Roads to Success

We offer comprehensive lesson plans and student materials for grades 7 – 12, as well as a Program Manual that describes how to set up a program in your school or district. To view and download our materials for free, please fill out a brief registration form.

Each grade level includes a Student Handbook (consumable pages) and Portfolio (career exploration, college research, and job-hunting tools to be kept for future reference). Student materials are supplied as separate documents, and are included within each Facilitator’s Guide as well.

The Program Manual includes a sample Family Intro Letter to be sent home at the beginning of the year. Families are updated on Roads to Success activities through Family Newsletters, available for each unit in English and Spanish. (These can also be found in the Facilitator’s Guide at the beginning of each unit.) Ideas for parent information sessions on college access and financial aid can be found in the Additional Resources section.

Downloads of all program materials are free. A site license to Career Cruising, an online tool for career and college exploration, is highly recommended. (Annual fee required.) Printing of materials, as well as staff training and support, can be arranged. Please contact Jillian Kornsweig at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for current prices.

Users of Roads to Success materials will want to begin the program with all Facilitator’s Guides (about 500 pages per grade) and student materials (about 150 pages per student, per grade) printed and ready to go. If this is beyond the printing capacity of your school or district, we can print and ship materials to you. Contact Jillian Kornsweig at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for pricing. Please allow time for delivery.

We offer a start-up training that will help you implement the Roads to Success program in your setting and teach your instructors how to effectively utilize the lesson plans and supplemental materials.

We will also work with you to tailor a training around the unique needs of your instructors. This training can focus on best instructional practice as well as making the Roads to Success program work with your student population.

Roads to Success also offers regular instructional practice workshops throughout the year at a central location in Manhattan. Topics include Classroom Management, Giving Clear Instructions and Student Engagement.

If you are interested learning more about the types of training we offer, please see the training section of the website for more information.

The best place to start is the Program Manual, a user's guide to Roads to Success. It includes info on everything from scheduling to teaching tips. Once you have an overview of the program, you’ll need:

We also offer staff Suport and Training. Contact Kim Ritter at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for details.

Please contact Frank Haberle at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it regarding questions about invoicing and methods of payment.

Activities were designed for a 45-minute period. Although an advisory period is a logical place to schedule a college and careers program, we recommend using a full class period wherever possible. Instructional time lost to organizational tasks limits what can be accomplished in 30 minutes.

Roads to Success is desgined to be taught once a week during a 45-minute class period. Some schools have implemented the program during an English or Social Studies period, sometimes switching at the semester break to minimize the impact on a single subject. Others have scheduled Roads to Success opposite courses that don’t meet daily, for example, Phys. Ed.  See our Program Manual for more ideas.

Roads to Success lessons were developed over a period of more than 4 years, and piloted in rural and urban classrooms in NY, WV, and PA. Lessons were revised annually based on weekly written feedback from facilitators in the field.

Roads to Success offers career exploration, postsecondary education planning and more – including study skills, goal-setting, and information on how students can “grow their intelligence”. Project-based learning activities include a Career Fair, Community Makeover, workplace simulation, college visit, and Job Shadow. Students also complete the steps needed to find a job, apply to college, and create a budget for their first year after high school graduation. See Grade Overviews for our scope and sequence, and Unit and Lesson Overview for more detailed descriptions.

Roads to Success is designed to be delivered to students in grades 7 – 12, with an alternate version available for students in grades 9 – 12. Because concepts are re-introduced and expanded on each year, students might begin successfully in any grade. A possible exception is grades 11 and 12, both of which are needed for college access activities.

Lessons are organized into self-contained units which could be omitted or swapped for other topics. See our Grade Overviews for a list of what’s included in each grade.

Though designed for ease of classroom use, we see great potential for expansion into less formal settings. Prior teaching experience is not required, and many of the student activities are engaging and hands-on. Some units lend themselves to group projects or self-directed exploration. Contact Kathy Kinsner at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to propose a collaboration or get additional suggestions.

Each lesson includes a Preparation section to assist facilitators prior to each class meeting. For maximum effectiveness, teachers should plan on an hour or two of preparation for each lesson, which might include one or more of the following:

Access to a computer lab with an Internet connection is highly recommended for selected career exploration and college planning lessons. (Print options are provided; these require additional teacher preparation.) A laptop and an LCD projector and/or an overhead projector are highly desirable for modeling student activities. Several lessons require a means for displaying downloaded videos.

See the Program Manual for more details on Equipment and Site Licenses.