Understanding Student Data
The Clarity Score (0–100) measures how focused and confident a student's career direction signal is. A higher score means a more crystallized sense of direction — lower scores are normal, especially in 9th and 10th grade.
Want the full breakdown? The
Clarity Grades Guide in your sidebar covers all 6 score tiers (Exploring → Crystallized), grade-level benchmarks, and counselor action steps for each range.
Career Clusters
Career clusters are the top interest categories that emerged from the student's conversation — for example, STEM, Arts & Design, Business, Health Sciences, or Education. Each cluster has a score (0–100) reflecting how strongly it resonated. The top 3–5 clusters appear on the student's profile. These are derived entirely from the student's own words, not from a multiple-choice inventory.
Keywords & Themes
The specific words and concepts the student used most during the conversation — captured verbatim. These are the raw material of their career narrative. Pay attention to words they repeated or said with energy — those are the clearest signals.
Reading a Student Profile
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Open StudentsIn the sidebar, click Students. Find the student and click their name.
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Review the profile cardYou'll see their Clarity Score, top career clusters with scores, and keywords. Below that: summary narrative and recommended next steps.
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View the conversation transcriptClick "View Transcript" in the right-column score card on any profile to read Aless's full conversation with the student verbatim.
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Generate pathfinder recommendationsClick "Generate Recommendations" on any profile to get personalized counselor action steps for that specific student based on their history.
Wellness Score & Indicators
When Wellness Signals is enabled for an assessment, the student profile includes three additional counselor-only fields:
Wellness Score (0–100)
Overall engagement and orientation signal. 70+ = green (no concerns), 40–69 = yellow (some signals), below 40 = red (needs attention). Grade-adjusted — 9th graders naturally score lower.
Wellness Indicators
Five signal types — future orientation, interest & engagement, anxiety, energy & motivation, social connection — each rated green/yellow/red with a brief evidence quote from the conversation.
Wellness Summary
A 2–3 sentence narrative written for the counselor about the student's emotional state, engagement level, and social connectedness. Not a diagnosis — a pattern summary to help you know what to explore.
Response Quality & Effort Scores
Two additional counselor-only scores appear on each student profile. Generated by Aless at the end of the assessment and never visible to students or parents.
Response Quality (0–100)
How specific, concrete, and self-aware were the student's answers? High scores reflect named experiences, real activities, and genuine reflection. Low scores reflect generic or surface-level responses.
Effort Score (0–100)
How thoroughly did the student engage? High scores mean they expanded beyond the question, volunteered context, and participated actively. Low scores reflect one-sentence answers and deflection.
Score thresholds: 70+ = Strong (green), 40–69 = Moderate (amber), below 40 = Low (gray). When both scores fall below 50, a prominent "Review Transcript" button appears.
Creating an assessment and assigning students
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Create a new assessmentGo to Assessments and click "+ Create Assessment." The modal has five tabs: In-Exam, Post-Exam, Access & Timing, Aless, and Students.
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Configure In-Exam settingsChoose a UI mode (Full, Conversation, or Custom). Toggle whether students see the progress tracker (Part 1 of 5), career cluster bars, draft major matches, and an elapsed timer during the assessment.
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Configure Post-Exam settingsChoose a Results Release mode (Immediate, Top Cluster Only, None, or Counselor Release). Toggle PDF download, auto-email results to students, and add optional post-assessment instructions. Under Student Results Visibility, choose which profile sections students can see: narrative, keywords, clusters, clarity score, paths, and courses.
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Select studentsClick the "Students" tab. By default, all students in your roster are assigned. Toggle off "Assign all students" to select specific students using the search and grade filter.
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Access codes are auto-generatedWhen students are assigned, pathfinder automatically generates a unique 6-character access code for any student who does not already have one.
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Assign more students laterOpen an assessment's detail page and click "+ Assign Students" to add additional students after creation.
Inviting students to take an assessment
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Click "Invite" on the Students pageEach student row has an Invite button. Click it to open the invite modal showing the student's access code, assessment status, and email.
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Share the access codeCopy the code to give it verbally, on a handout, or via your school's LMS. Students enter it at the pathfinder login screen.
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Or email the studentIf the student has an email on file, click "Send Email" to send a branded email with their access code and a link to pathfinder.
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Invite from the assessment detail pageOpen any assessment and use the per-row "Invite" button to email individual students, or click "Invite All" in the toolbar to send invites to all not-started students at once.
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Batch invites"Invite All" sends emails only to students with status "Not Started" who have both an email and access code on file. Students already in progress or completed are skipped.
No access code? If a student hasn't been assigned to an assessment yet, the invite modal offers a link to generate an access code manually. Assigning them to an assessment via the Assessments page is the recommended path.
