Agenda Item
b. SchooLinks: College and Career Readiness Platform (Not to Exceed $477,000)
Summary: Presented by: Kishia Towns, Ph.D., Chief, Wrap Around Services, Division of Wrap Around Services
Request: It is requested that the DeKalb County Board of Education ("the Board") approve a 12-month contract with SchooLinks for an amount not to exceed $477,000 as part of the TIPS contract number 250802.
Why: This request is for a contract with SchooLinks, a comprehensive college and career readiness and social-emotional learning solution for twenty-four (24) high schools, twenty (20) middle schools, and eighty-six (86) elementary schools.
Details: On January 9, 2019, the DeKalb County School District Board of Education approved the purchase of the district’s first College and Career Readiness (CCLR) platform. This platform supports school counselors, Post secondary Transition Specialists, and Senior Advisory Liaisons in working directly with students to develop and implement individualized post-secondary plans while also supporting Social Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons.
The district is transitioning its College and Career Readiness platform to SchooLinks, which will serve as the centralized system for college, career, and life readiness planning for all students. SchooLinks is an online platform that can be accessed anytime, from any location, by both staff and students, ensuring continuity of services and consistent access to planning tools and resources.
The platform provides students with a variety of tools designed to support post secondary planning and exploration. These include self-discovery and career assessments, career exploration resources, communication tools, college-matching features, scholarship search capabilities, goal-setting tools, work-based learning tracking, and opportunities for virtual engagement with college representatives.
Beginning in kindergarten and continuing through high school, students will utilize the platform to complete career exploration activities and develop individualized academic and career plans. Junior and senior students will utilize the CCLR platform to apply to colleges and universities, submit requests for official transcripts, and access scholarship opportunities. The platform will also serve as the district’s centralized system for collecting and reporting scholarship data for graduating seniors.
Additionally, required activities are aligned with the Georgia Department of Education-such as the ‘'Top State for Talent Act House Bill 192" (formerly B.R.I.D.G.E Law) mandates, Child Protection Units, and Bullying Prevention lessons are completed within the platform, and the corresponding data reports are submitted annually to the Georgia Department of Education.
Georgia Work-Based Learning Data Reporting Alignment - Sole Source with SchooLinks is the only CCLR platform GADOE approved Work-Based Learning management solution that generates data that is fully aligned with the official state definitions and requirements.
SchooLinks automatically formats and pushes all required data directly into the reporting portal in compliance with the GADOE submission standards, hence increasing reporting efficiency by eliminating manual reporting.
Financial impact: The total budget of $477,000 for the K-12 SchooLinks platforms will be allocated from Purchased Professional and Technical Services: 100.2100.530010.63711.7040.9990.8010.090.0000.
Contact: Kishia Towns, Ph.D., Chief of Wrap Around Services, Division of Wrap Around Services, 678.676.1811
Mr. Christopher Key, Executive Director of Student Advancement, Division of Wrap Around Services, 678.485.9544
Dr. Shannon Crosslin, Senior Coordinator & School Counseling, Division of Wrap Around Services, 404.808.8942
Effective: 07/01/2026
Status: Approved by the Office of Legal Affairs
The following information is the Top State for Talent Act ADVISEMENT CHECKLIST for grades 6-12 as required by HB
192 / Act 117 (section 9). Follow district directives regarding Individual College and Career Plan development for high
school students.
The Georgia Department of Education offers to all districts the services of YouScience to support the career advisement process.
Districts are welcome to utilize other programs to complete Top State for Talent activities.
Middle Grade Level Data
School Task Task #
Career Advisement Processes Element
1 6-2 6th graders complete one career interest inventory. (YouScience Snippet may
GaDOE
be used for this task.)
2 7-1 or Students will complete one career interest and one career aptitude inventory in 7th
8-1 or 8th grade. Both tasks may be completed in the same school year. (YouScience GaDOE
Snapshot may be used for these tasks.)
3 7-2 7th graders will explore at least three (3) Career Clusters based on their career
inventory results. (If using YouScience for this task, YouScience Snapshot must be GaDOE
taken first.
4 8-2 8th graders will use their career interest and career aptitude inventory results to
complete an Individual College and Career Plan in consultation with parent(s)/legal GaDOE
guardian(s) to guide registration for high school courses.
5 8-3 8th graders will receive notification of the Georgia Dual Enrollment program
GaDOE
information by February 1st.
High School Grade Level
Task -Task # Career Advisement Processes
1 9-1 or Students will complete one career interest and one career aptitude inventory in 9th
10-1 or 10th grade. Both tasks may be completed in the same school year. (YouScience GaDOE
Summit may be used for these tasks.)
2 9-2 Students will create and utilize a GAfutures account through gafutures.org. GSFC
3 9-3 9th graders will explore at least three (3) Careers / Occupations and save the results
in their electronic career profile. (If using YouScience, students may use Snapshot results GaDOE
for this task. If they do not have Snapshot results, students may take Summit and then
complete the task.)
4 9-4 9th graders will review and revise their Individual College and Career Plan in
consultation with parent(s)/legal guardian(s) to guide course registration and ensure GaDOE
post-secondary success.
5 9-5 9th graders will receive notification of the Georgia Dual Enrollment program
GaDOE
information by February 1st.
6 10-2 10th graders will review and revise their Individual College and Career Plan in
consultation with parent(s)/legal guardian(s) to guide course registration and ensure GaDOE
post-secondary success.
7 10-3 10th graders will receive notification of the Georgia Dual Enrollment program
GaDOE
information by February 1st.
8 11-1 11th graders will save three possible choices of post-secondary options.
GaDOE
9 11-2 11th graders will review and revise their Individual College and Career Plan in
consultation with parent(s)/legal guardian(s) to guide course registration and ensure GaDOE
post-secondary success.
10 11-3 11th graders will research at least one additional state or local workforce
development initiative, such as “High Demand Careers Initiative,” “HOPE Career
GaDOE
Grant,” “Specialized Training Centers” or any other Georgia workforce and
education initiative.
11 11-4 11th graders will receive notification of the Georgia Dual Enrollment program
GaDOE
information by February 1st.
12 11-5 11th graders will receive notification of the Georgia MATCH program. GSFC
13 12-1 12th graders will receive notification of their Georgia MATCH letters no later than
GSFC
December 1st of their senior year.
14 12-2 12th graders will complete “Next Step” information and save to their electronic
career portfolio: 4-year institution, 2-year institution, apprenticeship, military, GaDOE
technical college, special purpose (vocational) school or workforce.
Legend by Grade 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
November 2025