Employed, Enlisted, or Enrolled: 

Connecting Planning, Pathways, and Postsecondary Success at Scale in Yukon, OK

Yukon Public Schools is located just west of Oklahoma City in Yukon, Oklahoma and serves approximately 9,100 students. At the heart of the district is Yukon High School, a comprehensive campus serving nearly 2,900 students, including about 250 students enrolled in a virtual program. In Yukon, school and district leaders are focused on helping every student graduate with clarity, purpose, and a strong foundation for life beyond high school.

This work is grounded in Yukon’s commitment to the “3 E’s,” a districtwide vision that every student graduates with a confirmed postsecondary plan to be employed, enlisted, or enrolled. Rather than defining success through a single pathway, the district emphasizes expanding opportunity, removing barriers, and helping students explore a full range of possibilities while building the skills, tools, and direction to pursue their chosen path.

At Yukon High School, Principal Melissa Barlow leads this work by prioritizing both access and agency in student planning. Through intentional systems, partnerships, and structures that connect exploration to action, students move from awareness of the 3 E’s to meaningful, personalized plans that help them navigate what comes next. To further strengthen this work and bring greater support and consistency to student planning, Yukon adopted SchooLinks two years ago as a platform to support personalized four-year planning, meet state requirements with fidelity, and expand meaningful postsecondary exploration for every student.

Building a Strong Foundation for ICAP Implementation

Yukon’s SchooLinks implementation began with a clear and focused goal: strengthening the quality and consistency of Individualized Career Academic Plan (ICAP) implementation across Yukon High School. In Oklahoma, ICAP completion is a graduation requirement, and district leaders recognized the need for a platform that could do more than simply track compliance. They wanted a system that could support meaningful reflection, deeper exploration, and actionable planning aligned to the district’s “employed, enlisted, or enrolled” vision for student success. At the same time, leaders were looking for a solution that could extend beyond course planning to support work-based learning (WBL), allowing the school to manage internships and real-world experiences within the same ecosystem that guided students’ ICAP journeys.

Prior to SchooLinks, Yukon had tried out multiple platforms to manage ICAP processes. An initial free system allowed staff to document completion, but it lacked the depth needed to push students’ thinking or provide insight into planning for their future. A subsequent paid platform offered robust functionality, yet proved difficult for students to navigate. Engagement suffered as students struggled to locate what they needed, and the work began to feel more like a task to complete rather than an opportunity for genuine self-discovery. Leaders realized that success would require a solution that balanced strong functionality with a student-centered, intuitive user experience.

As Yukon evaluated new options, the team outlined specific priorities based on their previous efforts: a platform capable of supporting ICAP requirements across grades 9–12, delivering real-time feedback to ensure both completion and quality, and providing students with relevant, personalized information to explore career pathways more deeply. For a large high school serving nearly 3,000 students, the ability to provide individualized insights at scale was critical. SchooLinks emerged as a strong fit because it combined robust planning tools with a user-friendly design that resulted in student engagement rather than resistance.

Now in their second school year of the SchooLinks adoption, the school has remained true to that initial goal. Barlow explained: “We wanted to make sure we weren’t just checking off boxes in order to get it done, but that it was really providing information to kids to inform their future.” By aligning ICAP implementation with a platform designed for exploration, reflection, and planning, Yukon has taken a significant step toward ensuring every student graduates with a plan that is meaningful and aligned to their strengths and goals.

As the school’s use of SchooLinks has grown, leaders have also gained clearer insights into student progress. Advisors regularly use SchooLinks during advisory periods to review where students are in the planning process--what they have completed, what steps come next, and how their plans align with evolving goals. Administrators can now run simple, real-time reports to track ICAP completion and quickly identify where students are in the process. This level of insight has made it easier for staff to ensure expectations are being met while also allowing for more proactive support whether preparing for a grade-level assembly or a one-on-one meeting. As Barlow noted, having immediate access to this data allows her team to quickly identify students who may be falling behind and connect with them to understand what barriers might be getting in the way. These check-ins have created opportunities for more individualized, student-centered conversations, helping ensure that ICAP is not just a requirement to complete, but a living process that supports each student’s next steps beyond graduation.

Connecting Planning, Engagement, and Access Across the Student Experience

Beyond ICAP, SchooLinks has become a vital part of Yukon’s college and career readiness work through long-term academic planning. Previously, course selection in the district focused primarily on making decisions for the upcoming school year. With the SchooLinks Course Planner feature, students now map out a multi-year trajectory beginning as early as eighth grade, allowing them to see how course choices connect to evolving interests and postsecondary goals. 

The transition to this new approach has been remarkably smooth. After students build their plans in SchooLinks, course request data transfers seamlessly into their Student Information System, enabling Barlow and her team to build the master schedule. Students revisit their plans each year, reflecting on whether their course selections still align with their interests and making adjustments when needed. After enrollment begins, staff have noticed how quickly students re-engage with the platform--logging in, navigating their plans independently, and making thoughtful updates without extensive guidance. Instead of selecting courses in isolation, students are developing a clearer sense of how those choices impact long-term planning.

SchooLinks has also helped Yukon strengthen how students connect with real-world opportunities. One of the most immediate areas of growth has been through the Event Scheduler, which is used to bring community, career, higher education, and military representatives into the school for information sessions and presentations aligned to the district’s “employed, enlisted, or enrolled” vision. Looking ahead, Yukon plans to expand its use of the tool through initiatives such as Interview Blitz and Career Blitz, where seniors will sign up to meet with local employers and professionals across a range of industries. While Yukon has hosted similar events in the past, integrating them into SchooLinks provides a more streamlined way to coordinate participation, track engagement, and ensure students are connecting to experiences that align with their goals.

