College & Career-Readiness

The Twin Cities Academy Counseling Program helps students find and work toward their future paths. Through career exploration activities and assessments, practice college entrance exams, college exposure activities, and personalized assistance with the college application process, students receive the support they need to make informed decisions about careers and higher education.

College Readiness Curriculum

All students at Twin Cities Academy receive a college readiness curriculum through their advisory class. The advisory lessons are designed developmentally for each grade level, they include career and college exploration, test preparation and study skills.

Parent Information Events

The school counselor will hold four parent informational events each year. The information about each event will be sent home by flyer and email before each event.

• Senior Parent Night September each year, learn how to apply to and pay for college. Learn about the Senior year timeline so you don’t miss important dates and deadlines!
• Junior Parent Night October each year, learn about the Junior year timeline, entrance tests and the importance of college exploration.
• FAFSA Learn about the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Get help filling out and completing the FAFSA application from the school counselor.
• PSEO Informational Night February each year, learn about Post Secondary Enrollment Options.

Naviance College Planning

Twin Cities Academy’s mission is to help students find the right fit to post-secondary options. We do this with the assistance of The Naviance Program, an online tool for college preparation. Naviance enables schools to develop and manage multi-year plans for each student to chart a path toward graduation while achieving college and workplace readiness. It is available to all students and their parents. Students and their families determine student learning style, and career interests, access information from numerous college and universities, coordinate the college application process, scholarships and more. Users track their college journey in partnership with the school counselor, who assists the students and parents to use the program.

Access the Naviance College Planning site here.  <–Login using student’s school email and school email password. If you get an error then log into gmail.com first and then try the link again.

For more information about Naviance, please visit their website at www.naviance.com.

ACT, SAT and Method Test Prep Information

All 11th grade students take the ACT at the school in April of every school year for free. In order to help students prepare for the ACT, Twin Cities Academy offers an online tool called Method Test Prep.

With Method Test Prep, students can:

• Hear audio explanations of test questions
• Access strategy guides for each test
• Complete full-length practice tests Receive hundreds of practice questions
• Read easy explanations to every question Track their strengths on each test
• Receive valuable test-taking tips Take practice quizzes
• Access their courses on an unlimited, 24×7 basis
• To access method test prep go to: TCAHS Method Test Prep (create a username and password)

Students should plan on taking the ACT more than once in their Junior year of high school. To register for the ACT click here. Students must create an online account and register for the tests. Students do not need to register for the April test at TCAHS, but they do need to register for any other test that they want to take. If you qualify for free and reduced lunch please see the school counselor to get a fee waiver, which will make the ACT test free.

If students are interested in taking the SAT they can click here to register. If you qualify for free and reduced lunch please see the school counselor to get a fee waiver, which will make the SAT test free.