Pathways Success Story: Reducing Counselor Workload and Ensuring Accuracy in Graduation Tracking
For Lori Stinson, District Coordinator of Counseling Services at Greater Clark County Schools in Indiana, managing graduation pathways was once a daunting and complex task. The process required significant time and effort, with multiple counselors and staff members working in different systems to manage the complex data and ensure every student met the Indiana Graduation Pathways requirements.
Overseeing a district with three high schools and a career center, Lori was tasked with navigating the intricate and evolving graduation requirements, often without a clear or consistent system to rely on. The district needed a solution to streamline the process, minimize errors, and reduce the workload for counselors, who were stretched thin balancing data management with direct student support.
When Lori and her team partnered with Pathways, it marked the beginning of a significant shift for Greater Clark County Schools. What had once been an overwhelming, labor-intensive process evolved into a more efficient, accurate, and collaborative system. Today, Lori reflects on how Pathways has empowered her team, simplified graduation tracking, and ultimately enhanced the district's ability to support the most important thing—student success.
The Challenge
Managing graduation pathways at Greater Clark County Schools was more than just a challenge—it was a high-stakes juggling act with students’ futures on the line.
Without a centralized system, counselors faced an overwhelming workload. The risk of errors loomed large, and the consequences were dire: a single scheduling oversight or missed class could derail a student’s graduation plan, jeopardizing their future and placing immense pressure on staff.
“Before Pathways, we were doing all of that by hand. It was honestly kind of scary, because there was no double-check. All you had was a partner, another human who you had to rely on. Life before Pathways was just scary!”
Beyond the logistical challenges, the emotional and professional strain on counselors was immense. “It’s so much responsibility for one counselor to be accountable for the students and also accountable to the state,” Lori explained.
Balancing data management with their responsibility to support students meant counselors were stretched thin. The stress of knowing a single mistake could have life-altering consequences for a student underscored just how critical an effective, reliable system was for the district.
The Solution
When Lori and her team began searching for ways to simplify graduation tracking, they needed a solution that would reduce manual processes, improve accuracy, provide better tools for both counselors and students, and gather various data elements in one place.
Enter Pathways, an opportunity to address all of these challenges. Pathways is designed not only to streamline graduation tracking but also to empower counselors with the resources they need to do their jobs more effectively. By addressing the complexities of graduation requirements head-on, Pathways replaces stress and uncertainty with clarity and confidence for both staff and students.
“Thank goodness Pathways came along, and we were able to start plugging it in and verifying."
Pathways quickly proved to be an essential tool, offering a centralized system to simplify the process of managing graduation requirements. “Once you put the data in, then you had something that would guide and direct you through the choices, rather than flipping through the 30-page document,” Lori explained. Counselors now had a clear and reliable way to ensure students stayed on track, eliminating much of the guesswork and potential for human error.
Pathways continues to keep current with state requirements, embedding these changes into the system as they come. The platform’s flexibility and responsiveness to changing state requirements have also allowed Lori and her team to expand its use over time.
“Every year we find additional uses because they continue to add features to Pathways."
By embedding updates to align with state requirements as they come, Pathways ensures it remains a reliable and up-to-date resource. Pathways features like the “Bucket 3” CTE report and the report to determine NCAA eligibility have become invaluable tools for addressing specific challenges counselors face.
For Lori, the support from Pathways’ team has been a standout feature. “When we had issues, the response was immediate. Robbie got on a Zoom call with me then and still does now. That’s pretty amazing—you don’t get that kind of support in most places,” she noted. This hands-on, personalized approach made the adoption process smooth and continues to make a lasting difference in Greater Clark County Schools.
The Result
The introduction of Pathways brought immediate and meaningful improvements to how graduation tracking was managed at Greater Clark County Schools. With features designed to streamline reporting and tracking, the system quickly began saving time for Lori Stinson and her counseling team.
The efficiency gained through Pathways allowed Lori and her team to shift their focus from manual data entry to meaningful student engagement. Counselors were able to spend less time double-checking spreadsheets and more time addressing individual student needs, ensuring no one slipped through the cracks.
This newfound accuracy and organization reduced stress for the counseling team, fostering a more positive and productive work environment while ensuring a reliable system was in place to support students.
“Workflow is definitely improved because of the reporting and tracking ease.”
The impact extended beyond the counseling team, empowering a range of staff members to better support students. “Our principals, college career coordinators, and special needs teachers also asked for access. It’s a powerful tool to rally a team of folks who are supporting kids in different ways,” Lori shared. By making graduation tracking data more accessible and intuitive, Pathways allowed even non-experts to engage in the process effectively, enhancing collaboration across the district.
Lori detailed that one of the most valuable aspects of Pathways has been its adaptability and ongoing improvement.
“Every year, it improves. They’re committed to changing with the Indiana-specific changes—even more than our school management system."
This continuous evolution ensures that the system not only meets the current needs of the district but also anticipates future challenges. Pathways has proven to be more than a tool—it’s become an integral part of how Greater Clark County Schools supports student success.
The Product
Pathways, powered by Education Advanced, Inc., is a graduation tracking tool that allows administrators and counselors to efficiently create, monitor, and analyze graduation pathways to ensure secondary students are on track to graduate. Pathways ensures the accuracy of student data through a feed with the district student information system, which saves time and reduces the administrative burden for counselors and administrators.
