Washington, DC, May 27, 2008 -- Naviance, the leader in planning and advising systems for secondary schools, and The College Company's TuitionCoach today announced the launch of new features to help students better understand the cost of higher education and college financial aid packages. Through this unique partnership, Naviance has integrated TuitionCoach tools as option for its WorkspaceK12 Enterprise Edition service.

"Our partnership with TuitionCoach allows students to prepare effectively for the cost of pursuing a higher education thanks to comprehensive information from financial aid experts," said Stephen M. Smith, CEO, Naviance. "This goes hand-in-hand with Naviance's commitment to empower and educate students with information to help them achieve college admission and enrollment."

Convenient for students, counselors, and parents, TuitionCoach provides interactive calculators and financial aid advice from leading industry experts. This information will allow visitors to learn more about financial aid packages, how to compare offers, and how to manage numerous financial aid deadlines. Thanks to this integrated offering, WorkspaceK12 Enterprise Edition subscribers can have access to:

• TuitionCoach's college cost calculator
• Personalized tips for reducing college costs
• Easy to use electronic financial aid worksheets
• Financial aid analyzer
• E-mail consultation
• A college planning calendar that reminds students when financial aid and other forms are due
• A comprehensive dictionary of financial aid and other important
  college search terms

"By working with Naviance and integrating our tools with their innovative secondary school software, we can deliver unique features that will help students to find a way to afford the college of their dreams," said Monisha Perkash, CEO, The College Company. "We look forward to helping hundreds of thousands of students achieve enrollment in the right college or university for their needs."

WorkspaceK12 from Naviance is the premier planning and advising system for schools, with resources for counselors, teachers, administrators, and technology professionals, as well as students and parents. WorkspaceK12 Enterprise Edition provides unique capabilities designed for large school districts, charter management organizations, and education consortia. WorkspaceK12 helps schools and districts to manage the course, college, and career advising process; communicate with parents, students and colleagues; and analyze data about student achievement and outcomes. With more than 30,000 educators in 50 countries using WorkspaceK12, the TuitionCoach partnership aims to further enhance the product's primary goal to help students maximize educational opportunities. Institutions interested in learning more about the Naviance and TuitionCoach partnership can contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.naviance.com.

About Naviance

Naviance, a Hobsons company, is the leading provider of planning and advising systems for secondary schools. More than 30,000 educators and counselors serving more than 3 million students in schools across the U.S. and in 50 other countries use Naviance products to manage academic and post-secondary advising, communicate with students and families, and analyze data. For more information, visit www.naviance.com.

About TuitionCoach

TuitionCoach is a personalized internet-based program created by The College Company that guides families step-by-step through the college financial aid process, offering: expert tips for completing financial aid applications; guidance to maximize financial aid eligibility; a personalized assessment of a student's financial aid award; analysis of college funding options; and email consultation. TuitionCoach.com's tools are based on experience derived from Dr. Paul Wrubel, a college funding advisor who has spent 35 years in education arming families with the knowledge and guidance to dramatically upgrade their college choices. For more information, please visit www.TuitionCoach.com.

For more information, contact:

Sara Snyder, 800.927.8439 x3242, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Enrichment program listings available in WorkspaceK12 from Naviance to help students explore programs of interest

Washington, DC, June 18, 2008 -- Naviance, the leader in planning and advising systems for secondary schools, and Enrichment Alley today announced the integration of new features to help students identify enrichment programs that suit their academic and personal interests. Through this unique partnership, Naviance will integrate the Enrichment Alley database of enrichment programs within its WorkspaceK12 service, as well as in Family Connection.

"One of the goals of WorkspaceK12 and Family Connection is to give individual students a one-stop resource for comprehensive information on course, career, and college planning," said Stephen M. Smith, CEO, Naviance. "Naviance's new partnership with Enrichment Alley provides students that are looking for a more unique experience the information they need to make an educated decision about summer study and other programs of interest."

Enrichment Alley was designed to enable students, families, schools, and advisors to easily find programs to enhance learning. It offers a comprehensive database of enrichment opportunities for pre-college students who seek to participate in academic, athletic, travel, and service learning programs to round out their backgrounds and experiences before applying to college or going into the workforce. Enrichment Alley also provides additional information to students exploring the increasingly popular option of taking a gap year to travel, work, or study abroad before beginning college. With this integrated offering, students and counselors can access a robust listing of programs and discuss how program participation may enhance their college options.

