Studies show that parent involvement in a student’s education can be one of the biggest factors affecting success during and after high school. And while critically important, schools often struggle to get parents involved. Limited staff time, a lack of resources to provide parents, or uncertainty about how to engage families are just a few contributing factors. One district in Connecticut, however, has seen success in fostering collaboration and engaging parents using the college and career planning and scholarship search tools included in Naviance. More at: www.naviance.com

1. Naviance Success Story
Stamford Public Schools
To learn more or to schedule a demo, call 800.927.8439 (toll-free) or +1.703.859.7300 (international). naviance.com
Studies show that parent involvement in a student’s education can be one of the biggest
factors affecting success during and after high school. And while critically important,
schools often struggle to get parents involved. Limited staff time, a lack of resources to
provide parents, or uncertainty about how to engage families are just a few contribut-
ing factors. One district in Connecticut, however, has seen success in fostering col-
laboration and engaging parents using the college and career planning and scholarship
search tools included in Naviance.
BOOSTING PTA ATTENDANCE WITH SCHOLARSHIP SEARCH TOOLS
Paula Ward, Curriculum Associate for
Technology at Stamford Public Schools
in Connecticut, describes how one school
engaged parents at a PTA meeting by fo-
cusing on the Sallie Mae national schol-
arship database and local scholarships re-
sources available within Naviance. From
talking with parents, Paula and her col-
leagues Sue Rigano and Carolyn Conte
from the Stamford Public Education
Foundation knew that many parents, especially those with first generation college-
going students, were intimidated by the cost of attending college. The Stamford school
typically has 10-15 parents come to a PTA meeting, but that week they had 45 parents
who came to learn how to help their children with the college planning process. Us-
ing Naviance as a one-stop-shop collection of college planning tools, Stamford both
increased parent engagement and helped de-mystify the costs of college education by
providing access to greatly-needed scholarship resources to their students.
Increasing Parent Engagement in Stamford, Connecticut Stamford Public
Schools was able
to increase their
PTA attendance
from 10-15 parents
to 45 parents
by using Naviance
scholarship search
tools.
About Stamford
Public Schools
Stamford Public
Schools is a public
school district in
southern Connecticut
consisting of 20
schools and nearly
16,000 students.
Paula Ward,
Curriculum Associate
for Technology,
turned to Naviance
to increase parent
engagement and
provide college and
career planning tools.

2. Naviance Success Story
Stamford Public Schools
To learn more or to schedule a demo, call 800.927.8439 (toll-free) or +1.703.859.7300 (international). naviance.com
Naviance Family
Connection
Engagement
Package
Jumpstart your
parent engagement
with ready-to-use
materials created by
Hobsons, including:
Best practices,
reference guides, and
email templates for
communicating with
parents
Professional student
and parent brochures
to educate families
about Naviance tools
Documentation
provided in both
English and Spanish
ENGAGING PARENTS AT COLLEGE NIGHT
Stamford also helped educate parents about the college process using Naviance dur-
ing College Night, when colleges and universities visit local high schools. A Naviance
booth was set up to display Family Connection, the Naviance portal for students and
families. By staging a Naviance demonstration at an event that parents were interested
in atttending, Paula was able to motivate parents to log in to Family Connection and
stay up-to-date on their children’s rapidly changing college and career planning activi-
ties. Paula suggests engaging parents at already scheduled events, such as College Night
or parent teacher conferences as an excellent way to reach busy parents.
COMMUNICATING WITH PARENTS THROUGH NAVIANCE
To increase parent engagement, Paula
also suggests communicating with par-
ents directly through Naviance. Mass
emails and individual messages can be
sent to any parent who has previously
logged in to the portal. Not only does
this increase parent communication, it
also saves Stamford time and money by
not printing out flyers and other materi-
als to mail home.
But most importantly, Paula says Naviance is more than just a useful tool: it provides
all students equal access to the same resources. She says, “It’s about equity, accessibility,
and transparency. That’s what Naviance provides. It makes it a level playing field for
all students.”