Part of the Comal Independent School District’s strategic plan is to ensure every student is prepared for success beyond high school graduation. In order to help facilitate that goal, the district has unveiled Comal Compass, a student-preparedness platform, which will offer a variety of tools for students to use when planning their futures including academic courses, career options and college choices.
“We are excited to finally unveil Comal Compass to all secondary students, sixth through 12th grade, and their parents,” said Tiffany Newkirk, Comal ISD’s director of academic counseling. “We have designed it to be an intentional approach, a road map, so to speak, for students and parents to plan for their futures after graduation.”
The district partnered with Naviance, which provides the software and tools for Comal Compass. Naviance has a well-established system that helps students find their strengths, interests and opportunities and then offers them the best post-secondary and career options available to them.
During October, Comal Compass was introduced to students with specific grade-level tasks. For example, ninth-grade students took a strengths-finder assessment; eighth-grade students took a career cluster-finder assessment; and seventh-grade students took an interest-inventory assessment to find their passions.
“These initial assessments are providing students with their own positive strengths and natural talents which they can focus on and possibly build their future around,” Newkirk said.
Currently, only students have access to Comal Compass, which will be rolled out over the next two years. The parent/family connection piece will be introduced during the 2020-21 school year. Meanwhile, parents may review the results of student assessments and view the new platform from the Comal ISD website. They just need their student to log-in and show them how it works.
Additionally, as a one-stop shop, Comal Compass will house a student’s academic history and will be used for course registration beginning this spring. Eventually, this platform will allow students to build their resumes, prepare for interviews and track their progress beyond high school graduation.