Fontana USD Doubles Percentage of College-Going Students with Naviance

Challenges

• 80% graduation rate 
• 24% college-going rate 
• Most graduates didn’t have a postsecondary plan  
• Families and students lacked resources about the benefits of college and how to pay for higher education  

Products & Solutions 

• PowerSchool Naviance

Results

• Graduation rate nearly 100%  
• College-going rate above 50%  
• FUSD recognized for two consecutive years by California Department of Education’s Student Aid Commission “Race to Submit” campaign as one of the top schools in the state with the most completed financial aid applications 

At Fontana Unified School District (CA), most graduates didn’t have a postsecondary plan. With students assuming higher education wasn’t for them, the district wanted to spark a college-going culture.

Across 46 schools and 37,000 students, FUSD’s graduates tended to default into the fast-food operations industry as a result of finishing high school without a plan for what came next. Only 24% of its graduating class pursued a college education.  

When Dr. Vernell Deslonde arrived at FUSD, she went on a “listening tour” to the district’s schools, wanting to hear directly from students and families about what they needed to make college seem more attainable. Right away, she realized there was a lack of knowledge and resources about the benefits of college and how to fund the cost of college tuition. That information drove the district’s decision to use PowerSchool Naviance as its college, career, and life readiness (CCLR) solution.  

Having a CCLR platform act as a “one-stop shop” was vital to transforming student and family perceptions about college. With college research and application tools, self-discovery assessments, course planning templates, financial aid and scholarship databases, and career exploration modules all in one place, Naviance is an “incredibly robust platform and tool” for students, families, and staff, Deslonde says.  

Helping Students Find Their Purpose 

FUSD’s counselors introduced students to Naviance’s Career Cluster Finder, Gallup’s Clifton StrengthsExplorer, and SuperMatch College Search to help students discover their strengths and interests, imagine opportunities they may not have considered, and begin creating a plan for their future.  

The Career Cluster Finder helps students find careers that may be a good match for them based on their extracurricular activities, their personality, and their academic strengths. AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) Coordinator Kelly Navas says, “A lot of them think they can’t go to school, or they’re only community college eligible, and when they go [to Naviance] and find out, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s a career I’m interested in, I didn’t realize I could do those things’–that helps spark purpose.” 

Making College Accessible with Scholarships and Financial Aid  

With Naviance’s Scholarships and Financial Aid feature, students can apply filters to the scholarship database to match their eligibility with available awards. Once families began to learn about resources for financing higher education, the district saw a shift in the community’s perception about college. What had once seemed inaccessible was now realistically attainable. 

At Jurupa Hills High School, 424 of the 469 graduates of the Class of 2020—90.4%—completed a FAFSA® or California Dream Act application, earning the school recognition from the California Department of Education’s Student Aid Commission Race to Submit campaign. FUSD was named the San Bernardino County district winner by the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools in the same campaign in 2021, with 60.46% of FUSD students in the Class of 2021 completing financial aid applications.  

Beginning Future Planning Earlier  

Students at FUSD begin using Naviance in middle school, accessing research-backed tools such as Gallup’s Clifton StrengthsExplorer and AchieveWorks® Personality to identify their natural talents and discover what motivates them. Students can return to these self-assessments throughout their high school careers to see how they’ve grown and adjust their academic plan accordingly. Both students and counselors can review self-assessment results and collaborate in conversation about learning styles, personality types, skills, and intelligences.

As students learn about themselves, they can better identify potential job paths that will lead to a fulfilling and meaningful career. September Bullock, a counselor at FUSD, says, “What I really enjoy about Naviance is you have a lot of options. You have a lot of tools. As a counselor, that’s what you want to give your students. You want to give them options. You want your students to know that there are possibilities for them, and that there are opportunities.” 

Centralizing College Knowledge: Taking Postsecondary Planning Online 

Navas and her colleagues cite the convenience of having students’ information in one central location, eliminating the need for paperwork, files, and tedious workflows. Navas says, “When we were able to get Naviance, what we were able to do is take all of that paperwork, all of the things we wanted the kids to do, all the surveys we made them do, and it was in one nice little platform.” Students, families, and staff all have their own Naviance accounts. “To just have everything in one place has been a tremendous help for us,” adds Deslonde.  

Having a CCLR solution accessible anywhere, anytime has also shifted the community mindset about college. Mary Malloy, an FUSD counselor, observes, “We’ve really seen an increase in students wanting to go to college. It’s becoming more of a way of life for families. They’re buying into it more and more,” and credits Naviance for providing a place to go when students and families are looking for information about the college application process.  

Looking Forward 

With Naviance, Deslonde is confident that students and families now have access to the college knowledge they need, which will help drive equitable outcomes across the district. She and her staff have helped students realize that their future is in their control if they begin thinking about what they want and planning how to get there.

“I would encourage any district, any school site to take a look at [Naviance],” Deslonde says. “There’s life beyond high school.”