7 Features to Look for When Choosing Your CCLR Solution

The essential elements of a college, career, and life readiness solution

Finding the right partner for your CCLR programming is an essential step in your work towards preparing your students for life after high school. Choosing the best-fit college, career, and life readiness (CCLR) solution can have a significant impact on boosting student outcomes and influences students’ educational, career, and life success.  

The first post in this blog series addressed the six key questions to ask to determine how well your school or district is readying students for their futures. Now, we’ll look at the seven features that your chosen CCLR solution should provide to drive postsecondary success. 

There isn’t a “one size fits all” approach to an effective CCLR solution, and a good partner will have demonstrable experience working with large and small, public, private, charter, and magnet schools, among others. One of the best indicators of a provider’s expertise in scaling is having former educators on staff who represent a variety of school sizes and types. They understand the complexities and intricacies of working with a wide range of institutions. Don’t be afraid to reach out to schools or districts where the provider has implemented their solution to ask about the organization’s experience working with the edtech company. Just as employers check a job candidate’s references, knowing about the vendor’s past performance will help you gauge the success of a future partnership.  

A good CCLR solution shows students every future option available to them so they can explore multiple pathways, even ones they haven’t thought of before. While college, trade school, and military service are the most prominent postsecondary options, apprenticeships and internships are rising in popularity, as well, particularly as the cost of higher education continues to climb. Look for a CCLR solution that connects students with opportunities to engage in real-world learning that opens doors to new career paths.  

While students are the primary users of any CCLR program, other stakeholders—such as staff and families—use the tool as well. A good CCLR solution keeps all users engaged by offering interactive activities, future planning tools, goal setting, and progress tracking.  

The time spent toggling between technology solutions can add up to 32 lost workdays each year.¹  Ideally, your CCLR solution integrates seamlessly with your school or district’s other systems to give staff full visibility into each student’s performance and progress without wasting precious time. Student profiles can be integrated from your SIS or LMS to your CCLR platform so that counselors have a full understanding of the students they’re supporting. As an added benefit, interoperable systems provide an extra layer of data security to protect personal information.  

CCLR solutions that feature quality content provide students with the social and emotional (SEL) skills, self-discovery assessments, and future planning frameworks that are vital to postsecondary success. When choosing your CCLR solution, look for a trusted industry leader that offers research-backed content vetted by reputable organizations.  

Storing students’ postsecondary information in one central place so that data doesn’t have to be pieced together saves everyone valuable time. A comprehensive CCLR solution provides one main portal through which students, counselors, and families can communicate, view progress, and get support.  

As education increasingly moves online, so too does the storage of private, sensitive information. It’s essential that the vendor of your chosen CCLR solution is committed to upholding rigorous data protection protocols and actively works to prevent cyberattacks. Look for vendors that have taken the Student Privacy Pledge, use single-sign-on (SSO) or MFA (multi-factor authentication) for system access, and adhere to all laws regarding data privacy. Ask the edtech vendor if they sell, store, or otherwise use data beyond what the school or district authorizes.  

Following this checklist as you compare CCLR solutions will help you find a partner that is trusted, experienced, and effective. A good measure of a best-fit partner is one whose goals align with the district’s and equips students with the information and resources they need to reach their future goals.