Mt. Pleasant ISD students and parents now have access to a new career and college-planning tool. The District has purchased Naviance, a comprehensive college and career readiness solution for middle and high school students connecting academic achievement to post-secondary goals. MPISD will use the program for all 6th through 12th grade students.

Students in 6th through 8th grade will be able to access multiple career and interest surveys.  Multiple surveys will help students discover their strengths, goals, skills, knowledge, values, constraints and interests in future careers.  This will enable them to make better academic decisions, according to Shirley Peterson, a member of the MPISD Curriculum team who is overseeing the project.

“This will really help all of our students begin to define what they are interested in, what skills they have and what careers fall in line with their interests and current skills. It will also help them see what skills they will have to develop for careers they are interested in,” she added.

The Naviance program will guide incoming MPHS 9th graders through the selection of a Career Pathway.

“With the passage of Texas HB5, incoming freshmen now have to pick a Career Pathway or an Endorsement that will determine the courses they will take throughout their high school careers,” Peterson said. “The surveys the students take in junior high will help them begin to identify a specific Endorsement. They can also show them Endorsements that they may not be well-suited for.”

The endorsement identified by the HB5 are similar to the major a student may select in college. MPHS offers Endorsements in all five areas recommended by the Texas Education Agency: Arts and Humanities, Business and Industry, Public Services, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and Multidisciplary.

One of the unique aspects of Naviance is the college planning section. The program makes college research easy. Students and their parents will be able to compare colleges and universities the student may be interested in attending. It can help match colleges to a student’s career interests, compare admission rates at a student’s top college choices, explore scholarship opportunities and even track the status of supporting application documents like transcripts and letters of recommendation. With Naviance, students and their parents can make informed decisions about colleges and the research can begin as early as the student’s 6th grade year.

“Naviance goes one step beyond career and college planning,” Peterson said. “In collaboration with Roadtrip Nation, the program gives users access to videos created exclusively for Naviance that allows students to hear from high school students, college students and professionals to help them see what lies ahead if they pick a certain career. The videos also encourage junior and high school students to persevere to reach the goals they have set for themselves.”

Naviance gathers all this information in a single location to make access easy.

 “We have already started the program with some of last year’s 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th graders,” Peterson said “When the school year begins, students will be given log-in information. Parents will also have access through a Family Connection portal so they can track their student’s activity on the site. Parent involvement is very important to MPISD.  Naviance adds another tool parents can use to stay involved in the choices their students are making.”

The campus contacts for Naviance are Linda Miche at Wallace Middle School (903-575-2040), Candace Majors at Mt. Pleasant Junior High School (903-575-2110) and Casie Homer at Mt. Pleasant High School (903-575-2020). Interested parents can also contact Shirley Peterson at 903-575-2000.