North Kansas City Schools Adopts New College Preparation Platform
The North Kansas City School District will deploy a new mobile- and
web-based platform to help
its 6,000 students prepare for and find the right two- and four-year
colleges.
NextTier Education's
cloud-based platform supplies information
on
every two- and four-year college in the United States and is designed
to
provide each student an application plan featuring a to-do list with
tasks for
specific schools, step-by-step guidance and deadlines. The platform
is designed to make it
possible for students, parents and counselors to collaborate in the
process.
It also
offers information on more than 20,000 grants and scholarships along
with tools
to help match students with appropriate financial support.
The
platform will be administered by North Kansas City District faculty
members at
four high schools. Guidance counselors will be able to follow each
student's
plan, coach and track activity to maximize the chances of acceptance at
a higher
education institution of the student's choice.
"North
Kansas City Schools believes in the power of equipping all students to
have a
successful postsecondary experience," said District Superintendent
Daniel
Clemens.
NextTier
Education was founded in 2014 and spent a year in beta testing that
involved
more than 100,000 students.
"The
complexities of preparing and applying for college acceptance can
easily bog
down students, their parents and even school counselors who are often
hampered
by high student-to-counselor ratios," said NextTier Education Founder
and CEO
Justin Shiffman. "North Kansas City can now simplify and manage the
entire
workflow and provide centralized communication that allows students,
educators
and parents to stay informed and participate throughout the process."
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.