Powered by Kuder since 2019

This district made the switch to Kuder® as their former career guidance solution was no longer meeting the needs of their students or counselors.

Project Overview

Sioux City Community School District (CSD) in Sioux City, Iowa, serves as the fourth largest PreK-12 education provider in Iowa. As a Kuder partner since 2019, Sioux City CSD has utilized Kuder Navigator and other Kuder solutions for its college and career readiness program.

The growth has been substantial for the district’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) program since the implementation of Navigator. Eighth through twelfth-grade students annually update their Individual and Career Academic Plan (ICAP) and the Sioux City CSD JROTC program recently selected Navigator’s e-Profile feature as the standard resource for completing its associated requirements.

“We use Kuder Navigator to send transcripts electronically and Kuder Navigator makes it very easy for students to send requests. This year we also started using four-year plans that were tailored to the Sioux City School District graduation requirements. Having all our classes loaded into Kuder Navigator made it very easy for students to complete their plans.”

Michelle Hoch

11th Grade School Counselor, Sioux City CSD 

The Kuder Solution

Sioux City CSD is always on the lookout to ensure their students believe, achieve, and succeed. The district decided to switch from their former college and career readiness system provider to Kuder after counselor feedback reflecting on Navigator’s ease of use, simple navigation, and relevant and practical information.

Early in the academic year, Sioux City CSD students complete two assessments via their Navigator accounts (Interest and Skills Assessments) and explore potential careers. The district maintains significant system usage throughout the year, most notably during the fall season following assessment completions.

Later in the academic year, students revisit their Individual Career and Academic Plans (ICAPs) to research postsecondary options and available course offerings to prepare for their future. Sioux City CSD has incorporated its career pathways into the Kuder platform. This means that when a student completes an assessment and reviews their results, they can also see what pathways and district-led programs align directly with their interests.

A graphic of a university with lock and key icons.

College Access Tools

The college access toolkit provides Sioux City CSD students with additional resources and activities designed to simplify and streamline the college admission process for students as well as their families, which has resulted in a reduction of paperwork and processing times, and increased participation among senior students within the district. These college preparation tools include; test preparation and practice exams, a College Match calculator, application and scholarship tracking, transcript and document requesting, and more!

Grad Plan

This flexible feature within Navigator allows districts to meet state mandates regarding individual student planning as well as other potential graduation requirements with absolute ease and efficiency. The fluidity in its design allows schools and districts to configure Grad Plan to meet their own unique criteria, such as Iowa’s ICAP requirement, which applies to every student in grades 8-12 across the state. Counselors can also leverage Grad Plan to monitor student progress, and generate comprehensive reports to keep the entire program running smoothly.

A document with lines of text and checkmarks next to each with a graduation cap and bullseye icon.

Grad Plan

This flexible feature within Navigator allows districts to meet state mandates regarding individual student planning as well as other potential graduation requirements with absolute ease and efficiency. The fluidity in its design allows schools and districts to configure Grad Plan to meet their own unique criteria, such as Iowa’s ICAP requirement, which applies to every student in grades 8-12 across the state. Counselors can also leverage Grad Plan to monitor student progress, and generate comprehensive reports to keep the entire program running smoothly.

A graduation cap and briefcase with a link icon in between them.

Pathways Link

Sioux City CSD also elected to implement Pathways Link within their Kuder system solution. This powerful feature quickly connects students to localized CTE courses offered through Sioux City CSD or other specialized programs of study by displaying relevant offerings alongside the student’s interest, skills, and work values assessment results. Pathways Link continues to build upon the district’s robust career and technical education program as students are more easily able to align their personal interests with their educational activities.

Ensuring Successful Implementation

What sets Kuder apart is a relationship approach with its partners that extends beyond the initial onboarding. From the moment of partnership formation, each Kuder client is provided with a dedicated Partner Solutions Manager who guides the new partner through the process and remains the main point of contact throughout the longevity of the partnership. The Partner Solutions Manager has a team of technical specialists (Implementation, Training, and Engagement) that supports them and the client through the launch, training, and implementation processes in a very personalized way to ensure success.

Sioux City CSD met with Kuder’s Director of Partner Operations, along with an Onboarding Specialist to walk through the Pathways Link data mapping process and explain how Grad Plan worked and how to set it up for the district. Several representatives expressed their high rate of satisfaction with the outcome and the level of service they received through the entire implementation process and launch.

Outcomes

Sioux City CSD has seen a steady increase in student participation with the Kuder suite of products since the partnership began three years ago, particularly between the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years when there was a 9% increase in completed assessments. Since the beginning of its partnership with Kuder, almost 28,000 assessments have been completed by Sioux City CSD students.

The most indicative outcome of Kuder’s ongoing success since its integration with Sioux City CSD is the upsurge in students submitting a Four-Year Academic Plan. There has been year-over-year growth in this area, along with the total number of logins for overall usage increasing as well and hope to build on the numbers during the 2022-23 academic year.

We look forward to working with Sioux City Community School District in the future to assist in their accomplishment of these goals, and to help every one of their students in their discovery and achievement of what they want to be.

Learn more about how Kuder can help Iowa districts here.

Interested? Reach out today to get started