Access to SchooLinks
Q: How do students log into SchooLinks?
A: Students access ShooLinks through Clever using their Stafford Schools Google Account.
Q: How do parents/guardians log into SchooLinks?
A: Parents/Guardians access SchooLinks through ParentVUE. There is a tab labeled “SchooLinks”. This will link parents/guardians directly to the SchooLinks platform. Parents do not need a claim code to access the platform. Please view the Onboarding Directions in either English or Spanish.
Q: Is there a way to see the student’s view as a parent/guardian?
A: No - you can track the activity your students are completing via your guardian dashboard and partner with your student to review their accounts.
Q: Do all students have access to SchooLinks?
A: All students in grades 6-12 have access to the SchooLinks platform. Some secondary students began receiving access in the Spring of 2025, but most did so during the 2025-2026 school year.
Q: How do Stafford Schools alumni access the SchooLinks platform? How long will they have access to SchooLinks after graduation?
A: Stafford Schools alumni can access the platform by going to app.schoolinks.com. They have life-long access (free of cost) to SchooLinks after graduating HS.
Q: Have students received training on SchooLinks?
A: Students received lessons on SchooLinks in the fall of 2025 when SchooLinks was first implemented. Students will also receive additional lessons through classroom and counselor-led lessons.
Curriculum, Assessments, and Activities
Q: How can parents/guardians view completed assessments or activities?
A: Parents and guardians can view completed assessments via your guardian dashboard → select your student → casefile sections → to-dos or assessments.
Q: What are the assessments and activities middle students will complete with School Counselors?
A: School Counselors follow a Scope & Sequence to help support students through the progression of activities and assessments from 6th-8th grade. Additional middle school staff may also reinforce or support the SchooLink activities and assessments through classroom lessons.
Q: What are the assessments and activities high school students will complete with School Counselors?
A: School Counselors follow a Scope & Sequence to help support students through the progression of activities and assessments from 9th-12th grade. Additional high school staff may also reinforce or support the SchooLink activities and assessments through classroom lessons.
Q: What are the different assessments SchooLinks offers to secondary students?
A: Find Your Path: Help students learn about their personalities and some careers/clusters that those personalities make them well-suited for. This assessment is part of the onboarding process.
A: Would You Rather: Help students match their interests and the things they like spending their time doing to specific career clusters and skill sets.
A. Top Skills: Students will discover their top skills and areas for improvement which can help determine which careers best match their skill set.
A: Learning Style: Establish which learning style(s) the student relies on for consuming information most by presenting them with scenarios and asking them their reaction/approach from three options that align with each of the three learning styles.
A: Student Focus: Help students understand the motivational drivers behind choices that they'll make around higher education and or career paths when engaging in post-secondary planning.
A: Campus Lifestyle: Helps students figure out characteristics of academic institutions that would fit them well.
Q: What research and theories did SchooLinks use for the assessments?
A: Find Your Path is based on Carl Jung's Personality Types or the 16 Personality Types (MBTI, but MBTI is trademarked so we cannot refer to it by that name specifically).
A: Would You Rather is based on Holland Codes.
A. Top Skills: helps students figure out their strongest skills and determine careers that need skills like theirs. Skill groups include a breakdown of skills and tool tips to help you and your students understand what the data means.
A: Learning Style uses VARK model: visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic.
A: Student Focus uses 6 mindsets based on primary survey research published by Encora.
A: Campus Lifestyle was developed in-house. We ask students to agree or disagree with statements that correspond to different values along specific dimensions: academic rigor, campus size, class size, breadth vs depth of offerings.
Q: Can students repeat assessments and quizzes?
A: Yes, students can repeat the assessments and quizzes in SchooLinks.
Q: What are the different learning chapters SchooLinks offers for secondary students?
A. Career Cluster Overview Part 1 & 2 - Students learn about the 16 different career clusters through a series of videos and surveys.
A. Employability Skills - Students learn about different employability skills like creativity, communication skills, and problem-solving skills through a series of videos, external links, and surveys.
A. Financial Aid - Students learn about different ways they can pay for school and also get introduced to FAFSA, scholarships, and a financial aid calculator through a series of videos, surveys, quizzes, and external links.
A. How to Explore Careers - Students learn about how to explore careers and basic career components like career clusters, internships, job shadowing, etc. Students will review a series of videos, surveys, quizzes, and external links.
