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Welcome to a new school year:
"Making the Impossible Possible"
Each summer Pathways Administrative Team meets and chooses a theme for the upcoming school year.
This year's theme, "Making the Impossible Possible", reflects Pathways' characteristic can-do attitude and belief in our students' abilities and potential. With a theme like that, we look forward to a year filled with accomplishments and dreams becoming reality. The theme is inspirational, and it's backed up with very tangible programs, initiatives, activities, and planned events. Here's what we will be doing in 2013-2014 to make the impossible possible for our students:
Common Core State Standards
For several years now, Maryland public schools have been  preparing to implement the Common Core State Standards. These are a state-led effort that establishes a single set of clear educational standards for kindergarten through grade 12 in English language arts and mathematics. It is an important step toward establishing a national curriculum to ensure that all students, no matter where they live, are well prepared with the skills and knowledge necessary to collaborate and compete with their peers in the U.S. and around the world. The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) voluntarily joined with 45 other states and the District of Columbia to design and develop the Common Core State Standards. Pathways has been in step with all schools in Maryland in preparing for the roll out of these standards. Our entire staff, including teachers, therapists, para-educators and support personnel, has been trained, and along with the public schools, we have been preparing each one of our students individually to meet their academic goals.
Prince George's-Pathways Kindergarten Partnership
 An exciting collaboration between Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS) and Pathways continues for a second year. The partnership is part of a long history of cooperation between PGCPS and Pathways to support students with behavioral disabilities. In this MSDE supported partnership, experienced Pathways staff work with kindergartners, their parents and PGCPS staff to enable the children to succeed in the least restrictive environment. The Pathways team travels throughout the county's schools observing the students and helping them acquire coping strategies. Pathways staff assists teachers to develop positive behavior interventions tailored to the students' and classroom's needs, and helps families find and use the resources available to them.
In-School Branch of Educational Systems Federal Credit Union at Pathways-DuVal
Pathways is a pioneer in collaborating with local credit
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Student teller at work
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unions to open in-school branches. These provide opportunities for students to train as tellers and managers while promoting financial literacy and personal money management. This year we are planning to open our third in-school branch at Pathways-DuVal Re-Entry. Like our branch at Crossland, this one will be located within a public high school and will serve all high school students and staff.
Young Entrepreneurship Program
Since 2007 the Young Entrepreneurship Program has been
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Young women student entrepreneurs and their mentors
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active at Pathways, giving students hands-on experience in beginning and growing an owner-operated business. The unique program is taught by area business professionals who guide the students through the process from vision to market. Last year, the program expanded to put more emphasis on the experience of women in business, and five young women students from three Pathways sites participated. This year, the program will expand further. A grant from a local restaurant owner has enabled the purchase of tablet computers which will give student participants more mobility and access while in the field and at off-campus sites. The Young Entrepreneurship Program continues to excite area businesses and has garnered ongoing and growing support from an array of local corporations, organizations, city government officials, and agencies.
A Blockbuster Year in the Arts, Alternative Therapies
The Pathfinder has regularly reported on the blossoming of the arts at Pathways. For our students, the arts are a powerful tool for overcoming many obstacles. Visual arts, drama, poetry, music and dance offer a multitude of avenues for understanding the world, for learning, and for self-expression. The Student Art Show is stunning evidence of what the arts offer our students and what emerges from the opportunity to create. This year will be a blockbuster one for the arts at Pathways. Every one of our school sites will host an artist residency, and some of our schools may host two. We will have mural arts, music and drumming, dance, and drama.
In a particularly exciting development, we are in the running to receive a grant that would enable the storytelling/theater arts organization, Story Tapestries, to collaborate with Arena Stage and the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County for a project in which students would write, choreograph, and perform a play at Arena Stage as part of a student festival.
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