Post-assessment workflow
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Student completes assessment (~25–30 min)Aless concludes the conversation and the system automatically generates the career profile — this takes about 60 seconds. Students see a progress indicator while their profile generates.
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Student sees results based on your settingsDepending on the Results Release mode: Immediate shows the full profile, Top Cluster Only shows just the #1 cluster, None shows a completion message only, and Counselor Release holds results until you approve. If auto-email is on, the student receives their results by email. Post-assessment instructions appear as a card on the results screen. Students can also view a full transcript of their conversation with Aless and download it as a text file. Students can sign out from the results page.
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Students can re-enter their access code to view resultsAfter signing out, students can return to pathfinder and enter their access code again to see their completed profile — no need to retake the assessment.
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You review the profileOpen Students → find the student. Review their Clarity Score, top clusters, and keywords before your meeting — not during.
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Generate pathfinder recommendations (optional)Click "Generate Recommendations" for personalized action steps you can bring into the conversation.
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Meet with the studentYou already know the terrain — use your time to go deeper, not to gather basic info Aless already collected.
Best practice: Review the profile and read at least the first and last few exchanges of the transcript before your meeting. The opening shows what the student was excited to share; the closing often contains their biggest aspiration or concern.
Marking assessments as reviewed
When you open a completed student profile, click Mark as Reviewed to confirm you have reviewed the assessment. An optional notes field lets you add counselor-specific observations. Once confirmed:
- The review timestamp and your name are recorded for the audit trail
- The session moves from "Pending Review" on the dashboard to "Reviewed"
- Review is a one-way action — once marked, it cannot be undone from the portal
Per-assessment, not per-student: Review status is tied to each individual assessment, not the student's lifetime. If a student completes a new assessment in a later semester, the "Mark as Reviewed" button becomes active again for that new assessment — even if previous assessments were already reviewed.
Review history
Each student's profile and detail pages display a Review History log showing all past reviews across assessments. The log includes the assessment name, review date, which counselor performed the review, and any notes. This gives you a clear audit trail of review activity for each student over time.
Review activity in Reports
The Reports page includes a Reviews Completed stat card and a My Review Activity log showing your recent reviews with student names, assessment titles, dates, and notes. Click "Show All Counselors" to see the full school-wide review log. Administrators and principals also see a Review Activity by Counselor breakdown showing each counselor's monthly and total review counts.
Assessment completion time
The Reports Overview page includes an Avg. Completion Time stat card showing the average duration students take to finish an assessment, along with a Avg. Completion Time by Grade breakdown in the right column. Sessions over 4 hours are excluded as outliers (student likely left the tab open). The Custom Report also includes a Duration column you can add to any filtered export.
Dashboard: Pending Review
The Pending Review panel on your dashboard shows students whose latest completed assessment has not yet been reviewed. It displays 10 students per page with pagination controls. Click See All to view the full list in the All Scores page. Each row shows the student name, grade, completion date, and clarity score.
Sorting and filtering tables
All data tables across the portal support clickable column headers for sorting. Click any column header to sort ascending; click again to sort descending. A small arrow indicator shows the current sort direction. Tables with search bars and filter dropdowns let you narrow results by name, status, grade, or other relevant fields.
Viewing clarity scores in an assessment
Open any assessment under Assessments in the sidebar to see a student roster with individual Clarity Scores. Students who haven't completed the profile yet show "—". Click View Profile → to open the full profile for any completed student.
All Scores — school-wide clarity view
Assessments → All Scores in the sidebar shows every completed assessment record across all students in one filterable table. Use it to:
- Filter by student name, grade level, assessment, or clarity tier (High / Mid / Low)
- Compare clarity across grade levels at a glance
- Identify students who completed an assessment but scored low — without opening each assessment individually
The Avg. Clarity Score by Grade card on the Dashboard is calculated directly from these individual scores, so it updates in real time as more students complete assessments.
Acting on a low Clarity Score (<50)
Low scores are not a problem — they're an invitation. In 9th grade, a score below 50 is expected. In 11th grade, it's a signal to prioritize this student.
- Assign broader career exposure: job shadows, career fairs, informational interviews
- Ask: "When have you felt most energized — in school or outside?" Connect those moments to clusters
- Encourage a second assessment after 4–6 weeks of new experiences — scores often jump 10–20 points
- Use the Clarity Grades Guide in the sidebar for tier-specific counselor action steps
When both Quality and Effort are low (<50)
When a student scores below 50 on both Response Quality and Effort, Aless had limited material to work with. The career profile may reflect the AI's best inference rather than the student's genuine signal — treat it as a starting point, not a conclusion.
