Syosset High School counselors expand parent outreach, Naviance-based college planning

Chris Ruffini, assistant principal at the high school, told the board the counseling department follows a developmental model with year‑by‑year goals for ninth through twelfth grades and an emphasis on parent partnerships. He described an interactive eighth‑to‑ninth‑grade e‑book sent to families, recorded PTSA guidance liaison meetings, grade‑level workshops, and a guidance newsletter emailed to parents.

Ruffini highlighted the department’s use of Naviance (student and parent accounts) and AchieveWorks personality profiling to guide elective selection, career clusters, and college searches. He explained how scattergrams built from five years of local applicant data help students and counselors see admissions trends (GPA and standardized test ranges) while noting those tools do not show essays or extracurricular context. Ruffini said college night — traditionally hundreds of schools — was adapted during the pandemic as a virtual event and recorded for on‑demand viewing.

Board members and parents praised the counseling team; questions focused on how scattergram data are updated. Ruffini said some outcomes are student‑reported and the department also updates records based on student feedback. He described supports for students with IEPs and the school’s mental‑health team (school psychologists, social workers, MTSS process) that support individualized planning.