As we enter an age of advanced technology, paper formats are being left behind in favor of online platforms. In school systems, the efficiency and necessity of the few things that remain on paper are being reevaluated, and quickly replaced by digital options. For example, report cards, that were once sent home in a manilla envelope, are now received through an email or an app. One thing that has remained on paper throughout the years are Course Request Forms (CRFs), which allow students to select their classes for the following year. However, this is set to change as our school plans to pilot an online version of CRFs for Arlington County Public Schools (APS) this February.
Joanna Boyers, the Director of Counseling at our school, is at the head of this project. Although APS makes the final decision for the transition, Boyers has taken on the responsibility of advocating for the switch by requesting to pilot it for APS. Boyers is working closely with Jessica Reeve, our intervention counselor, to implement the new online CRFs in time for the upcoming course selection process for the 2025-2026 school year.
“The selection process should be opening February 4th, and then students will have two weeks to get everything in,” Reeve said.
APS aims to utilize the Synergy platform to host the online CRFs. This platform is already home to ParentVUE and StudentVUE; apps that students and parents are already familiar with and frequently use to check grades, schedules and attendance records.
The process of filling out the CRF will be similar to the paper CRFs. Students will select the courses that they want to take during the next school year and submit the form on StudentVUE. The online system will also include additional resources to aid students in their decision making process, such as information about the prerequisites required for specific courses. Graduation requirements will accompany the request forms, allowing students to see which requirements they have fulfilled and which classes they still need to take.
In the past, paper CRFs have caused confusion with course selection and with which classes are actually available.
“The database [of classes] that we have access to is more extensive than the course offerings we have available, so we’ve been trying to pair all of that down and get rid of some,” Reeve said.
Sometimes students will select a course that our school does not actually offer despite it being on the CRF. Other times, fewer than 15 students will select a course and our school is unable to offer it. This is due to there not being enough students to justify running the class. These issues make formatting schedules difficult for counselors as they have to meet with more students. Our counselors hope that the new online CRFs will help solve this problem by only providing students with options that our school actually offers.
Surrounding school districts are currently using similar course selection programs. For example, Fairfax County Public Schools have used an online course selection process without issue for years. Local colleges such as Northern Virginia Community College also utilize digital platforms for their course selection process.
To explain the details of this new program, our counselors are urging students to attend Patriot Period lessons.
“Most importantly, on February 4th, be in Patriot Period because that’s when we’re going to play the video that breaks down the whole process,” Reeve said.
By piloting this new course selection process, our school is leading the way for APS to transition into a more technologically advanced school district. If the program is successful, it will encourage further advancements that will make academics more efficient for both students and staff.