- Click "Review Transcript" on the profile to read exactly what the student said — this is the ground truth
- Common causes: rushed session, test-taking distraction, language barriers, or genuine uncertainty
- Consider a brief check-in before scheduling a re-assessment
- A re-assessment after a casual career conversation often yields significantly higher engagement scores
Alerts & Wellness
The Alerts & Wellness page (sidebar → Alerts & Wellness) displays all safety flags and wellness signals in a single sortable table. Use the Tier and Status dropdown filters to narrow the view, and click any column header to sort. Click a row to expand details, then use the Resolve or View Student buttons.
Critical
Safety flags for self-harm language, threats of harm to others, or mental health crisis. These require immediate counselor attention and a structured resolution including risk assessment, parent contact, and documented actions.
Needs Attention
Safety flags for emotional distress, bullying, or substance abuse, plus wellness signals scoring below 40 (persistent low energy, withdrawal, disengagement). Resolution requires documenting actions taken.
Advisory
Safety flags for profanity or policy violations, plus wellness signals scoring 40–69 (moderate anxiety, mild disengagement). Worth monitoring — simplified resolution form.
The resolution workflow tracks actions taken, risk assessment (for Critical/Needs Attention), follow-up scheduling, parent contact, and referrals. Items move through statuses: open → in progress → monitoring → resolved. Use the Status filter to review completed items.
You can also view a student's wellness data and safety flags from their profile page by clicking the Alerts & Wellness button in the header.
Not a clinical tool. Wellness signals are engagement and orientation markers derived from conversation — they are not clinical screenings. A low wellness score means Aless noticed patterns worth exploring, not that a student has a diagnosis. Use it as a conversation starter, not a conclusion.
Acting on a high Clarity Score (>80)
A high score means the student has clear direction and can articulate it. Your job shifts from exploration to execution.
- Connect interests to programs of study, career paths, and post-secondary options (college, trades, military, apprenticeships, or ministry)
- Help them build their application or enrollment narrative — their pathfinder profile is authentic material for any path
- Align extracurriculars, dual enrollment, and internship opportunities to their top cluster
- Validate and deepen — don't re-open exploration they've already done
CCR Report
The College & Career Readiness (CCR) Report aggregates your school's assessment data into a format districts recognize. It covers:
- Percentage of students assessed by grade level
- School-wide Clarity Score distribution
- Top career clusters across the student population
- Students identified for additional career support (score <50)
Access it from the sidebar under CCR Report. Export to PDF or share directly with your district coordinator.
Custom Report — build your own student exports
The Custom Report page (sidebar → Reports → Custom Report) lets you build filtered student reports with exactly the columns you need. Use it to pull data for IEP meetings, department reviews, grant reporting, or parent conferences.
Filters
Grade level, career cluster, clarity score range (min/max), assessment status, and safety flag presence. Combine any filters to narrow your data set.
Column Selector
Choose which columns to include: Name, Grade, Top Cluster, All Cluster Scores, Majors, Coursework, Keywords, Clarity Score, Status, Completed Date, Duration, Safety Flags, or Counselor Insight.
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Set your filtersChoose grade levels, cluster, clarity range, and status. Leave a filter blank to include all values.
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Select columnsCheck the columns you want in your report. All columns are selected by default.
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GenerateClick "Generate Report" to preview results in a table. A result count appears above the table.
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Export or PrintClick "Export CSV" to download the report as a spreadsheet-ready file, or "Print" to open a print-friendly view.
Print & Export across the portal
Print and Export CSV buttons are available on key data pages throughout the portal. When you print, the sidebar and action buttons are automatically hidden so only the content appears on the page.
- All Scores — Print the full scores table or export as CSV
- Assessment Detail — Print the student roster for a specific assessment or export as CSV
- Student Profile — Print the full profile (clusters, keywords, narrative, and recommendations)
- Reports Overview — Print the school-wide summary dashboard
- CCR Report — Export the compliance report as CSV
- Custom Report — Print or export your filtered report as CSV
My Work — your filterable student queue
The My Work page gives counselors a single, sortable table of every student and their current assessment status. No setup required — it reads directly from your school's assessment and safety data.
At the top, summary chips show counts for each status. Click any chip to quick-filter the table to that status.
Flags — students with unresolved safety flags (shown as a badge in the Flag column)
Ready to Review — completed assessments you haven't reviewed yet
In Progress — students whose assessment is currently underway
Not Started — students who haven't begun their assessment
Reviewed — assessments you've already reviewed
Use the search bar to find a student by name, or filter by grade or status. Click any column header to sort. The table paginates at 25 students per page.
Principals and School Admins see a Staff Workload Overview instead of the counselor table. This view shows school-wide aggregate stats (unresolved flags, ready to review, in progress, not started) plus a Counselor Workloads section with per-counselor cards showing how many assessments each staff member has reviewed and how many are waiting in the shared queue.
Safety Alerts — student wellbeing during assessments
Aless monitors every student message for concerning content during the assessment. If she detects anything, she responds with appropriate support (including crisis resources like 988 and Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741) and immediately flags the counseling team. Safety flags appear on the Alerts & Wellness table alongside wellness signals, filterable by tier and status.
