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. e 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.