"By working with Naviance and integrating our tools with their leading software, we can deliver program information that will truly enrich the student experience," said Gail Grand, President, Enrichment Alley. "Through our unique partnership, we look forward to helping hundreds of thousands of students find their passion for a subject, learn about future careers, experience living in a different culture, or make a difference though community service."

WorkspaceK12 from Naviance is the premier planning and advising system for schools, with resources for counselors, teachers, administrators, and technology professionals, as well as students and parents. WorkspaceK12 Enterprise Edition provides unique capabilities designed for large school districts, charter management organizations, and education consortia. WorkspaceK12 helps schools and districts to manage the course, college, and career advising process; communicate with parents, students and colleagues; and analyze data about student achievements and outcomes. With more than 30,000 educators in 50 countries using WorkspaceK12, the Enrichment Alley partnership aims to further enhance the product's primary goal to help students maximize educational opportunities.

About Naviance

Naviance, a Hobsons company, is the leading provider of planning and advising systems for secondary schools. More than 30,000 educators and counselors serving more than 3 million students in schools across the U.S. and in 50 other countries use Naviance products to manage academic and post-secondary advising, communicate with students and families, and analyze data. For more information, visit www.naviance.com.

About Enrichment Alley

Enrichment Alley is a summer, school year, and gap year enrichment program search engine, designed to enable students, families, schools, and advisors to easily find program opportunities to enhance learning. For more information, please visit www.enrichmentalley.com.

For more information, contact:

Sara Snyder, 800.927.8439 x3242, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Less than half of all states require individual learning plans for students; nationwide system for individualized student support needed to close the achievement gap.
Results revealed in today’s Congressional panel discussion on Capitol Hill.

Washington, DC, February 13, 2009 -- A new study reveals that less than half of all states nationwide mandate individual learning plans (ILPs) for students, and that state approaches to developing and implementing ILPs are as varied as the information that goes into them. Although federal law has required the creation of Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) for all special needs children since 1975, fewer than half of states are implementing individualized education plans for mainstream students.

"Despite an elevated national focus on student achievement over the last decade, schools have been spending considerable effort on formative and summative assessments to the exclusion of other areas of need," said Dr. Faith Connolly, vice president of research and development, Naviance. "The results of this study show an emerging trend toward adopting a more individualized, student-centric approach to learning –which can provide data for a new type of accountability that allows schools to monitor individual student goal attainment."

While some students already have education plans mandated by federal law, others may or may not receive such high-level individualized support. Interest in ILPs has grown significantly as a means to monitor students at-risk of dropping out, and some states now use ILPs to help students who have failed state assessments. The variety of information captured by and implementation status of ILPs also varies greatly by state. The Naviance study was based, in part, on a phone survey of state officials across the country. Respondents were asked about the state’s current level of activity on ILPs, personal plans of study, and other state-created individualized student planning initiatives. Of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, 47 consented to report information in this study.

The results of this report are extremely relevant to legislative initiatives that Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-IL) and education committee members in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate have been working on, including Sen. Richard Durbin's Pathways to College Act, a bill designed to improve school counseling services and increase student access to postsecondary planning and information. Congressman Davis notes, "Examining innovative approaches used by school districts and states, such as individualized learning plans, will help guide federal and state policymakers to develop strong education policies that greatly improve college access and success." Chicago Public Schools is a perfect example of the importance of these initiatives with its "F55 Project" encouraging students to pursue post-secondary opportunities (http://www.postsecondary.cps.k12.il.us/educator/f55_educator/).

States with Mandated and Non-Mandated ILPs
Nationally, 21 of the reporting 46 states, plus the District of Columbia have mandated ILPs for all students. An additional nine have not mandated, but have provided ILP models or frameworks for districts to use. Of these, 14 provide ILPs for districts to use, seven offer online resources for students to use. An additional seven states provided general frameworks and allowed districts to develop their own ILPs.

Nine states do not mandate ILPs yet provide either ILP models or guidance/framework. Four states either declined to participate or requested that their responses not be published.