A. Jobs and Internships - Students learn how to look for jobs, about resumes, how to market themselves, interviews and interview questions through a series of videos, links, surveys, and quizzes.
A. Making the Most out of High School - Students learn about High School and school clubs through a series of videos and surveys.
A. Planning for 2-year schools - Students learn about 2-year schools, and the options available to them - for example, how they can go to a 2-year college and then transfer to a 4-year college, the difference between an associate degree and professional certificates, etc, via a series of videos, surveys and quizzes.
A. Planning for 4-year schools - Students learn how they will be able to succeed in college, learn some key college vocabulary, and the ability to take college courses in high school through a series of videos, surveys, and quizzes.
A. Planning for the Military - Students learn about the military, the military branches, training options, earning a college degree in the military, and entrance requirements through a series of videos, surveys, links, and quizzes.
A. Post-Secondary Planning and College Search - Students learn about post-secondary options, campus lifestyle, and how to research and reach out to colleges through a series of videos, surveys, and links.
A. Self Discovery - Students learn about the military, the military branches, training options, earning a college degree in the military, and entrance requirements through a series of videos, surveys, links, and quizzes.
A. The International Job Market - Students learn about the international job market, education requirements, application process, networking, visa, and tax requirements through a series of surveys, videos, and quizzes.
A. The College Application Process - Students learn about the college application process and review the difference between PSAT and PreACT, SAT vs. ACT, College Essays, recommendation letters, and the concept of a final list which they will be able to create using the Final List tool in SchooLinks. They will review a series of videos, surveys and links.
Q: Who assigns the learning plans within SchooLinks?
A: Stafford Schools School Counseling sets the Scope and Sequence for all Stafford Schools secondary schools to follow; however, school-based School Counseling teams may differentiate the activities and pace to reflect student needs.
Q: What is the Academic and Career Plan (ACP) or Personalized Plan?
A: The Academic and Career Plan (ACP) is a comprehensive plan designed to guide students in their academic and career development in 8th through 10th grade. The ACP encompasses various elements to help prepare students for their future educational and career goals. To learn more about the ACP, you can also visit the VA Department of Education website. The ACP is integrated into the student profile in SchooLinks.
Q: Can parents/guardians access their assessments to complete on their own?
A: No, parents/guardians will not have access to complete assessments in SchooLinks.
College Application Manager
Q: How does SchooLinks work with the Common Application?
A: SchooLinks has a partnership with the Common App application that allows students to sync applications started on Common App with SchooLinks and vice versa. Please note, students will still complete and submit their application via Common App, but track their progress and results via SchooLinks.
Q: How is data linked to the Common App?
A: SchooLinks has a partnership with the Common App application that allows students to sync applications started on Common App with SchooLinks and vice versa. This integration also allows counselors to get a list of the required documents they need to send for each of the students' applications.
Q: Does SchooLinks provide information to International Colleges and Universities?
A: SchooLinks provides information to Colleges and Universities that network with Parchment in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Additional international schools that have been requested by students or that are linked on the Common App have also been added.
Q: Does SchooLinks provide tuition costs for colleges and universities? Does it show both in and out-of-state tuition?
A: SchooLinks provides tuition costs for Colleges and Universities displaying both in and out-of-state tuition. This information is gathered from the institutions. The information can be found in the “Cost & Financial Aid” section of the college page.
Q: Can students request that additional schools (e.g. international schools) be added to SchooLinks?
A: Yes, they can reach out to our support team via the chat feature and provide the school name and website for our team to review.
Q: How can parents/guardians view their student’s progress on their college applications?
A: Parents/guardians can partner with their students to review the College Application dashboard. This dashboard is only available in students’ accounts.
Q: Can you view each college and university's acceptance rates?
A: Yes, students can view the acceptance rates under the “Admissions” section of the college search feature in SchooLinks.
Q: If colleges and universities change any admissions requirements, how quickly does SchooLinks update that within the platform?
A: If students, counselors, or guardians reach out to SchooLinks via our chat support and provide evidence of any discrepancies, the SchooLinks team will update the data within 48 - 72 hrs.
Q: How are schools identified as “Likely”, “Target” or “Reach”? What student information is taken into consideration?
A: Student’s Cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) and SAT/ACT test scores are used to determine if it’s a Likely, Target, or Reach college.
