Program Description
Pathway is a professional development program used primarily with mainstreamed Latino English learners able to participate in regular English classes. The program is primarily focused on writing, but it seeks to improve reading comprehension as well. Over a period of 46 hours, participating teachers learn to teach cognitive strategies, such as preparing students to read, make inferences, and interpret complex texts. Teachers also learn how to support process writing, to develop students’ interpretive skills and analytical writing abilities. Experienced Pathway teachers help their peers learn and use the approach.
Program Outcomes
A large study with two cohorts found small but significant positive effects in comparison to control groups on reading measures (effect size=+0.07), and this qualified Pathway for the ESSA “Strong” category. A much smaller study obtained a larger effect size of +0.19, but this was not significant. The two studies together had an effect size of +0.08.