Xello has become the new Naviance for students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Broward County School District has chosen this application for high schoolers for use in future-planning and formulating college applications.

The use of this new application will be put into place during the 2024-2025 school year, not this current year. Current seniors will not have to adjust to a new platform to begin or continue applying for colleges.

“For more than 16 years, Naviance has been the trusted College, Career, and Life Readiness (CCLR) platform for over 340,000 students in Florida,” a chart from education application Power School Florida said.

The reason for this shift from Naviance to Xello is likely due to the quality of the platform. Naviance is mainly focused on preparing students for their 4-year college program, which puts those who are not bound for college at a deficit. Schools are now attempting a more holistic approach to students’ futures, and it has been found that Xello offers more opportunities than Naviance.

As well as Broward County, this shift has also been made in other counties around Florida, as well as in other states in the US. This will be a permanent change for students as well as guidance and college counselors at MSD. Many administrators feel that this change is a good thing.

“I think it’s a little bit more user-friendly,” Guidance Administrator Randy Congdon said. “It has more of the tools that are really unique – looking at your personality, looking at your career path, looking at the colleges that fit – I think it really is a pretty comprehensive program.”

Many students have not encountered this program before, but are going into it with an open mind. Others have not even opened the application yet.

“It’s definitely a very good guideline into what your career is,” junior Heidi Dumke said. “I know definitely if it’s anything like Naviance it gives you a sense of direction as like, what you want and what your passions are. And it helps you go into that. So if it’s anything like that, I think it’ll be very useful.”

The program itself seems to garner more appreciation than dislike. However, not everything about this change is going to benefit everyone.

For underclassmen, adjustments will have to be made. Xello and Naviance are not complementary programs, and therefore the information inputted into Naviance by students this year and years prior will not transfer over to the new platform. Students will have to input their contact information as well as their college and career plan information to prepare for the coming year.

Rising seniors in the 2024 school year will no longer use Naviance for college applications. Naviance was previously used for requesting college transcripts; however, this will be done directly through Common Application instead. On Xello, if a senior is tracking their application for a college they may also request and view a transcript there as well.

More information regarding the new platform will air as the 2023-2024 school year approaches. In the meantime, teachers will eventually undergo a teacher training program to learn the use of the program and students will familiarize themselves more with it.

As for the application itself, Xello is an award-winning program which is already used by numerous counties throughout the country. It is built to prepare students in middle school and high school for higher education and their future, as well as making sure that they have college and career requirements.

“Students document their journey as they build self-knowledge, explore post-secondary options, create plans, and continually reassess as they take in new knowledge, skills, and experiences,” the Xello platform said.

Students should make sure to input their email into the platform before the start of the 2024 school year.
Veronica Melei interview questions/Randy Congdon followup
Say your name and spell it
I understand the shift from Naviance to Xello is going to be made for the 2024 school year. How are teachers preparing for this? If you can, explain the staff training process.
How should students be preparing for this new program?
How do you feel about this change/the new program?