SchooLinks has also played a critical role in supporting Yukon’s 250 fully virtual students. These students rarely step on the campus but are still required to complete ICAP requirements and engage in meaningful future planning. By integrating SchooLinks into processes and expectations for the virtual student population, Yukon ensures that virtual students have access to the same tools, assessments, and exploration resources as their on-campus peers. 

In the Yukon district, students log in using a single sign-in solution, Clever, and can immediately see assignments, planning activities, and next steps, minimizing confusion and reducing the need for additional explanation from staff. Virtual learners complete the same career discovery assessments, explore career pathways, and build plans that align with their strengths--even without the benefit of daily, in-person conversations. Barlow shared that the ease of use has been a key factor in the smooth implementation for students who are not on campus. She reflected that “SchooLinks is so easy for everyone to use,” it allows students to focus on meaningful planning rather than navigating complicated systems.

Unmatched Customer Support That Drove Speedy Implementation and Impact

For Yukon High School, one of the most defining aspects of their SchooLinks experience has been the strength of the partnership with the customer support team. From the earliest stages of implementation, Barlow credits SchooLInks’ responsiveness and hands-on guidance as a key factor in the school’s ability to move quickly and successfully. She explained that questions are consistently met with timely support, whether through email check-ins, shared Zoom sessions, or real-time troubleshooting--helping ensure a smooth rollout and preventing students from running into unnecessary roadblocks.

This strong, responsive customer support played a critical role in Yukon High School’s ability to implement SchooLinks in a matter of weeks. With hands-on guidance and real-time collaboration, the school moved quickly from adoption to full use, driven by a shared sense of urgency to ensure students had access to meaningful planning tools as soon as possible. Rather than taking a gradual rollout approach, Yukon chose to fully embrace the platform from the start. As Barlow reflected, the team felt strongly that students needed these resources immediately: “We didn’t want them to leave us and not be as prepared as possible.”

That level of partnership also allowed Yukon to make adjustments along the way. When something was not working as expected for their student population, the team was able to collaborate with SchooLinks to implement changes quickly--often without waiting for a scheduled update. Rather than simply resolving issues behind the scenes, the support team focused on teaching Yukon staff how to manage and refine the system themselves, which Barlow described as exceptional: “What I love about the customer service at SchooLinks is that they teach you how to do it.” She explained that they are true “partners in the work.” For a veteran educator who has worked with many different platforms and providers, the experience has stood out: “I’ve been in this business a long time, and I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Empowering Students Through Cohesive CCR Planning

For Yukon’s leadership, one of the proudest accomplishments is simply that they took on the daunting task of implementing a new system so quickly and followed through to ensure success for students. Teachers and students quickly adopted the platform, and neither group viewed it as an added burden--an outcome that speaks to both the usability of the system and the intentional and thoughtful way the school introduced it. The ability to track and manage ICAP progress at scale has been especially significant for a school of Yukon High School’s size, allowing staff to monitor progress while keeping the focus on meaningful conversations with students.

As Yukon has continued to expand its use of SchooLinks, one of the most significant improvements has been the way the platform brings all aspects of college and career readiness into one cohesive experience for students. Through assessments, career exploration, college research, application tools, and course planning, students are able to see how each step connects to their larger goals. With this approach, Yukon has transformed four-year ICAP plans from a compliance metric to a dynamic process that has real meaning for students and their futures. As Barlow shared, “Yes, ICAP is a graduation requirement, but what I’m so proud of is that we’ve done that with fidelity. We’ve made sure that kids are getting something out of this opportunity so they can leave us and be prepared for the world.”

The platform has also strengthened communication with families and expanded opportunities for student support. Course Planner updates and notifications in SchooLinks allow parents to see what students are working on, explore developing career interests, and better understand evolving postsecondary plans. This shared insight has created new opportunities for intervention and individualized guidance, allowing staff and families to step in when data signals that a student may need additional support. For a large school serving thousands of students, having that level of connection between planning, communication, and action has been a meaningful shift.

A key part of Yukon’s success has been the ability to adapt SchooLinks to meet the specific needs of its students. As staff learned more about how students interacted with the platform, they made adjustments—refining timelines, modifying requirements, and adding new components when needed. 

Looking Ahead: Strengthening the Vision of the 3 E’s

As Yukon High School looks ahead, leaders remain focused on building on the momentum they have created and continuing to strengthen how students prepare for life beyond graduation. Building an alumni network is one of the next steps. The school is shifting from creating alumni profiles as an optional activity to a more intentional part of the student experience, helping students maintain meaningful connections beyond high school. For Yukon’s team, the ability to evolve alongside SchooLinks has reinforced its long-term value. As Barlow reflected, “We’ve perpetuated the longevity and the relevancy of this product because we’re able to really adapt it and make it ours.”

In just two years, SchooLinks has become a powerful driver of Yukon’s commitment to ensuring every student graduates prepared to be employed, enlisted, or enrolled. In a large school where individualized support can be difficult to scale, bringing planning tools, career exploration, course alignment, and postsecondary preparation into one connected system has been transformative with Barlow calling it “a gamechanger.” She explained that SchooLinks is serving as a critical tool to “empower kids to leave us and be successful in the real world knowing exactly what they want to do.” These efforts reflect Yukon’s broader vision of helping every student leave high school not only with a plan, but with the clarity, direction, and skills to pursue whichever of the 3 E’s aligns with their future.