Nov 26, 2014 By David Singer 3 min read

South Fayette School District board members approved a college and career preparation software suite, Naviance, at their Nov. 25 meeting. The Hobsons Inc. software is contracted for three years at a cost of $15,054. The computer program allows students to develop their own school portfolio that helps the selection of electives to support a certain career path, and then send out digital applications to colleges.

“It allows students to assess their career interests and learning styles, and then find appropriate options to pursue them. We’re starting this with eighth-grade students, and the program will help them later to start piecing together electives and preparing to send out information to prospective colleges. And then nearing graduation, letters of recommendation, test scores, career choice and preferences-they’re all there to send out as one package to colleges,” assistant superintendent Michael Loughead said.

“Naviance is also a tool for us as a district. It’ll allow us to see all data related to acceptance rates, rejections, who’s applying where-and that helps us to guide students to certain colleges, and in turn help us coordinate with college admissions and their recruiting staff so we can determine which schools we should host as part of career fairs. And it streamlines what would otherwise be paperwork for our guidance counselors. This speeds things up and provides a one-stop shop for students’ career management.”

The pilot period for the software is from Jan. 1 through June 30, 2015.

The board also approved an expanded program that prepares students for careers in child development. The 2015-16 high school preschool program will offer four days a week for morning sessions and two afternoon sessions per week.

“This change comes after a request from parents. This gives students longer periods and allows more opportunities to directly interact with children in our classrooms as well as in other preschool settings,” said superintendent Billie Rondinelli.

In other business, the board approved retaining assistant superintendent Dr. Michael Loughead for another five years, and Dr. Rondinelli gave director of technology and innovation, Aileen Owens, her Digital Promise & EdSurge Administrator Trailblazer award for her role in advancing a school model that “develops student grit, creativity and agency (that) fosters authentic learning in an unconventional way. Rondinelli said Owens’s, teacher Melissa Drake’s and Dr. Loughead’s recent awards are indicative of the district’s dedication to prepare students to be “future ready.”

“Along with local superintendents from Avonworth, Elizabeth Forward and myself, we were among 100 superintendents from across the country invited to the White House (on Nov. 19) because of our focus on innovative education as part of the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools,” she said.

The “ConnectED to the Future” conference emphasized that districts help each other collaborate to allow parents and students to connect more easily to online teaching assets and record keeping.