Thursday, December 22, 2011

Happy Holidays from the BHS Guidance Department!!

During the holiday season please be sure to check out the Naviance Guidance Software Program. The program now allows Guest Access to parents and students not signed up (since this is guest access all information is not available). Burlington High School continues to fully utilize the Naviance program. The Naviance program has certainly allowed the BHS Guidance staff to streamline the college application process for seniors. However, parents should be aware that Naviance not only provides a venue for a secure system for college applications, it allows students to develop college lists, research scholarships and provides links to valuable resources. In addition, the BHS Guidance Department has tied Naviance to the BHS Developmental Guidance Program. The counseling staff strives to ensure that each grade level is utilizing the program.

Grade 9 will be introduced to the program after the new year, grades 10 and 11 can complete a personality assessment tied to possible future careers. In addition the career portion allows students to watch short video clips of a variety of careers, find out about salary information, and courses to take in high school for a particular career.

The program also has a course planner section. The counselor and student together can develop a four year academic plan and have discussions on graduations requirements, rigor of schedule and finding courses that are of interest.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

PSAT Scores AND KAPLAN Spring Schedule to be released Friday

PSAT Score reports will be mailed home to parents Monday December 10, 2012 to sophomores and juniors that participated in the exam. The PSAT/NMSQT exam is a measure of three key areas: critical reading, mathematics problem solving and writing skills. The exam prepares students for the same types of questions on the SAT exam. In addition, juniors who achieve high PSAT/NMSQT scores may qualify for National Merit competition and corporate scholarships.

The PSAT score report is very parent/student friendly. Parents should take notice of the section at the bottom of the score report called "Improve your skills”. This section gives specific data based on the student’s individual PSAT exam. Furthermore, Score reports show a numerical score for each area measured, as well as a range that extends from a few points below the score to a few points above. This range shows the extent to which a student’s score might differ with repeated testing, assuming that the student’s skill level remains constant.

More information can be accessed by going to the PSAT Fact Sheet . For the past ten years roughly 90 % or more of BHS seniors take the SAT exam. The Guidance department strongly recommends that juniors take the exam in March, May or June. SAT registration information can be accessed through collegeboard.com

The KAPLAN program offers SAT test prep courses at Burlington High School exclusive for Burlington High School Juniors only. Students will receive a subsidized rate of $249.00. The Kaplan course calendar and registration information will be mailed home to ALL Juniors on December 10. Parents can register beginning today by calling 1-800-KAP-Test.

Also KAPLAN will be offering a FREE SAT Practice test for Juniors on January 12, 2013 beginning at 9:00AM and ending at 1:30 P.M AND a FREE Practice SAT/ACT Combo test on February 2, 1013.
We highly recommend Juniors taking one of these Free offerings.