Q: Are students required to include all the testing information with their college application? Is it possible to uncheck the test-optional button?
A: Students are required to submit a testing score if requested by the college/university. If the institution has a test-optional policy, and there is a discrepancy in SchooLinks where it incorrectly indicates a requirement, students, counselors, or guardians can contact the SchooLinks team through chat support. By providing the evidence of the discrepancy, the SchooLinks team will update the data within 48 - 72 hrs.
Q: When are college applications available in SchooLinks?
A: The College Application Manager (CAM) is open to 12th-grade students only. Once SCPS rolls over their data (typically in the middle of July), 12th-grade students will be able to log into CAM in SchooLinks.
Q: How can parents/guardians view the application dashboard? How can parents/guardians access a student's final list?
A: Parents/guardians can partner with their students to review the College Application dashboard. This dashboard is only available in students’ accounts. Parents/guardians can access the Final List by logging in to their parent/guardian account > select student > select College Lists & Favorites.
Q: What email address should students use for the Common App?
A: Students can use either their personal or Stafford Schools emails.
Q: Are trade schools included in the College Application Manager?
A: Yes. However, if you do not see a school listed, please reach out to SchooLinks via chat support and provide the school name and website for the SchooLinks team to review.
Q: Can colleges and universities be sorted by the specific majors or programs?
A: Yes - students can use the search field in the school search tool to search for schools that offer a specific major or program.
Letters of Recommendations
Q: What is a FERPA waiver?
A: FERPA is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act which is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The FERPA waiver is asking students to waive their rights to view Letters of Recommendation provided by recommenders to validate the accuracy of the information shared.
Q: How can students see that letters of recommendation have been submitted?
A: Students can track the status of their materials within the College Application Manager under “College Application”. The date the recommender sends the letter will be displayed in SchooLinks.
Q: Are the letters of recommendation specific to each school or are they general letters?
A: They are general letters.
Scattergrams
Q: Does SchooLinks provide scattergrams for students looking at colleges?
A: Yes, SchooLinks provides scattergrams for Colleges and Universities. The scattergrams can be found by clicking on the upper right-hand corner of each college tile (noted by a scatter plot icon) from the school search page. The data provided in scattergrams are for the last 4 years of historical admission data.
Q: Are scattergrams provided for every college and university on SchooLinks?
A: If a student from the high school your student is enrolled in never applied to a college or university, there is no data to show in the scattergrams for that particular school.
Q: What information do the scattergrams provide?
A: Scattergrams give data points for each student from your high school who has applied to a particular college in the past few years. The data points represent the student’s standardized test scores and GPA based on your school’s scale. The points also indicate whether the student was admitted, waitlisted, or denied at a particular school.
Scholarships
Q: Where can students find scholarship information within SchooLinks?
A: Students can view scholarship information by clicking on the “finances” on the left column and selecting “scholarship matching”.
Q: How can parents/guardians view scholarship information within SchooLinks?
A: Parents/Guardians can view scholarship information by clicking on the “finances” on the left column and clicking “scholarship matching”.
Q: When should students start to apply for scholarships?
A: Students can explore scholarship opportunities by the eligibility criteria. It’s important to note that some scholarships do offer the opportunity to apply before the start of the senior year. When researching scholarships, carefully review the specific eligibility requirements and application timelines for each scholarship opportunity.
Q: Are scholarships listed only for specific universities?
A: Scholarships are pulled from four sources: Stafford Schools added scholarships, Peterson’s (national source), SchooLinks Community Network (industry partners), and SchooLinks added scholarships.
Q: Are there Bipoc Scholarships listed in SchooLinks?
A: The match framework helps students identify which scholarships would be a good fit based on their racial and ethnic backgrounds and eligibility criteria.
Business Partnerships
Q: If a company offers internships for students, how can a parent/guardian share that information on SchooLinks?
A: Please share this information with our Work-based Learning Coordinators for them to add it to the opportunities page.
Community Service
Q: How can students track their volunteer hours within SchooLinks?
A: A Volunteer Service Hour Record module has been added under the “experience tracking” (from the school menu) feature for your students to add their volunteer hours.
Security
Q: Is all this data secure from any/all third parties? Who has access to the student profiles and data?
A: You can review SchooLinks Privacy Policy here.
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