Schools are saying this is the first time they have been able to align their curriculum and budget toward student learning. Pathways does not have universal support, however. What's missing, she says, is monitoring and evaluating teaching performance and student achievement. Some 'best practices' don't boost student achievement. Some schools are using cooperative learning, but their children still can't learn.
Teaching has to be child-centered.
Study your children, what is it they need, what's a best practice for them, not the other way around, which is to create best practices and then use them on your students. While central office is not requiring schools to use Pathways to develop their school improvement plans, schools that don't will be swimming against the tide. Staff from both central and regional offices are being trained to help schools use the framework, and a half-day presentation is available for schools. Further, schools that have made demonstrable gains in a given area will become professional development sites for other schools. However, Pathways is the foundation for intervention at the 149 schools identified as having exceptionally low or declining state IGAP scores over the last three years.