It is clear from the study that a variety of measures will need to take place in order to help truly close the student support gap among students. Mandated ILPs will be a crucial component in addressing the inequity of student services: by creating a singular, standardized content structure for ILPs, states will be able to access long-term planning data systems and better report accountability measures. Electronic ILPs, as opposed to the traditional paper models, will create opportunities for students, parents, and school staff to engage in Active Planning, a model that helps students understand the impact that their middle school decisions have on college and career preparation. Finally, it is clear that while most states are actively involved in development and implementation of ILPs, states should come together to share best practices and involve school counselors in this development and implementation planning.

About the Researcher: Faith Connolly

Faith Connolly, Ph.D. is vice president of research and development for Naviance, Inc. Prior to working at Naviance, she directed research and evaluation for Montgomery County Public Schools and served as Executive Assistant to the Chief Accountability Officer in Baltimore City Public Schools, Maryland. She is the vice-president-elect of the American Educational Research Association Division H, Research, Evaluation, and Assessment in Schools. In addition, she has held research positions at The Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, and Baltimore City Community College. Dr. Connolly received her Ph.D. in Public Policy, Evaluation and Analysis, from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She has presented her research at numerous national conferences including the National Staff Development Council, American Evaluation Association, and American Educational Research Association. Dr. Connolly received her BA from Harvard University holds Master’s degrees from Hartford University and The Johns Hopkins University.

About Naviance

Naviance, a Hobsons company, is the leading provider of planning and advising systems for secondary schools. More than 40,000 educators and counselors serving more than 3.5 million students in schools across the U.S. and in 60 other countries use Naviance products to manage academic and post-secondary advising, communicate with students and families, and analyze data. For more information, visit www.naviance.com.

For more information, contact:

Sara Snyder, 800.927.8439 x3242, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Partnership with Docufide® enables secure, electronic delivery of school reports, recommendations, and transcripts to colleges and universities worldwide

Washington, DC, June 8, 2009 -- Naviance, the leader in student success planning for schools, is excited to announce Naviance eDocs, the only integrated service for schools that provides fully electronic delivery to more than 1,000 colleges of all school report forms, recommendation letters, transcripts, and secondary school profiles. Naviance eDocs is powered by Docufide, the leading provider of Educational Records Management services, and is available at no additional charge to Naviance Network members that use Counselor’s Office, the company’s market-leading college planning system.

The 2009-2010 school year will mark five years since Naviance began helping its members streamline what had been a burdensome process of printing, collating, and mailing credentials for each student’s college applications. The network of participating colleges has grown steadily each year. Now with over 1,000 colleges and universities on board – and with the support of the Common Application, a list that includes every Common Application member institution – Naviance is proud to support the world’s largest fully electronic network of schools and colleges exchanging admissions information.

Since Naviance eDocs is powered by Docufide, Naviance Network members have an easy upgrade path to Docufide’s flagship Secure Transcript™ service that allows schools to exchange transcripts with one another and deliver admissions materials to every accredited college and university worldwide. With Secure Transcript, documents are delivered electronically when possible, but for recipients that don’t yet accept electronic delivery, Docufide prints and mails documents providing a completely seamless experience for high schools.

Working together Docufide and Naviance have transformed college admissions. In the past admissions cycle, Docufide and Naviance delivered more than 700,000 documents, conserving paper, printing, and postage and saving schools hundreds of thousands of dollars. With Naviance eDocs and expanded access to Secure Transcript, thousands more schools will join the electronic admissions revolution this fall, reducing the administrative headaches for families, counselors, registrars, and college admissions staff.

About Naviance

Naviance, a Hobsons company, is the leading provider of planning and advising systems for secondary schools. More than 40,000 educators and counselors serving more than 4 million students in schools across the U.S. and in 71 other countries use Naviance products to manage academic and post-secondary advising, communicate with students and families, and analyze data. For more information please visit www.naviance.com or call 866.337.0080.

About Docufide

Docufide, Education’s Trusted Intermediary, is the leading provider of Educational Records Management services made available directly to school districts and through numerous statewide, region-wide, and organizational initiatives.  Its flagship service, Secure Transcript, saves schools money, frees up staff time, and improves student satisfaction by managing the ordering, processing, and secure delivery of student records for K-12 and postsecondary institutions nationwide. For more information please visit www.docufide.com or call 310.309.3722.

For more information, contact:

Lisa West, 866.337.0080 x2751, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it