New York's Commissioner's Regulations call for certified school counselors to provide students in grades six through twelve with an annual individual progress review plan that reflects each student's educational progress and career plans. Done well, the review is a yearly check on where a student is heading. Done in a hurry, the career plans portion is one line on a form.

The challenge: a plan without exploration

The annual review asks a student to name career plans. A student who has not seen what colleges, skilled trades, military service and careers look like has little to say. With New York also rethinking its graduation measures around a Portrait of a Graduate, students need room to explore before they are asked to plan.

What students tell us

Across the 13th Year™ network, students are most open early, and their options narrow as graduation gets closer:

  • 32%of 9th graders are weighing more than one path after high school. By 12th grade, 16% are.
  • 53%of 9th graders are interested in more than one career field, compared with 33% of seniors.
  • 11%of 9th graders say they are not sure yet what comes next. Only 2% of seniors say so.
  • 23%of students planning on college are also considering another path, such as the skilled trades, the military, work or a business of their own.

For planning, that means the most valuable exploration happens in the first years of high school, while students are still open to what they find.

Figures come from more than 3,800 responses students submitted at 13th Year™ kiosks and school links across the 13th Year™ network in 2026, not only New York schools. Students could choose more than one answer, and some responded more than once.

Dual enrollment

Dual enrollment in New York

The New York State Education Department administers state-funded early college programs, including Smart Scholars Early College High School and New York State P-TECH, in which colleges partner with school districts so students can earn college credit in high school. A 2025 state law, Education Law Section 319, directs the Commissioner to adopt a statewide dual enrollment policy, and NYSED required districts, charter schools, and BOCES with a dual enrollment program in place at the start of the 2026-27 school year to submit a partnership agreement by September 1, 2026.

Students who explore careers and majors early are better placed to choose college courses in high school that build toward a goal they care about. Daily exploration, for example on a 13th Year™ kiosk, can help students arrive at that conversation with clearer interests.

Official program information: New York State Education Department →

What students need before the planning meeting

The most productive planning conversations happen when a student walks in with something to talk about: a career they read about, a program that surprised them, a question about the military or an apprenticeship. That kind of curiosity comes from exposure, and exposure works best when it is frequent, self-directed and part of the school day.

Practical ways to build exploration into the year

  • Explore before the annual review. Encourage students to look at colleges, trades, military service and careers ahead of the individual progress review so the career plans portion reflects real interests.
  • Start in the middle grades. The review begins in grade six. Early, low-pressure exploration gives younger students language for interests before high school choices arrive.
  • Use exploration as the year-to-year thread. The review happens every year. Ask students what they explored since the last one and how their career plans have changed.
  • Make exploration self-serve. Let students explore on their own time, so counselor time goes to the conversations that need it.

Where the Student Pathway System™ goes

13th Year™ places an interactive college and career kiosk in a school's hallway, a modern guidance resource students use before, during and after school. What students explore there gives them something specific to bring to the annual individual progress review. It supports, and does not replace, New York's school counseling program and school counselors.

For administrators, the questions are usually privacy and workload. The 13th Year™ platform is FERPA aligned and designed with student privacy considerations in mind. It does not access the high school's student information system, and no student data is sold. Kiosks come at no cost to the school, and 13th Year™ delivers, installs and supports every kiosk, so it is built to support your counselors, not burden them.

See how 13th Year™ supports New York high schools, or request a kiosk for your school.