Critical
Self-harm, threats of harm to others, mental health crisis. Triggers immediate email. Resolution requires risk assessment, parent contact, and documented actions.
Needs Attention
Distress, bullying, substance abuse flags + wellness scores below 40. Resolution requires documenting actions taken.
Advisory
Profanity, policy violations + wellness scores 40–69. Simplified resolution form.
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Alert receivedIf Critical: you receive an email immediately with the student's name and the flagged message. The dashboard shows a red banner. The sidebar shows a badge count.
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Review on the tableOpen the Alerts & Wellness page. Filter by tier or status, then click any row to expand details — flagged content, wellness indicators, or evidence quotes. 3
Follow up and resolveClick Resolve to open the resolution form. Document actions taken, risk assessment (for Critical items), follow-up plans, and parent contact. Items move through statuses: In Progress → Monitoring → Resolved.
Aless's response during the assessment: When a Critical flag is triggered, Aless responds with a warm, supportive message that includes crisis resources (988 / Crisis Text Line). The assessment continues — Aless does not pause or stop the session. The flag is completely invisible to the student.
Staff Messaging — secure internal communication
The Messages page (sidebar) lets school staff communicate securely within pathfinder — without sharing sensitive information over email or text.
- Direct messages: 1:1 conversations between any two staff members
- Group channels: Create a named channel for a team (e.g., "9th Grade Counselors", "All Staff") and add members
- Student cards: Attach a student's profile card directly in a message — the recipient sees the student's name, grade, Clarity Score, and top cluster, and can click to open the full profile
- Unread badges: The sidebar shows a badge count for unread messages, updated every 30 seconds
Data privacy: Conversations are visible only to channel members within your school. No students or external parties can access staff messages. All data is stored in your school's pathfinder account.
District-Wide Reporting District Only
Schools on the District plan see a "District" section in the sidebar with two additional pages: the District Dashboard and Year-over-Year comparison reports.
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District DashboardAggregate KPIs (total students, profiles completed, average clarity score, school count) across all schools in the district. Below: a school comparison table showing per-school stats, a career cluster distribution chart, and a clarity score histogram.
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Year-over-Year ReportSelect assessment terms to compare side-by-side. See clarity trend bars, grade-level breakdowns with delta indicators, and a Cluster Shift section with its own start/end term selectors for comparing how career interest distributions changed between any two terms. Export to CSV or print.
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Cross-school visibilityDistrict staff automatically see data from all schools in their district. Individual school counselors continue to see only their own school's data.
SIS Integration Setup District Only
District plan schools can configure a Student Information System (SIS) connection in Settings. This feature is currently a demo preview — vendor partnership agreements with PowerSchool and Infinite Campus are in progress.
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Open SettingsNavigate to Administration → Settings. The SIS Integration card appears at the bottom of the page for District plan schools.
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Select a providerChoose PowerSchool or Infinite Campus from the dropdown. Configuration fields for the provider's API credentials will appear.
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Test and syncClick "Test Connection" to verify credentials, then "Sync Now" to initiate a student roster sync. The sync modal shows real-time progress and a summary of new, updated, and matched records.
Note: SIS deep integration requires vendor partnership agreements that are currently in progress. The demo simulation shows the full workflow that will be available once agreements are finalized. CSV roster import remains the recommended method for production use today.
School Year Management
pathfinder tracks academic years so that student data, assessments, and reports are organized by school year. School admins manage year transitions from Settings.
Starting a New School Year
When your current school year is ending, a notification banner will appear prompting you to begin the new year. You can also start it any time from Settings.
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Open SettingsNavigate to Administration → Settings. The School Year card at the top shows your current year and terms.
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Click "Start New Year"This opens a 4-step wizard that walks you through the year transition.
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Review & ConfigureReview your current year summary, then configure the new year's dates and terms. You can optionally enable a Summer term.
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Promote StudentsReview each student's promotion action: Promote (advance one grade), Graduate (12th graders), Retain (stay at current grade), Transfer Out, or Withdraw. Defaults are pre-set based on grade level.
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ConfirmReview the summary, check the confirmation box, and complete the rollover. Student grades are updated, and graduated students are archived.
Viewing Past Year Data
After completing a rollover, all staff can view historical data by clicking the year label in the sidebar and selecting a past year. A banner will indicate you are viewing archived data. Switch back by clicking "Switch to current year" in the banner.
Summer Term
Summer term is optional. When enabled during the new year setup, assessments taken during summer dates are bucketed separately in reports. Students remain enrolled in the same academic year during summer — no special handling is needed.
Important: Grade promotions and graduations cannot be undone as a batch. However, individual student records can always be edited afterward if corrections are needed.
