The Overcoming Obstacles Life Skills Program helps educators equip students with the skills they need to be successful in the classroom and beyond. Students come to understand that what goes on within the four walls of the classroom will not only help them achieve academically, but help them gain admission to college, find and keep a job, improve communication with their friends, family, and teachers and clarify their own personal values as they plan for the future.

Here are just a few of the results our curriculum can help educators and schools achieve:

• Reinvigorate student interest in learning overall, enhance the classroom experience by making it relevant to students' lives and strengthen the teacher-student connection
• Help students develop strong individual character traits and collaborative teamwork skills
• Improve classroom and school environments by fostering a true sense of community
• Increase attendance, academic achievement and graduation rates as well as student comradeship, leadership and communication skills
• Prepare students for college and/or careers by turning their interests and skills into achievable goals

Here are a few ways our curriculum has been implemented:

• Advisory Period

  New York, New York
  In New York City, the Legacy School for Integrated Studies and the Academy for Environmental Leadership have launched customized advisory programs to fulfill the missions of their schools and prepare students for college.

• Standard Curriculum

  Kansas City, Missouri:
  The Kansas City Missouri Public School District purchased 400 sets of Overcoming Obstacles' standard high school curriculum for use in a district-wide advisory program beginning in early 2007.

  New York, New York:
  Over 100 New York City public schools are implementing Overcoming Obstacles as part of their regular school day.

  In 2008, The Children's Aid Society of New York City reported that academic achievement improved markedly at the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics as a result of the Overcoming Obstacles curriculum. Overcoming Obstacles is a mandatory freshman seminar class taught weekly from September through May.

  Plainfield, New Jersey:
  In spring of 2004, Plainfield Public Schools in New Jersey chose Overcoming Obstacles as its research-based Character Education program for implementation district-wide.

• Peer Mentoring

  New York, New York:
  In 2008, Middle School 2 was removed from the No Child Left Behind list of "Persistently Dangerous Schools" due, in part, to the success of their Overcoming Obstacles peer mentoring program. MS 2 continues to use the Overcoming Obstacles curriculum in conjunction with other projects in their school to expand their peer mediation initiative.

  Middle School 109 has expanded its Overcoming Obstacles peer mentoring program to include more of the school's students due to the success of last year's (2007/2008) program in improving the school environment and strengthening students' leadership skills.

• Transitional Housing

  New York, New York:
  In 2007, the Department of Youth and Community Development requested that Overcoming Obstacles customize its standard curriculum to help students in temporary housing cope with transition. The program is now in its second year.

• Summer Programs

  Jersey City, New Jersey:
  The Genesis Educational Center supplemented its 2008 summer program with the Overcoming Obstacles curriculum, giving middle school students an opportunity to learn and practice the life skills necessary for success in high school.

  Jersey City Public Schools has used Overcoming Obstacles curriculum materials in several summer enrichment programs for 8th graders transitioning into high school. Overcoming Obstacles helped these students develop study skills, effective communication techniques, and wise decision making practices; key skills they will need to succeed in high school and beyond.

• Dropout Prevention

  Jersey City, New Jersey:
  Beginning in 1998, Overcoming Obstacles was the sole source for curriculum materials and professional development in Jersey City Public Schools' highly lauded "Fifteen Together" dropout prevention program.

• Additional Curriculum Highlights

  New York, New York
  In 2001, Offsite Educational Services, an Alternative and Continuing Education Program in New York City, implemented Overcoming Obstacles to increase student punctuality, identify student leaders, and help students develop goals for their future.

• After School Programs

  New York, New York
  The After School Corporation (TASC), which supports comprehensive after-school programs in New York City, with the goal of enhancing the quality, availability and sustainability of programs in New York and the nation, has been using Overcoming Obstacles since 2003.

  Hartford, Conneticut
  Since 2004, The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving has been using Overcoming Obstacles to develop student's life skills in after-school programs located throughout the Capitol Region of Connecticut.