprehensive nature of the SchooLinks platform–integrating all components cohesively and seamlessly–has added tremendous value to their overall CCR processes. She explained that the system creates multiple entry points for engagement with CCR planning, leveraging student interest or questions as a natural starting point. She described that teachers and counseling staff are frequently turning to SchooLinks as a resource and springboard to prompt deeper exploration and refinement for student CCR planning. When students come in asking about going to a particular college, counselors will say, “All right, let's do a search.” Or, if they have specific career interests such as, “I am curious about being a forensic scientist,” counselors will turn to SchooLinks to help students “see what it takes to do that or find some colleges that offer that.” SchooLinks has enabled counselors and educators to truly meet students where they are and empower them to explore, build their understanding, and make a plan based on their specific needs, passions, and aspirations–so they are able to realize their dreams for successful, fulfilling futures. 

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