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Salem High staff report expanded college-and-career counseling, set measurable goals for 2026
Summary
Salem School Committee heard a detailed update from Salem High School officials on expanded postsecondary advising: 1-to-1 counseling tied to course selection, use of MyCAP and Naviance, a OneGoal partnership, new staff roles and measurable targets for counselor contacts, applications and FAFSA completion.
Salem School Committee members on Sept. 24 heard a report from Salem High School staff detailing changes to the district’s college-and-career advising system and measurable targets for the 2025–26 school year.
The update, presented by Salem High staff member Mister Burns and College and Career Director Ms. Souza, described a shift toward individualized, earlier planning for students, expanded use of the state MyCAP framework and Naviance software, and a new professional-development partnership with OneGoal. “We have 459 applications to colleges already to 25 different states and to international,” Burns said, summarizing early application activity.
School leaders said the work responds to a consultant review done earlier and to gaps that previously left many seniors making postsecondary choices late in their final year. The district has reorganized counseling delivery so that every student now has access to a one-to-one postsecondary planning meeting tied directly to course selection; counselors deliver a structured, research‑based curriculum in workshops and through advisory time; and data previously held in separate systems is now monitored across staff using Naviance and Aspen.
Ms. Souza said the school has shifted to tracking inputs (meetings), outputs (applications, FAFSA completion) and outcomes (enrollment), and has established interim checkpoints to trigger interventions during the school year. She reported that in the 2025 school year 74 percent of students demonstrated mastery of the district’s Tier‑1 postsecondary skills and that “over 90 percent of students receive direct instruction from counselors in these workshops.”
Officials listed four district targets for the year: ensure 95 percent of ninth‑ and twelfth‑graders receive a one‑to‑one counseling meeting aligned with postsecondary planning and course selection; raise the share of seniors applying to at least three schools from 39 percent to 75 percent; ensure 90 percent of students spend at least five hours exploring postsecondary pathways; and increase FAFSA completion to 75 percent.
To support those goals, the high school reported new staff allocations — a dedicated ninth‑grade counselor and a multilingual counselor — expanded family workshops (including multilingual and FAFSA events) and weekly common planning time for counselors to monitor data and adjust interventions. The school also identified partnerships with Salem State and North Shore and outside groups including LEAP and OneGoal as key supports.
Committee members praised progress and pressed for continued attention to persistence—how students fare after enrollment. Member Cruz asked how the district is coordinating MyCAP work with middle schools; staff described pilot work in Grade 8 and said counselors and middle‑school counterparts are aligning scope and sequence so students arrive at ninth grade with common vocabulary and tools.
Superintendent Dr. Zarek told the committee that MCAS results are under embargo until Oct. 6 and that district staff will present MCAS trends to the committee on Oct. 6. School leaders said they will provide ongoing updates on MyCAP implementation and the OneGoal partnership.
Discussion only: the committee did not take a formal vote on policy changes during the Sept. 24 meeting.
